another new car!

well, aren't we the ones?!

we've been thinking about trading in our eddie bauer edition 2003 ford explorer for some time now. when we were looking for a second car last week (and it was just a week ago that we found one and drove away with it several hours later), we happened to visit the Sims Honda dealership in burlington. while we were there we spoke with an excellent salesman by the name of Don Corpolongo. we've always been leery of car dealerships because of the prototypical salesman image *sleezy, pushy, shady, less than forthcoming*, but! Don was an outstanding guy to deal with! he said his philosopy is that he's there 'not to sell us a car, but to help us buy a car' -- i love that thought!

so with that in mind, and the fact that honda has 0.9% financing for the next five days, we drove back down today and spoke with Don about an Odyssey. four hours later we became the proud new owners of a blue, 2007 Honda EXL Odyssey -- which will look like this one (it's ocean mist metallic which they're calling grey but which is blue). i say 'will look like' because we won't get it until next week and i will get you a personal picture at that time.

but we took care of all the paperwork today. after we finished things with Don, we signed papers with their finance manager Mark Ruderman. once again, this guy was great! everything he shared with us was fully explained and the various warranties were presented without pressure. can you believe that?

at any rate, we were so totally happy with our experience there that i encourage you to do your shopping with Sims Honda and personally with Don Corpolongo. sure, you can mention our name and we get $50 but that is sooooo beside the point. i just would like to get the word out about these guys -- everyone should be so lucky with their car buying experience! in fact, Mark's business card says "Sims Honda, The Country's Greatest Car Store" and we think it's true! Don's number is 360.757.7467 or 800.745.7467 -- one more bonus: it has the lowest sales tax rate on the I-5 corridor.

p.s. and it helped reduce the stress level to be a costco purchase!