Some updates:
- The wife is feeling strongly about being on the road in mid April.
- The wife is feeling strongly about wanting a black car not the "old man" metallic gray. I don't care either way, I'm happy to make her happy with the color of the rig.
- She found a car 2hours away, it's priced within our range, with a nice discount. But it's a Laramie, and the MSRP is a lot higher. It lacks some of the features I want.
- The missing features that are difficult to do afterwards are: Clearance Lights, 115Volt Aux Power Outlet, Dash Pass Thru Wire Circuits and I need to check on the dual alternators.
This is the tally, the prices include the advertised discount, but not any negotiation. Furthermore,
Idk what is the average discount from negotiation alone, does anybody have a ballpark estimate?
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I bought my truck pre-covid, and it was a leftover. I ended up paying 60k out the door for a 72k msrp truck. While not the best discount, with the difference in airfare and fuel to get home, plus the time, it was a good deal. Even with current market conditions being a bit more than pre-covid, I don't think I'd accept a discount of less than 8%, considering certain dealers are offering 12-15% but may require a trip.
Black trucks look amazing when clean, but they only stay clean about 20 minutes in my experience. If you don't care, or it's worth the wifes approval then rock on.
Laramie does have some nicer interior features (nicer dash for example), but if I were to start over, I think I would have opted for a lower trim and just added the few upgrades I wanted. You can add a lot of stuff after the fact if you're willing to put in a bit of elbow grease and time/money.
I don't know that I'd do clearance lights after the fact personally. Some folks have great luck, but man it makes me nervous. That said, I too had to have them so if it's what you can get, live it up.
I can't imagine the power outlet is that tricky, but may want to look on one of the ram specific forums to ask and see. The dash pass through being the aux? Plenty of folks have added that no prob. The aux fuse box is actually pre-installed, so you're ahead there. I would think adding a second alt should be pretty easy. There is a dual alt option from the factory obviously, so it should be as simple as finding the numbers for the alternator, mounting bracket, longer belt, and some large gauge wiring. I'd expect that all to be under 600-700 bucks.
A lot of guys are gonna tell you to just get out and rough it, especially old timers or guys that felt like they have earned the right to poop on the whole "overlanding" scene. I'll be the first to admit there are a lot of mall crawlers and all that, but some guys just enjoy it. How many guys soup up their cars and absolutely never hit the track? How many guys have crazy bass boats that are unnecessary? I could go on but at the end of the day, it's your money and if you've got the means go for it. It may be unnecessary expense in certain cases, but if you want it or it adds value to your life do it up. Hobbies rarely make financial sense, this one being no different.