SO...a lot has been going on for the past few days...the local place who said he would "ask his manager" if they could sell me a FEH with the X-Plan didn't pan through. He called on Wednesday night and said that because they didn't know how many FEH's would be allotted to them, they couldn't do that deal (I'm not sure what one thing has to do with the other, but...). So much for that. Pity they were the closest Ford dealership to me and where I currently do all of my maintenance and repair on my 2002 Sport Trac.

Meanwhile, I didn't want to keep all of my eggs in one basket so I had called a bunch of other Ford dealerships in the area to see what they would say about the X-Plan. One never answered their phone. One was too busy to talk to me and could they call me back. One had to check with the manager and get back to me but never did, one had to talk to the manager and called back and said "No."

And one said a resounding YES.

((THUD))

So I double-checked. FEH? Yes. '09, not '08? Yes. You'll be able to order it? Yes. And you'll sell it to us for X-Plan? Yes.

Wow.

So we went yesterday.

They actually had an '08 FEH on the lot. It was used, which I guess was why they didn't have it on the Ford inventory site when I had checked the other day. How on earth it had 27K on it is beyond me but whatever...he showed us the highlights, gave us the keys and said "Go. I'll see you when you get back." So we drove around for a good 15 or 20 minutes...fast, slow, with A/C on and in econ mode (OK, and with EVERYTHING off at a red light once or twice, so we could hear the "nothingness" of the motor).

Everything was fine so we ordered it! '08 FEH Ltd, all the bells and whistles AND he recommended a local place that might be able to help me with my issues regarding my "vertical challange" and the lift gate.

My only concern is that we have nothing in writing that says they're selling it to us for the X-Plan price. Part of me is worried about that (because I'm generally a cynical person who doesn't trust people) and the other part of me is pretty sure they're going to come through for us (the dealership is "down home good ol' boys", the owner is a Deacon in his church, they have no negatives listed with the BBB, etc). So I'm about 80% comfortable (grin).