Time for the Family Car

Although it pains me to have done so, Ali and I traded in my Ford Explorer toward a 2008 Ford Escape. The Escape drives like a big car, whereas the Explorer drove like a small truck. I will miss my "truck" (Ali always makes fun of me for calling it a truck), but with the baby on the way we needed something with four doors. Ali stumbled across the USAA car buying service online, and we jumped at the deals they had for new 2008 vehicle. Essentially, the USAA discount is about what (I figure) a decent negotiator would haggle the price to, but without any skills required on our part except using a web browser. Indeed, we spoke with Matt Sander of Woody Sander Ford (Cincinatti) and he said we were the dealership's first USAA sale. As of date of purchase, they had been a member of the USAA program for three days, and had six new customers inquiring on the phone and in person about purchasing vehicles.

Here is the pricing breakdown.

Sticker price	$26,315.00
Incentives from Ford	$3,750.00
USAA Discount	$1,775.00
Base price	$20,790.00
Total off Sticker	$5,525.00

Tax	$1,620.00
Price out the door	$22,410.00

To Ali and I, this seems like a good deal. The vehicle itself is very nice and drives strong and solid. It has a 3.0L V-6 and automatic 4WD. The documents say it can play MP3's, and I think it may actually play MP3 CD's (not just auxiliary-in). It has lots of features that I don't care too much about, except for the cruise control and digital compass :)

Here is the window sticker.