so we've been on an extremely wild ride the past few days. for our anniversary, my husband wanted to get me the new 2021 tahoe after i've fallen in love with his brand new suburban. what i dislike about the suburban is how long it is, so we decided on a tahoe.
but we've not had a stellar experience. i should start out and say i don't have a tahoe right now, we didn't buy anything this weekend. my husband found a premier in the color i wanted (black) and we went to the dealership to talk to them about it. in that time we were there, about 5-6 other people came by to get out of their cars and look at it. sticker price was $72k and we made an appointment to come back the next morning to do the deal after they'd done the state inspection, detail/wash, the works. next morning, we get up there for our appointment and they'd raised the sticker price by $15k. they added racks, rims, weathertek mats, you name it. none of this was discussed and we'd even asked if there would be markups, to which they said no. sadly we had to walk away from that whole vehicle because they weren't budging on price and we didn't want to waste anymore of our time.
that same day, we went to a few other dealerships and found a few. not the colors i wanted and trim level (LS) so we finally drove by one last lot and found exactly what i was looking for. LT, black, NO markups, sticker price at $62k. only issue? they don't have the keys. apparently the truck driver that dropped vehicles off that morning had accidentally drove off with the keys and will bring them back monday (today). yet another speed bump we'd come across. so we weren't able to drive it or look inside at the interior. we were left shaking our heads but put down a refundable deposit to go do the deal today IF we liked what we saw on the inside and liked how it drove.
it's been such a huge back and forth thing these past few days that now i am even wondering if getting this vehicle is the best thing for me to do right now. we can very easily afford it - thats not the issue. the issue is that this whole experience has left a really bad taste in my mouth. it feels like any and every thing that could go wrong HAS gone wrong. i remember years back, we'd bought a hyundai elantra and had a really poor experience. every time we set foot in that car we were reminded of that experience and it was almost like it had soured that vehicle for us in a way. i'm not saying this vehicle is soured for me, but the experience makes me want to walk away.
i want to hear your opinions on the tahoe. i did check the production date and it's late june 2021. checked the VIN and there are zero recalls. i have heard and been educated on the whole lifter issue, but apparently i am in the clear due to the production date. another thing we were told is that because there is a chip shortage, this LT model will not have the charging pad in the console (i wouldnt use it, and they did refund that on the sticker) and no powered up and down back seats (to flop down when putting groceries in the back or something) but the sticker shows that was refunded as well. the charging pad not being there is fine but the seats are a bit of a bummer. not the worst thing in the world, but felt like the cherry on top in a way. but i also know this was a very rare find - our area doesn't get them often nor does anything within a 250 mile radius (we've look for a couple weeks). we got lucky finding this one because we followed the fleet truck into the dealership and snatched this one.
what are your thoughts/opinions? tell me some things i should be looking for. out the door would be around $63k after trade in and tax, title, etc. GAP insurance is through our credit union and they're waving the processing fee for us.