Up to 7% off in Idaho

[kayakmike]

Question for people who've ordered from Kent/Peterson in the past -- I have my Sport S showing up at their dealership in the next 2-3 weeks. I found a truck already on their lot that I may actually like more (It's max tow, premium audio, cold weather group, tan interior -- the exact 4 options that I've kicked myself for not ordering at one point or another over the last month). Any insight if they'd be open to selling me that one (at the same discount) instead? No idea how it all works -- I'd be nervous they'd be hesitant to have to turn around and sell the one I ordered, instead, given they didn't choose the options set. Though, maybe they wouldn't care. I might email/call/text him in the morning to see, but figured I'd ask here first.

See my post on my build thread. Tried to do basically the same thing. Sold orders are handled differently than dealer stock orders. Kent works with sold orders, dealer stock has to be worked through the GSM. @jncomatrix was able to swap his Granite LE order, but I got the run around when I tried to swap. All you can do is ask and see where it goes...

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-crystal-metallic-le-build.22811/#post-353818

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[Bacon_00]

See my post on my build thread. Tried to do basically the same thing. Sold orders are handled differently than dealer stock orders. Kent works with sold orders, dealer stock has to be worked through the GSM. @jncomatrix was able to swap his Granite LE order, but I got the run around when I tried to swap. All you can do is ask and see where it goes...

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...-crystal-metallic-le-build.22811/#post-353818

Nice, thanks for the insight. I shot him an email asking, we'll see if he replies. He's pretty hit or miss on communication, definitely the most painful aspect of this whole process is just trying to get a hold of the guy. I understand he's pretty overwhelmed, though, so I'm cutting him a lot of slack.

Probably I'll just stick with the one I ordered, but it's a lot of money either way, so I like to keep my options open up until I sign the papers. At the same time, I really wish I'd gotten the premium audio & the heated seats...

 

[jsyn]

I placed my order with Kent yesterday, and I have to say that his communication was perfect. Now, I also kept it simple and easy, since I know his low prices are due to high volume and minimal hand holding. I used the latest monthly dealer Order Guide that's stickied to this Forum to figure out exactly what I wanted. Sent him an e-mail with details and he got back the next day with an order sheet with price, ready for me to sign and send back. The next day around lunchtime he called me to get my credit card information for the deposit. Really friendly guy. His price was 6.08% below invoice. Not the 7% I was hoping for, but I refuse to work with my incompetent local dealers, and even with a 1-way flight and 9 hours of gas it will still be cheaper than using any of those idiots.

I now have a couple weeks to talk to Derik there and finalize any parts I want his team to change out once the truck arrives at the dealership. Hoping for 35" tires, but it will depend on what credit he'll give me for the stock Rubicon ones.

For example, my initial e-mail looked like this:

Hi there Kent, jeepgladiatorforum.com and all its very happy users have sent me to you to see about ordering a new Jeep Gladiator. My FCA Affiliate Control # is below. I understand it's also best to get financing through you, then wait and pay the bills for 6-7 months before paying the vehicle off. That's not a problem. I was hoping your team could review my desired options and come back with your best price.

Non-Vehicle-Related Details:
<my name>
<my address>
<my phone number> (cell)
FCA Affiliate Control # <my affiliate control code>
Vehicle Trade-In Availability: None

Desired Vehicle Details:
JTJS98, 24R, AEK, ALP, AM2, HT1, CMD, ADE, XNY, AD6, GXD, AJ1, ABR, D5X9, PUA

In English, that's:
Jeep Gladiator Rubicon 4x4
8-Spd Automatic 850RE Transmission
8.4" Radio and Premium Audio Group
Advanced Safety Group
Auxiliary Switch Group
Black 3-Piece Hard Top
Cargo Group w/ Trail Rail System
Cold Weather Group
Integrated Off-Road Camera
LED Lighting Group
Remote Proximity Keyless Entry
Safety Group
Trailer Tow Package
Premium Cloth Low-Back Bucket Seats
Gobi Clear Coat

Thanks!

 

[Bacon_00]

Flew out and picked up my Sport S Gladiator (GCM, hard top, anti-spin rear diff, basic tow package) today from Kent! Pretty quick turnaround, all things considered. Kent was totally awesome to work with. I think he said it best when, as he drove my wife and I from the airport to the dealership, he told me "I hate buying cars" -- which is pretty funny coming from a car salesman. He takes everything everybody hates about buying cars (haggling, hidden fees, magically increasing numbers once they hit paper, etc) and removes it from the equation. He offers the best deal (possibly in the country) straight out the gate and you get exactly what you want. Zero pressure from him. I don't plan on buying another Jeep any time soon (fully intend on this thing lasting me many years), but if someday I'm in the market again, he'll be the first person I reach out to without any hesitation whatsoever.

