If you remember my last post, I was all set to buy a Jeep. However, what actually happened was a little more complicated—and a lot more interesting.
I had been searching for a great deal on the right Jeep for a while, focusing on specific colors and features. During my search, I came across TrueCar, a website that aggregates vehicle listings from various sites. It’s a pretty handy tool for comparing prices and finding deals, and it ended up leading me to a local dealership, Premier Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram of Buena Park.
I found a Jeep that looked perfect—not only was it the right color, but it was also close to where I live in North Orange County. I was thrilled and immediately requested more information. The dealership followed up by calling me a couple of times to set up an appointment, and I arranged to come in first thing on a Saturday morning for a test drive. I was excited.
Here’s where things went off course. When I showed up at 9:00 AM, no one at the dealership knew I was coming, and the Jeep I was interested in was nowhere to be found. Turns out, I hadn’t been dealing directly with the dealership, but with the lead generation service. It was a frustrating beginning of a much longer journey.
After waiting a bit, my better half and I connected with Fernando Montoya, a gracious and tenacious sales rep. Fernando was determined to find the car, and it took him about two hours of searching across three different lots. The first two lots were easy to check, but the third lot was locked and shared with another dealership. They had to wait until someone with the key arrived, and when they finally opened it up, there it was—the Jeep I’d been hoping for. But… not quite.
The car had a major issue: someone had stolen the catalytic converter. To make matters worse, there was a recall notice across the windshield that said, “Recall – Do not sell.” Fernando, ever the professional, assured me that the recall was something they could handle quickly, and the real problem was the missing catalytic converter.
Despite the setback, the dealership stepped up in a big way. They quickly replaced the catalytic converter and assured me they’d take care of the recall. But I still needed to test drive the car to make sure it wasn’t too loud, as I had mentioned in my previous post about the noisy tires.
To my relief, they found a similar Jeep for me to test drive, and it was perfect. I loved it more than the one I had originally rented in Arizona. The only downside was that it was white, and I really didn’t want a white car. But I was in love with the ride, so we moved forward with the paperwork on the yellow one needing the recall fix.
Jeanette Daze, the dealership’s finance manager, was an absolute delight to work with. She made the paperwork process smooth and stress-free. It may have been one of the easiest finance processes I have done buying a car. Even though the deal was done, the car still wasn’t ready for pickup. They told me they’d have the necessary part in a couple of days, but with Christmas approaching, that turned out to be a bit of a longer wait.
Now, I’m not the most patient person, and I admit it was tough waiting more than a week for the car, especially when it felt like the dealership had little control over the parts supply. Fernando was a saint in dealing with me when he updated me on the delays.
So Christmas comes and goes, but the story isn’t over. After a short family vacation between Christmas and New Year’s, I got a call on New Year’s Day to schedule a pickup, and I was there as soon as I could. I felt a bit bad that they were working on a holiday, but I was beyond excited to finally drive off in my new Jeep.
Now, several months later, the excitement hasn’t worn off. I’m still loving my Jeep and am so glad I stuck with the process—even though it took a little longer than expected. The moral of the story? Patience pays off, and it’s worth waiting for the right car, especially when you’ve got a great dealership like the one I worked with.
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