I turned in my 2006 Dodge Dakota today. The lease is up the first of December, but I have already made my last payment and have already found the new used vehicle I am going to purchase so  rather than missing the opportunity to purchase the vehicle I want I decided to turn the Dakota in early. In order to make sure the turn it went well I had the dealer (Cueter Chrysler Jeep) look at it the other day. They found some scrapes and scratches on the front bumper (looks like someone scrapped up against my bumper at one point in time) that could have cost me a penalty to turn it in. So I decided to have my insurance company look at it today and they found me not to be at fault for the damage, and seeing as I have broad form collision coverage on the vehicle, I do not have to pay my deductible to have it fixed. Turns out that there was about $300 worth of damage to the bumper, I am just happy that I do not have to pay anything for it. I do, however, need to make one final payment of $450.50 to Chrysler just to turn the Dakota back in to them, which is more than my truck payment was ($330.00) for the lease.

After spending the afternoon at the insurance companies adjustment office to get the quote and check for the damage to the bumper I went to Cueter to turn in the Dakota, sign off on the ending mileage (27, 622) and present the repair quote and check to their body shop. While this was going on Melissa was nice enough to remove my plate from the truck and then we were able to go get my new truck.

I now own (am buying) a Silver 2006 GMC Envoy 4×4 from Jim Bradley in Ann Arbor. This vehicle has everything I was looking for in an SUV:

• 4 wheel drive
• step ups for Kylie
• tow package with trailer wiring
• remote key-less entry

In addition I still have everything the Dakota had (including adjustable lumbar support, and fog lights), plus I got a few additional features that are just an added bonus:

• Moon roof
• Roof rack
• Auto rearview mirror dimming
• Heated sideview mirrors

I am also having them install one of the other two things I was really looking for; a remote starter. The only other thing I want to eventually add is an iPod dock so I can directly attach my iPod to the stereo. The starting mileage (24,204) is even lower than what I had on the Dakota.

All in all I am really happy with my decision to purchase this vehicle. Even with the added things that I got with it, my monthly payment only went up by $6.88 a month (total purchase price of $19,300), not to bad I think. I am hoping to be able to pay it off sooner than the 6 years I have financed it for as well.  The one down side is that I couldn’t get the extended warranty, hopefully nothing goes terribly wrong with it. 🙂