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How did you find you Jeep?

6K views 80 replies 52 participants last post by  penguin_in_a_cj 
#1 ·
Everyday I drove by the dealer I kept looking at this red Jeep on a ramp, and my fiance always said, "Look! there's your Jeep!" The day came I wanted to actually look for a jeep and I went there to look at it. They said it had been sold so I had look for others in the area. They found that it had not been sold, but moved to another dealer. I went there and it was love at first sight. I bought it that day and have loved her ever since. She (Scarlett) is a part of the family now.
My fiance said the other day, "The Jeep was invented by a woman, because nothing so perfect could have come from a man."
 
#2 ·
when i heard that they will stop building the TJ and saw the first pics of th JK i decided to buy a new wrangler 2 years earlier than planned.
then i searched the internet for a new and affordable TJ and find mine at a dealer that directly imports from the US. it was about 25% cheaper than a TJ that came from an official jeep germany dealer.
 
#4 ·
I was on my way to check out a carmax dealer 75 miles away from my house and on the way there saw a kia/jeep dealer and stopped to see what they have. On my way there i saw my red TJ and i'm like thats mine now!!! called the sales man to checked it out and its mine now :D btw for soem reason my luck with red cars.. my old miata was also red.. :D
 
#5 ·
ebay: suburban 4x4 13hr drive away, ebay: excursion 4X4 30min away, craigslist.org: 1998 tj 30min away....

that about does it for my vehicles and where i purchased them... i've had great luck with purchasing online!!

CHEERS!!
 
#6 ·
I searched autotrader.com for a week or so. Looked at alot of rebuilt junk. Be careful what you buy around Florida. I don't think you can total a Jeep here. Somebody's gonna fix it and sell it.
 
#7 ·
I was interested in buying a vehicle for hunting. I was was working in Sacramento and had been looking at this BIG, YELLOW, 850cc, 2 SEAT,4WD ATV. I had actually talked the guys at the dealership to loading into the back of my truck so I could send a phone pic to my wife just to freak her out. Needless to say she called me immediately warning me not to bring that thing home. But then she said some of the most magic words to me which I will never forget "why don't you buy a jeep" I love that woman. I started shopping right away and Sac is a great area for buying used vehicles. There were Jeeps on every corner! I shopped for about two months, then one day I saw this BIG, YELLOW, 4 SEAT, 4WD Wrangler. I knew that Jeep was going to be mine. I wheeled and deal'd and talked the guy down $5500 from his asking (stupidly high)price. I called the boss she said "sign the paper" and I rented a trailer and towed my my new toy home. I just love (the jeep) her.
 
#10 ·
Researched for months trying to find a jeep. I found tons, but none of them felt right. Me and Odhinn went to a local jeep shop that sells custom jeeps and I sat in a 98 sport 4.0 L that was white. I liked it, it was a darn nice jeep but I still wasn't happy about it. I had the cash in my hand to buy what I wanted and I was going to find something that felt right.

Went back home, and someone suggested Craig's list. I figured what the heck I'll give it a try and the first jeep I looked it just happened to be a White 98 Sport TJ 4.0L.

It had a few extras and looked like it was in great shape. So I gave the guy a call and a few days later me and Odhinn drove to his home and gave it a look over. We did a drive by before we actually stopped and the guy was under the hood shining and cleaning it up a lil bit. I Already had a good feeling about the jeep as we drove by, she was calling me.

Odhinn and I went in like wolves ready to pounce. Odhinn was asking all the mechanical questions and I was standing back watching at how he reacted and watched his body language. The guy asked me if i wanted to take it out for a spin on the high way and I had to say yes. Fired her up, but by the time I got around the corner I couldn't wait. I told Odhinn and him that was it, and asked him how he wanted the money.

I wanted to sleep on it for a day before I actually made the final decision but it was already made. The next day I was driving my new Jeep.

I finally came up with a name for her. Her name is "Puddles" After her leaking tranny fluid all over my driveway. I hate plastic gaskets!
 