Jay, the finance guy, was much more your typical car salesman, but he was overall pleasant to work with. He talked me into picking up the extended warranty (which I was not intending to do), but he made some valid points and knocked the loan rate down to a not-horrible rate to get me to say yes (though I do have to wonder how much lower it would have gone had I not caved!). Overall the deal removed some pressure in paying the car off quickly and/or worrying about refinancing in 6 months and gives me some solid peace of mind if any infamous FCA electrical issues pop up (or if Gladiators end up falling to pieces once they hit 50k miles because... who knows?). Probably also I padded their pockets a bit more for the day, which... everybody's gotta eat Now that the dust has settled I'd 95% make the same decision again, though it was a hefty and unexpected line-item on the final bill and definitely caused me some in-the-moment anxiety. Easily overlooked, though, given how great Kent himself was to deal with throughout the whole process.

I also worked with Derik in their parts shop to put some JL Rubicon wheels/tires onto the truck, which dramatically changed (and improved) the look of the truck. Super good deal on the wheels and fantastic communication from Derik, and they even loaded up the stock wheels into the bed for me.

As for the truck itself, I drove it 8+ hours today from Idaho to Western Washington and it drove like a dream. My initial takeaways after the drive:

The good:

• It's drives a lot smoother than I expected. Much smoother than my previous 2008 Wrangler. Has the (entirely expected) bit of wandering in the steering at freeway speeds, but it felt much more stable than my old '08 JK. Maybe the longer wheel base is helping? It definitely "likes" to hang out around 55-60 on the freeway, which is what you'd expect from an off-road oriented truck.
• WAY more powerful than I expected. Lots of folks on here talk about the Gladiator being under-powered, but it's easily the "peppiest" car I've ever owned (admittedly I've not owned many, but still). A very pleasant surprise considering I was going in expecting it to feel sluggish (the '08 JK I owned was definitely not a peppy car, so they've apparently made some advancements since then). This was also with 5 wheels & tires in the truck bed, so I'm interested to drive it around with an empty bed and see how that feels. It's totally possible I've just been driving gutless crap for too long, but regardless, I'm loving how responsive it feels.
• The only "off-roading" I did was driving up a really steep driveway covered in loose gravel (so, not off-road ). Even in 2WD it felt like I was on flat pavement starting/stopping on the incline. My old JK would slip and spin the tires on this same driveway in 2WD, so that was neat. Possibly the weight of the tires in the back was helping with this more than the truck itself -- either way, makes me really excited to go take it out actual off-roading somewhere and test it out.
• Really comfortable seats -- I had zero "numb butt" after 8+ hours of driving.
• Got some obvious double-takes from people as I drove past & in parking lots, though I can't say I'm much of an attention seeker. Mostly it just made me feel self-conscious, I think!
• Had 20+MPG at the end of the trip, again with 5 wheels/tires in the back. Not bad!
• Good visibility all around.
• I absolutely love how it looks. Granite Crystal is, to me, easily the best color and I'm SO happy I went with it. Kent took us on a quick loop around the Peterson lot so we could check out all of the other colors in person (he even had Blue, Gobi & Gator hanging out), and while they all looked nice, GCM was 110% the right call for me.
• I'm glad I didn't get anything fancier. I was tempted by the Overland and Rubicon trims and all the various options at one point or another (I even tried to get Kent to swap my truck for on on their lot, at one point), but for my purposes, the Sport S is plenty of truck. I probably would have been fine with a base Sport, to be honest, though I'll definitely enjoy the quality-of-life improvements that the S-trim adds in.

Some minor nitpicks (just so I'm being a fair critic):

• I'm pretty tall (6'4") and could probably do with the seat lowering maybe just another inch or two, but it's alright. I'm used to the world not quite fitting me, so I'm pretty much over it already.
• The ESS is... weird. I ended up turning it off towards the end of the drive (I was coming to a stop at a light and told my wife "aaahhh it's going to stop itself again!!!" and quickly toggled it off ). I'm sure I'll get used to it, its just a bit odd for a first-timer of that feature.
• Once it's paid off I will probably add a subwoofer to help the stock stereo out a bit. It sounds fine, just lacks some needed oomph. Still glad I didn't fork over $1.2k for the Premium Audio -- that seems like a lot to me.
• The stock 5" screen is pretty useless, but it's fine for giving you an additional reference while backing. I still don't think I'd want to pay $1k+ to upgrade to the larger screens -- it's a lot of money when my head can still, thankfully, swivel around like ye olde days -- but that could have been a nice option to add in, if I'm being totally honest.

