Lease Up Decision Time

I'm tired of dating. Although I am ready to settle down I have come to a point where I still want to explore my options. Just to make sure. I am engaged to be married and we plan on setting the big date very soon but I'm not talking about men I'm talking about cars. My 3 year lease is up and I will not be leasing again. I love everything about my adorable little Jeep Liberty. Everything that is, except the gas mileage. The car before this was also a Jeep with poor gas mileage and so was the car before it. Bad gas mileage that is, but not a Jeep. I have had horrible gas mileage on every car I've ever owned. So, before I buy out my lease I've decided to see what I could get that is comparable to what it will cost me to buy out my Jeep AND has a lot of the features I love about it, but with better gas mileage. Practically impossible. In fact, I wasn't even considering it at all and had long ago made up my mind about buying my lease until this week.

Used is fine. I won't go lower then 06 or higher then 40,000 miles. Considering my price range I know I might loose out on some of the features I love about my jeep. The leather seats, sun roof, 6 CD changer, and the little thingy that tells me what temperature it is and how many miles there are until my next oil change. And, I'll have to go sedan when I really love sitting up high in my little compact SUV. I've always thought a Honda would be a dependable solid choice of car that I would want to keep forever so I've priced those. I also found a Chrysler Sebring with super low mileage and a dynamite price from the same dealer I leased my car from so I stopped by after work. However, when I showed up the car was nowhere to be found.

The manager wanted me to wait because the car was due to arrive in an hour, but I wasn't having it. It was 6 by now, it had been a long day and I was ready to go home. He basically tried to threaten me into staying by saying that another person was interested in the car and that it may no longer be available if I wait until tomorrow. He tries to get me to "start paperwork" and sell me a car that wasn't even there. The thing he doesn't understand, is that I love my jeep. I really do. It was the first car that had everything I wanted and I've been really happy driving it ever since. I will not be devastated if that Sebring is gone tomorrow. I have a feeling that he may have fabricated that phantom buyer anyhow because when I refused to stick around he said he'd see me tomorrow. I hold the cards here. In fact, I am going to try to negotiate the price even lower then it already is. I have some cash and I am more then happy to stick with my Jeep so he can't scare me into making an on the spot decision.

He underestimates how much I really love my jeep. I am so over spending money on cars. I need to have one and it needs to be dependable but as everyone knows they are not a good investment. Leasing is not considered the most economical thing to do but the first time I did it I really needed security. My first car had gave me such problems then died inexplicably one day forcing me to make a quick decision. I fell in love with the jeep and I couldn't afford it any other way. I planned to buy it but didn't because the 2nd time they offered me such a dynamite deal that leasing and then buying it would only put me about $600 over the actual sticker price. I couldn't have done better if I'd straight out financed it.

Whatever car I go with will hopefully be with me for a long time to come. I will need to keep it until it dies. I need to see how I feel when I first lay eyes on that Sebring and what it's like to sit behind the wheel. If there is no wow factor, no connection then I will keep my Jeep. Not caring is really the best negotiation tool there is and I plan to use it to my advantage. The lease is up on Halloween so I should have my answer very very soon. Thank goodness because I hate having decisions like this to make.