#11 ·
I've been hitting the usual internet sites (ebay motors, autotrader, automart, cars.com, etc...) for a 4.0L, 5 speed that's under $10k and 80k miles. Found it at craigslist.org 2 weeks ago. Now the wife's complaining I'm spending all my free time on the jeep :)
 
#13 · (Edited)
Internet search. Been wanting to buy one for about 4 years, getting explorers and 4x4 trucks, cuz jeep resale is so high. Finally, my Wife wrecked her Explorer, so I said "It's my turn!" I sesarched the internet and found a Jeep that would do, was very excited. The salesman called me the next day and said he had a better one with a small lift, and fewer miles, Went to see it and fell in love! (took my wife a few weeks) (BTW looked at it on the 27th, was planning on finalizing on the 2nd, Which was a Monday. The dealership called me Thurs and came down on the price just enough, 2k, and I drove it home on Fri! Gotta love quotas!)
 
#15 · (Edited)
Found mine on Craig List for cheap. It had been stolen in 03 and stripped, then layed on it's side. Went and talked to the guy with my recently bought KLR650 (which I bought and sold on CL)on the trailer after doing all the mods they need at a tech day near his house. He saw the bike and come to find out we had met a year earlier at a dualsport ride. He's an internet car salesman who buys and sells current year cars at auction who traded it for a Mustang convertable his son had wrecked and just wanted to get rid of it as a trail machine. It had a cutoff headlight harness, and a check engine light, 2?,000 miles, but everything had been replaced with a new paintjob. Me and a buddy looked it over a couple times and I bought after he took another $1000 off. I fixed everything for a couple hundred bucks. A couple months later the 5 speed failed. 3 months later I found a rebuilt one on CL for $900! With all the crap I've put on it since, I'm in less than $9,000! Today got a brand new front bumper, stabilizer bar cover, and engine skid plate on CL for $60! Tomorrow I pick up a Hartop for $500 from CL. Damn I love that site! Most items I either bought on e-bay(doodads and liftkit), Craigs List(tires, trans, rear springs, ft bumper, skid, Jeep), 4WPs(rear bumper, steering damper, brackets) or Quadratech(rock skids, and doors). I said I was done last week, but I'm too hooked on the deals I keep finding on CL. BTW, i've had bad experiences with the Jeep FOR SALE forums, so I don't go to those anymore. But with my bike forums I've had good experiences.
 
#16 ·
we looked and looked..really for only two months, it seemed to be an inverse combination of price wasn't right, or the mileage was way up there, it looked like it'd been rode hard and put up wet, or it was older than we wanted for a daily driver..etc...

I found this SE at a dealership, and they started at $19k, then a lil lower, lil lower, finally test drove it...lil lower..lil lower...a couple of weeks later it was still there, took the wife to test drive...she said it was up to me...

realizing it's a 4 banger, it's worked out perfectly for us the last two weeks at least :p
 
#20 ·
from the gratuitous jeep page on my pottery website....


I remember sitting in the dealership thinking what the hell am I doing? Have you seen gas prices lately? What the hell are you going to do with a Jeep? But, for years I've desired a Jeep. I'd watched them roll by in groups like a gang of buddies headed anywhere but here. Yes, I romaticized it, but I wanted a Jeep.

My first test drive was a beautiful 2006 slate colored Rubicon decked out to the teeth and ready to eat up the trails. I laughed when he told me what the payment would be and asked to see something a little closer to what I could afford. He took me out to see a little white Wrangle SE. It had the tiniest tires I have ever seen, but I wanted a Jeep so we went back and started the paperwork.

I sat there giving him all the information needed to sign away my first born and changed my mind. I walked out of the dealership with him chasing after me knocking money off the deal. I told him it wasn't the right color and I really wanted silver. He called later that night but I didn't answer. I wanted a jeep but that stinking adult in me was telling me what a big foolish mistake it would be.

It only took a couple hours for the kid in me to muzzle the adult and I was back on the lot the next day after another phone call from the dealer who suddenly had a silver Jeep on the lot. So once again, I was signing paperwork after a test drive around town. This time I didn't have second thoughts and my first born is a distant memory (I'm kidding).
 
#21 ·
Total impulse buy.
Sitting on the couch on a sunday afternoon in October of 2006watching football. My wife called me and said that her mini van was dying and that she was at Carmax ready to sign the papers on a new car and that I should get up there as soon as possible, needless to say, I got her a new PT Cruiser.

Well, while she was test driving cars, I saw the love of my life in the back corner of the lot. When the Carmax rep came back with going on a test drive with my wife I looked at him and told him to go ahead and write up the paper work on the Jeep as well. So I traded in my 2000 White Ford Ranger for a 2003 White Jeep Wrangler.

At the time I knew very little about jeeps, but I learned very quickly from forums like this one what the positives and negatives are on the jeep I have. If I had to do it over again, I know excatly what I would buy...but the Jeep I have now will be in my family for a very long time. I am building her into the Jeep I really want. The Carmax jeep is just a shell to build off of.