And finally,

• We got an extremely enthusiastic Jeep Wave from another JT driving the opposite way on the freeway (across a very wide median), which by itself made the whole purchase worth it.

All in all, I love it. It's totally my dream car and I couldn't be more pleased with it. It's a massive purchase for my wife and I (we're pretty frugal by nature and haven't had a car payment in nearly 5 years), and while I'm still getting over the sticker shock of signing that final dotted line, we're both confident it was the right call to add some much needed "YOLO" to our lives.

Obligatory wife-with-Jeep picture!

 

[Gatorized]

I also worked with Derik in their parts shop to put some JL Rubicon wheels/tires onto the truck, which dramatically changed (and improved) the look of the truck. Super good deal on the wheels

Good choice on the wheels! What did you pay for them?

 

[Bacon_00]

Good choice on the wheels! What did you pay for them?

$800 for 4 + the spare

 

[beram]

Picked mine up from Kent on Dec 5th. I started the order process back on Oct 28th. Great communication from both Kent and Derik. Only issue was When I arrived at the airport. It took 45 minutes before I got a response from Kent in which he had me down for arriving on the 6th. I was at the airport for about 1 hour 45 minutes before the courtesy van finally picked me up. By the time I got to the dealership I was there maybe in and out in about 1 hour. First photo is a rest stop on my way home on the 5th. The second photo is on the 7th doing some light off-road.

 

[Mile High Punk'n]

I picked up an in-stock unit on DEC 7th. Kent was great. I'll probably end up getting another power wagon from him next year too.

 

[LJ_Viking]

Hey all - I'm new to the forums, so I've been doing a lot of reading before asking questions, etc, which is how I found this old thread.

I wanted to update this thread as it seems to have died off. This was very helpful for me. I'm in Central CA. One local dealer has some pretty good deals on Rubicons (they were the place to buy for the JL Moabs!!) but the JT Rubicons that have good discounts have EVERYTHING. I don't want everything. Leather at 115 degrees is no fun.

Point is - I found this thread and reach out to Kent. I asked for 2 quotes, a Rubicon and a Sport S max tow - and then asked for changes to each - so 4 quotes total. He's been very helpful. I'm now researching the cost to ship. I'll update this with whatever we decide to do, but if you are looking to order - this is a good option.

 

[kayakmike]

Hey all - I'm new to the forums, so I've been doing a lot of reading before asking questions, etc, which is how I found this old thread.

I wanted to update this thread as it seems to have died off. This was very helpful for me. I'm in Central CA. One local dealer has some pretty good deals on Rubicons (they were the place to buy for the JL Moabs!!) but the JT Rubicons that have good discounts have EVERYTHING. I don't want everything. Leather at 115 degrees is no fun.

Point is - I found this thread and reach out to Kent. I asked for 2 quotes, a Rubicon and a Sport S max tow - and then asked for changes to each - so 4 quotes total. He's been very helpful. I'm now researching the cost to ship. I'll update this with whatever we decide to do, but if you are looking to order - this is a good option.

Why ship? I flew from San Diego to Boise, Kent picked me up at the airport, and drove it back home (spent a few days exploring ID while I was up there). Lots of places to explore and really try out the JT on the way home.

More feedback on Kent & exploring the area on my build page: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/kayakmikes-granite-crystal-metallic-le-build.22811/

 

[bastage]

I am glad everyone BUT ME got a good deal at Peterson... I am local to them & started my search there. They wouldn't do crap for me when I bought in April. Ended up one town over & 7000 dollars less for a Sport S Max Tow. Slightly different features, but the window sticker price between the 2 was within a few hundred dollars.

 

[LJ_Viking]

Why ship? I flew from San Diego to Boise, Kent picked me up at the airport, and drove it back home (spent a few days exploring ID while I was up there). Lots of places to explore and really try out the JT on the way home.

More feedback on Kent & exploring the area on my build page: https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/forum/threads/kayakmikes-granite-crystal-metallic-le-build.22811/

Thanks for the link - I'll check it out. BELIEVE ME, I'd prefer to drive this back - especially around northern Tahoe. I'm in a job that just wont allow that. Unless I postpone buying for a few months. Just can't get the days off right now.

 

[z0lt3c]

My goto for car shipping is uship.com -- If you can find a hauler already on your route with some extra room you can sometimes get some very cheap rates.

 

[ttn333]

I'd be interested in the shipping options as well. Keep us posted. Was planning on buying in sept., but may have to wait longer to see how the economy shakes out in the next few months

 

[Evo]

I'd be interested in the shipping options as well. Keep us posted. Was planning on buying in sept., but may have to wait longer to see how the economy shakes out in the next few months

I've worked with a couple private trustworthy open carriers to ship various cars cross country. Ping me if you want the contact info.

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