My Journey

[LVJourney]

Our Black SXT has now been in our possession for four days......I really like this vehicle! I do want to share our experience in purchasing it however and hope that others can learn from our example.

We have a baby on the way (Jan.) so we wanted to get a new car with more seating, our families are out of state and will hopefully come to see the baby. Anyhow we started looking for a 7-8 passenger and were really troubled, expensive, lousy gas mileage, etc. Then I found the Journey. We went that night and test drove...two of them, the SE 2.4L and then a 3.5L R/T...long story short I had done my homework and knew exactly what I wanted, so I sat down to configure a vehicle, when we finished the Dealer did a check....nothing like this within 500 miles so either I can order one (and wait for 4 weeks to 9 months!) or he'll make me a deal on the ones he has....then I tell him I am the son of a retired Chrysler employee....now it's "Well go home a figure out what you want then we'll order it. While I am researching what options we want I notice that on Chryslers site I am getting charged 2 and 3 times for the same equipment (u-connect included in several packages, front and back temp controls in multiple packages, etc...Several calls to dodge and no one can tell me why. Never did get this resolved.

Started looking myself at other dealerships around town and found one with the vehicle configured the way I wanted. Went there that night. The vehicle I wanted I was told was out as a "demo" which meant the owner of the dealership decided he would keep it for himself for a few weeks before he would sell it. We did end up finding one that was almost what we wanted, the only real problem was it didn't have the mygig radio that I wanted, just the 6 disc sat radio. After asking about adding it on later I was told it would be an extra $1400! For a $612 radio??? No thanks. After two trips and several hours of paperwork we end up in F&I...I had done my homework...no extended warranty for me! The wife felt different and after three hours of negotiating we ended up with a 6 year 60,000 mile bumper to bumper with rental car for overnight repairs for $1020, not bad.

So far the vehicle has been super. I wish I had the u-connect, the voice command, and the mygig..Anyone know about adding these things? I was under the impression that the vehicle was already wired for all of this; it was just a few parts and labor? Has anyone done this? Any prices?

One final note, at the last minute the F&I guy threw a $299 VIN etching charge at us. I blew a gasket! I had read on-line that this ridiculous charge was all dealer profit (VIN etching of glass can be done for $15) I said "No way!" The F&I guy said "well it's already been done so you have to pay for it." Again I say no way, get me you're boss right now or I am walking out. Mind you we have now been at the dealer for 5 1/2 hours and haven't even seen the vehicle yet so I am a little aggravated. The boss comes in and deletes the fee immediately.

So I will post more as we break in the vehicle. All in all, I love the Journey, and feel my homework got me the best deal anyone could get.

Don't stop believin'

C

[bigroo]

I had fun haggling with my guys too, and I work here. I know they made money off of me, but oh well, I make money off of them. I actually could have gotten a better deal from the dealer across town, but why bother. The service contract I got is a lifetime service contract with a hundred dollar deductible and five days of rental. I didn't believe it, but I looked at my vehicle on dealer connect, and it says, my service contract expires 2099. I was amazed. Congrats on the Journey, its an awesome vehicle. I keep finding places to hide stuff.

[frank journey]

Our Black SXT has now been in our possession for four days......I really like this vehicle! I do want to share our experience in purchasing it however and hope that others can learn from our example.

We have a baby on the way (Jan.) so we wanted to get a new car with more seating, our families are out of state and will hopefully come to see the baby. Anyhow we started looking for a 7-8 passenger and were really troubled, expensive, lousy gas mileage, etc. Then I found the Journey. We went that night and test drove...two of them, the SE 2.4L and then a 3.5L R/T...long story short I had done my homework and knew exactly what I wanted, so I sat down to configure a vehicle, when we finished the Dealer did a check....nothing like this within 500 miles so either I can order one (and wait for 4 weeks to 9 months!) or he'll make me a deal on the ones he has....then I tell him I am the son of a retired Chrysler employee....now it's "Well go home a figure out what you want then we'll order it. While I am researching what options we want I notice that on Chryslers site I am getting charged 2 and 3 times for the same equipment (u-connect included in several packages, front and back temp controls in multiple packages, etc...Several calls to dodge and no one can tell me why. Never did get this resolved.