Actually about a month ago, I went back over to the Carmax dealership, and the guy that sold me the jeep could not beleive that it was the same jeep he sold me.

That is my story. See Cardomain.com profile for pictures.
 
#24 ·
I bought mine about three weeks ago. My dad's a car dealer and owns a body shop. Every car me and my wife have had has come from him. So my 00 explorer was getting pretty high miles so i told my dad to look for me a jeep. At an aution he found a 99 se with 62,000 miles, and a little body damage for $3500 after buyers fees. The damage was no big deal. Lift, tires , new parts, brand new paint job, will be done hopefully next friday. All for the grand total of about 5700. Gotta love conections.
 
#25 ·
We were looking to replace my car: a LaBaron convertable, had almost decided on a Mustang convertable and Frank came home and asked if I had ever thought about a Jeep. No, I hadn't......but if that's what he wanted, well ok and said we better go test drive one. Researched the options, decided what we wanted, went to the dealership, made the deal & picked it up the next day. I drove it stock for 2 years then we went on a Jeep Jamboree. The next month we joined a Jeep club.

Neither wanted to be a passenger on the trail so I began the search for another Jeep. Found the Rubicon online at a dealership in Pa. Talked long and hard on the deal and almost walked away (see...now we were a more informed consumer), took 3 weeks to get the price we wanted and now I could get Frank out of my Jeep ;)

A year or so ago I was looking on ebay and saw the CJ.....leaned over and said "Honey, isn't this the cutest Jeep?" Frank asked me if I wanted it......needless to say we drove to Maryland to pick it up and smiled all the way home! :D
 
#26 ·
Started with a CJ about 15 years ago. It had no title, no keys and 5 tubs of bondo and a milk crate for a seat. Had to hot wire it everytime and registered it as a 1988 Nissan Sentra (cops didn't like my "extensive body work" phrase). After jumping it over a rock wall at 60 mph and feeling it fall apart underneath me, I said I need to get a real Jeep. I waited many years and when my son turned 5, he saw this orange Jeep and begged me to get it so I went to the dealer and bought it. I'm glad I did.
 
#27 ·
sorry I'm gonna be boring....craigslist...but the guy almost sold her right before I got there, the other potential buyer was moving to hawaii though and needed a clean "no milege descrepencies" title. it said 95k when it actually had 78K
 
#29 ·
I was driving my 2000 ford explorer down the road during a storm and 2 trees blew over onto my hood, and a third came across the back of it. Needless to say it was totalled. My wife picked me up and on the way home I said that I was going to get a jeep and she thought it was a great idea since I had been wanting one for years but the timing was never right. I was planning on taking my time and find one I really loved and for 10 to 15 thousand. The first dealership I went to, they had 2 used Saharas, an 02 and an 03. I loved the color of the 03 and it has been a match made in heaven ever since (even though I spent more than what I wanted to). I'm still a little scared of trees during storms to this day and it been over a year.
 
#30 ·
i use to have an f150 and my fiance had an eclipse well we had to go out and get a 4 door car i had been wating a jeep and was looking for one since i had some extra money but like i said we needed a 4 door so she got a jetta and we traded in my old truck since the eclipse was in better shape...trust me not my idea...i hated that eclipse... so a few months later she asks me to barrow the eclipse for the day she needed it to do something so i was like fine what ever gave her the key and took her car to work that day well next thing i know she comes up to work and tells me you gotta come outside with me right now so i go outside and she points to a red jeep and hands me a key she had been secretly trying to sell the eclipse found someone to buy it and the same day had found a jeep and bought it for me....now tell me thats not the most kick ass women ever... lol
 
#31 ·
That's impressive!

I had a 98 XJ that was on it's last leg. 150k miles, needed $1000 in work + new tires and rims (original base rims all rusted and losing air). Found a dealer willing to give me $2000 towards a 01 TJ Sport - loaded (a/c, D44, ht/st) Had to jump at that opportunity. Too bad it's gray/silver - I was really looking for another red TJ with a tan top/interior.

1998 - 2000 - Black YJ (4 cyl)
2000 - 2003 - Red TJ Sport
2003 - 2005 - Jetta 1.8t
2005 - 2006 - Black YJ (6 cyl)
2006 - 2007 - Green XJ
2007 - current - 01 TJ Sport


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