Cubit

May 7, 2007 (5:31pm)
59º F, Cloudy, S wind 7 mph.

Good evening,

So we are the proud owners of a cube van. Well .... at least owners. I think we got a reasonable deal on it and hope it proves to be in the future. It is a 2002 Chovey 3500. Color is white and probably will not stay that way too long. The truck is an ex-FedEx truck that is in pretty good shape and has been gone through very carefully from what I can tell. The bottom of the engine has new bearings and been rebuilt. That is also a good thing I think.

We really fell into a deal too. The price we paid is about half of all the prices I can find on and off of the web. I got them to throw in the cost of title, license, and tax too! Kind of off handedly, as we were agreeing to the buying of it, I said something like, "that includes a full tank of gas too, right?" The stopped for a moment and answered, "That’s over $100.00 you know." Of course I did, but thought it was worth a try, especially with the price of gasoline these days. It worked! They filled the tank.

One of the really nice things of dealing with this company is the "bargaining" process. After an initial "conference" with the owner, the salesman was on his own to make the deal. I really think the conference was a gimmick to get us to meet him. Everyone at the dealership really had a time trying to pronounce Margriet’s name. Didn’t know there were that many ways. Another VERY nice amenity, was an offer to have one of their people drive to our home and give us a ride back to pick up the truck. That really was above and beyond the call from my standpoint. It is about a 30 mile ride each way. I had intended to con someone at church to give me a ride over to pick it up either this afternoon or tomorrow, depending on their schedule. This was a far better idea.

The truck, while riding like a truck, has a much better ride than expected. It does have many amenities of a van. I do miss the speed control and the electric window switch I can’t find. I do need to do a few little tweaks to make is work better for me, but generally it is set up pretty well. There is a walk through door between the cab and the cube, but it rattles like crazy and I will look at that one of the first things. The cab is very tall, allowing one to stand up in it. The catch on the glove compartment is broken, but that can be remedied without a whole lot of trouble. I also need to put in some tie-downs in the cube, as FedEx too out their shelving and there are just bare walls. The floor is pretty solid wood in good shape. The walls of the cube are a fiberglass and foam sandwich about an inch think. The remainder of the box is aluminum.

Before going to get the truck, we had the last of our eye checks at the eye doctor in Algoma. Should be getting new glasses this week yet. Time to get a-going.

In Christ My Saviour,

Chris ><>