My car-buying experience of 2010.

So... after having 4 kids, you realize that the good ole' US of A is meant for the family of 4.8 (or whatever the new census comes up with).  This leads to the perpetual problem of finding a good family vehicle that can meet your daily needs, but doesn't quite approach the Partridge Family Edition.

Anyway, I started out looking at mini-vans... to me they are too cramped once the third row is up.  Especially for us, we can barely fit the kids, strollers, porta-potty and stuff into the Expedition that we have.  Not to mention shopping trips where kids are holding items that won't fit.  Of course Beena was sold on the idea of a mini-van (which I had to point out is really the idea of my family & friends who only have 1 or 2 kids).  Just do the math... 7 seats, 3 to 4 people... somewhere between 40-60% free space.

I then landed on the idea of a Ford E series (econoline) or Chevy Express...  Of course each has its advantages and disadvantages.  To add to the confusion, we were thinking of getting a travel-trailer (yet another saga).

I ended up getting a Chevy Express, which while not as well-appointed as our previous vehicles (Explorer Limited, LR3, Expedition Eddie Bauer), is something that was priced right, and meets our major needs.  In addition, it has side air-bags (just for the windows, but definitely better than none), and All Wheel Drive.  I figured that as our family vehicle, this outweighed the lack of the niceties.

While shopping around, I got a contact from Country Chevrolet in Warwick, NY.  I responded and asked for test-drive... the folks were pleasant and scheduled a time for me to come in and test the van.  When I got there, they didn't do the whole (copy of license/credit check scam).... they simply let me drive the van.   What a concept!  To top that off, after the test-drive, they asked if I had any questions... and since I didn't, they let me be on my way.  ABSOLUTELY NO PRESSURE!

After that, it was simply a matter of trying to figure out whether to custom order what we WANTED, or taking something that was available.  In the end, we decided to take something off dealer inventory... and again, Country Chevrolet came through!

So... then came the financing.  I had secured credit via my current bank, which gave me a very good rate based on all of my accounts with them.  Country provided almost an identical rate, without requiring me to do auto-pay!

I've bought several cars over the years, and have had three really bad experiences, a couple of okay experiences, and one or two EXCELLENT ones with different dealerships.

Country Chevrolet is definitely in the EXCELLENT category, with Schultz Ford-Lincoln-Mercury being the other.