Started looking myself at other dealerships around town and found one with the vehicle configured the way I wanted. Went there that night. The vehicle I wanted I was told was out as a "demo" which meant the owner of the dealership decided he would keep it for himself for a few weeks before he would sell it. We did end up finding one that was almost what we wanted, the only real problem was it didn't have the mygig radio that I wanted, just the 6 disc sat radio. After asking about adding it on later I was told it would be an extra $1400! For a $612 radio??? No thanks. After two trips and several hours of paperwork we end up in F&I...I had done my homework...no extended warranty for me! The wife felt different and after three hours of negotiating we ended up with a 6 year 60,000 mile bumper to bumper with rental car for overnight repairs for $1020, not bad.

So far the vehicle has been super. I wish I had the u-connect, the voice command, and the mygig..Anyone know about adding these things? I was under the impression that the vehicle was already wired for all of this; it was just a few parts and labor? Has anyone done this? Any prices?

One final note, at the last minute the F&I guy threw a $299 VIN etching charge at us. I blew a gasket! I had read on-line that this ridiculous charge was all dealer profit (VIN etching of glass can be done for $15) I said "No way!" The F&I guy said "well it's already been done so you have to pay for it." Again I say no way, get me you're boss right now or I am walking out. Mind you we have now been at the dealer for 5 1/2 hours and haven't even seen the vehicle yet so I am a little aggravated. The boss comes in and deletes the fee immediately.

So I will post more as we break in the vehicle. All in all, I love the Journey, and feel my homework got me the best deal anyone could get.

Don't stop believin'

C

[frank journey]

I also bought a journey. I had to go 500 miles to get the one with the options we wanted. I bought the lifetime bumper to bumper and hope it works. I also found price ranges for the same car but in the end I paid somewhere in the middle. we had a chrysler pacifica and if they would of made it in o9 I would of bought another.I have a black RT fwd.I put the chrome body side mouldings on along with window sill chrome trim and tomorrow I am having a wood dash trim kit put in. it handles nice but it was not showy enough in or out for me. for about 700 dollars it really looks alot better now.

Our Black SXT has now been in our possession for four days......I really like this vehicle! I do want to share our experience in purchasing it however and hope that others can learn from our example.

We have a baby on the way (Jan.) so we wanted to get a new car with more seating, our families are out of state and will hopefully come to see the baby. Anyhow we started looking for a 7-8 passenger and were really troubled, expensive, lousy gas mileage, etc. Then I found the Journey. We went that night and test drove...two of them, the SE 2.4L and then a 3.5L R/T...long story short I had done my homework and knew exactly what I wanted, so I sat down to configure a vehicle, when we finished the Dealer did a check....nothing like this within 500 miles so either I can order one (and wait for 4 weeks to 9 months!) or he'll make me a deal on the ones he has....then I tell him I am the son of a retired Chrysler employee....now it's "Well go home a figure out what you want then we'll order it. While I am researching what options we want I notice that on Chryslers site I am getting charged 2 and 3 times for the same equipment (u-connect included in several packages, front and back temp controls in multiple packages, etc...Several calls to dodge and no one can tell me why. Never did get this resolved.

Started looking myself at other dealerships around town and found one with the vehicle configured the way I wanted. Went there that night. The vehicle I wanted I was told was out as a "demo" which meant the owner of the dealership decided he would keep it for himself for a few weeks before he would sell it. We did end up finding one that was almost what we wanted, the only real problem was it didn't have the mygig radio that I wanted, just the 6 disc sat radio. After asking about adding it on later I was told it would be an extra $1400! For a $612 radio??? No thanks. After two trips and several hours of paperwork we end up in F&I...I had done my homework...no extended warranty for me! The wife felt different and after three hours of negotiating we ended up with a 6 year 60,000 mile bumper to bumper with rental car for overnight repairs for $1020, not bad.

So far the vehicle has been super. I wish I had the u-connect, the voice command, and the mygig..Anyone know about adding these things? I was under the impression that the vehicle was already wired for all of this; it was just a few parts and labor? Has anyone done this? Any prices?

One final note, at the last minute the F&I guy threw a $299 VIN etching charge at us. I blew a gasket! I had read on-line that this ridiculous charge was all dealer profit (VIN etching of glass can be done for $15) I said "No way!" The F&I guy said "well it's already been done so you have to pay for it." Again I say no way, get me you're boss right now or I am walking out. Mind you we have now been at the dealer for 5 1/2 hours and haven't even seen the vehicle yet so I am a little aggravated. The boss comes in and deletes the fee immediately.

So I will post more as we break in the vehicle. All in all, I love the Journey, and feel my homework got me the best deal anyone could get.

Don't stop believin'

C