The Road To My Jeep, Part I

It took me two and half years to find the Jeep I was looking for.

It first started as a small joke. Shortly after my accident I asked Meghan, “How about I get a Jeep?” My tone was sly and I thought my half smile would give it away as a little joke. I didn’t think she would I agree to it, but she said, “yeah, that would be cool.” I chuckled and let it be. A few days later said I something like, “no, but really. I think I would like to get a Jeep,” which she followed with the same statement as before. I chuckled again. This went on for a couple of weeks as I jokingly told the same to my friend. I was saying the words, but not really believing it. Still the idea was taking root.

Then about a month in a funny thing started happening. My wife and I started pointing out  all the Jeeps we saw as we drove around Northern California. We would try to be the first to spot one and exclaim, “look, there’s a Jeep!” or, “look, a Jeep!” or, just say, “Jeep!” and as we found out, there are many Jeeps in Northern California. It was a fun little game that made the idea of owning a Jeep seem more reasonable and probable. The game was pretty fun, and it’s something we kept up, to some extent, until we bought the Jeep.

I didn’t just drive and point at Jeeps the whole time, though. I also started doing some research. As a general rule, I like to teach myself about the subject for a while before purchasing. This way I can make better purchasing decisions. This also serves two purposes: It cools the excitement some (excitement can lead to impulse buys, something I learned the hard way to stay away from), and  prepares me to hopefully spot bad deals, or good deals. The research made me more knowledgeable on Jeeps, but it didn’t make me an expert. It’s just a good idea I recommend to anyone looking to make a large commitment like this.

So, what did I learn in my research? First thing: There isn’t just one Jeep model, hah! (Of course when I say Jeep, I mean the Jeep Wrangler style of Jeeps) I literally thought that Jeeps never changed. I thought they had remained the same since their inception. Well, in my defense, aesthetic wise, you could say they have stayed close to theirs roots. For a casual onlooker, the main Jeep line would look the same, and I think that is a good thing. Second thing: Jeeps don’t lose their value as others cars do. That was one of the toughest things to get over. I couldn’t believe the prices some people were asking for for 15 year old Jeeps. This disheartened me some, because I was looking to stay within a certain price range, but I also didn’t want a 15 to 20 year old Jeep. I kept looking and reading, and while I learned what made each model different, I started to understand which model was for me.