Ever since I met my first set of in laws, Jim and Nell Black, I’ve purchased my vehicles in Manning or Kingstree. When I met him, Mr. Black owned Santee Motor Company in Manning, SC, and Longstreet Motor Company in Kingstree, SC. Between the two dealerships, he retailed almost all the GM brands, including Cadillac. Shortly after their daughter, Kinsey, passed away, he sold Santee Pontiac/Buick/GMC to friendly competitor Prothro Chevrolet, respectively. Given the circumstances, it was a natural and seamless move for all involved. Win/Win.
To date, I’ve purchased two trucks, and my current car from one of these two dealerships. Fast forward to this weekend. On Saturday, Jennifer, Finley, I cruised to Kingstree to trade Jennifer’s SUV for a nice shiny….MINIVAN!
Over the years I’ve stayed true to Mr. Black’s brands, too. This time, however, because Jennifer wanted to go the minivan route, we ventured into the world of Honda. To this point, I asked one of my best car buddies, Chase Craven, “If the Toyota and Honda’s minivans are so popular/hard to get, why doesn’t GM get into the the minivan game?” His response, “It’s just not who they are.” I get that.
I should mention too that as much as I would’ve liked for Jennifer to get a Yukon or Tahoe, she works in one of the downtown towers. What does that mean?? Garage. I can certainly understand why she wouldn’t want to maneuver a Yukon through a parking garage every day. The Odyssey is a smooth fit.
Jennifer owned her red Explorer for almost 11 years. I’ve never known her to drive anything else, and to her credit, she’s been without a car payment for a very long time. That said, this was a tough mental step. Uncharacteristically for me, I was able to vanish my payment about a year ago as well. Obviously, it’s been nice for our little family to not have a car payment at all.
So far we’re impressed with the Odyssey. The ride is awesome, and there are buttons on top of buttons, but the biggest reason she wanted this is the sliding doors. Since Finley can’t open a car door yet, but can let herself in, this will be an extremely convenient feature.
Yay to Jennifer for waiting on what she really wanted. Thanks to Mr. Black for making it happen.
All the sudden, we’re a minivan fam!
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