Our new ride

On Saturday we said goodbye to our 2000 Toyota 4-Runner. It was a little sad. Kind of like saying goodbye to a part of the family.
Then we welcomed a new member of our family, a 2003 GMC Yukon Denali.
We love her already!
Why the new vehicle? Our 4 Runner has been causing us some grief over the past several months. We knew a bigger vehicle was part of our future plans, but didn't know when we might actually need it. We've been trying to have another child for several months now, but things don't always go as planned. I'm not complaining in anyway, just saying that is something that doesn't always happen when you want it to. I know it's all apart of Heavenly Fathers plan and he knows what is best for me more than I do. But this is just one step in that direction. I knew that once we got the bigger vehicle, people would wonder if I was pregnant so I'm just putting that out there.
For now, it's nice to have more room. It's nice to be able to take friends and family with us when we go places. Some of you might have your opinions about bigger SUVs. I've heard them all so no need to share. We are adults that make our own choices. I'll drive my car and you drive yours. :)

I'm just glad it all worked out. We test drove more than I remember and when this one popped up on KSL, it seemed too good to be true. Luckily, Marty was off work that day so we could drive right up to North Salt Lake to take a look at it. We knew it was the right one. We found it on Tuesday, March 15th at Dave Co Auto Sales. Before this, I kept commenting to Marty about how I hoped we would be guided to the right vehicle and that hopefully we would just know. It was frustrating to find great vehicles that had some bad things wrong with them (smoke smell, rust, etc). We had planned to buy a 2004 or 2005. This one is a 2003, but only has 72000 or so miles on it so that is why we considered it. We were amazed at how many vehicles we found with way over 100,000 miles on it.
This dealer offered us a really low trade-in price on our 4-Runner. Because we had been to several dealers, we knew of a dealer that would pay more for it. We contacted Ben at Ben's Auto and he agreed to buy it for a $1000 more than the other place. Sweet! It's still less than we had hoped for, but we felt it was better than trying to sell it ourselves. We had been watching KSL and our particular year of 4 Runner wasn't selling that quickly.
It took a few days of running around to confirm our auto loan. We didn't borrow too much money, but it was quite the ordeal. We applied at America First Credit Union because we bank there and because they were offering 2.99% auto loans. Turns out that is a tricky marketing scheme. They will only give you that rate if you buy a 2008 or above. 2004-2007 was a rate of 3.49%. If your car is 2003 or below, it jumps to 5.75%! Yikes!! And that's with good credit. Fortunately, the lady who preapproved us, told us we were approved for the 2.99% and we didn't find out the other information until we went to close on the loan. I was stubborn and refused to borrow at 5.75% when I knew they could do lower. Plus, I knew my parents would loan me money at a lower percentage then that. So the bank manager did some magic and based on our circumstances, credit scores, and because this percentage rate change is still new, they lowered the rate to 2.99%. Phew! It was a lot more frustrating then that when we were going through it. I found it frustrating that they were trying to encourage us to buy a newer car that we couldn't afford. I even told the bank manager that I could buy a brand new car, but that then they would need to come get the car in a few months when I couldn't make the payments. haha. :)
It all worked out really well in the end. I'm so grateful it did!