Finding Joy in Junk Mail: The Best Trade-in Offer Ever!

The other day, Loren went out to the mailbox to get the mail. We have been working on finding joy in the little things, but we did not expect this little treat that we found!

Loren comes into the house with a high class looking Air Ex envelope. With a chuckle he says, “This looks legit, we’d better open it!

You can watch the video here… or I’ll tell you about it below!

Watch the Video

He opens up the envelope to find a printed email from the Toyota dealership by our house. It is meant to look like someone printed out and sent an email of office communication. The email says that someone wants to buy our 2008 Toyota Sienna and they should contact me immediately. They were kind and went ahead and forwarded that information to us via Air Ex.

We have received these types of adds before and thought nothing of them. But today, we decided to pay attention. We had been talking about buying a new vehicle since both of ours are getting up there in age and have a lot of miles on them. My van currently has over 270,000 miles. My Sienna has been the greatest, most reliable car I have ever had. I will be sad when she decides it is time to retire, but we do need to consider that time might be coming soon.

So Loren continues to read.

The email says that someone wants to buy my specific Sienna and they are willing to give us 115% of Black Book Clean Value. Wow! That sounds like a great deal! It also says that with the savings available, we will be able to upgrade to A NEW TOYOTA OF OUR CHOOSING.

A freaking new Toyota of our choosing!

This is fantastic news since we have been talking about getting a Highlander. Loren also would one day like to purchase a Tacoma. We didn’t think we could afford it right now, but this could be our lucky day.

As we read on, it said to give us the offer ASAP. You know, since time is limited. That must be why they sent it “verified fast-tracked mail”. And it even told them to send us a check if they need to. I mean… could this offer get any better?

Then comes the best part…

“they (meaning us, obviously) can upgrade to a new Toyota of their choice and receive…”

Wait for it…

“$0 off the price with their trade-in”

Yep! You read that right.

$0

At this point we were both starting to laugh. But, it gets even better. There is writing on the bottom of the email saying that they are serious about buying our car and they cut us a check.

Loren checks the envelope for anything else. He pulls it out and it is, in fact, a check made out to Loren in the amount of $0. They printed and sent a check for ZERO DOLLARS! (Yes, I am aware it is not a REAL CHECK)

Zero Dollars

At this point, we are hysterically laughing. I think I may have peed my pants a little. I still laugh every time I think about it. I plan to save the envelope, email, and check forever.

The funniest part is that I agree with their idea of how much my minivan is worth to someone else. That thing has been with us for 12 years. Years of babies having blowouts on long car rides, kids eating snacks in car seats, and finding them when we took the car seat out months later, spilled milk from the sippy cup transition phase, snacks on the way home from school that got ground into the seats, and the “slime phase” that no mom even wants to remember. My van is pretty darn gross, but those memories are so worth it to us. My car has tremendous value, but only to our family.

However, I don’t think I will let my kids destroy my new Highlander after we cash in this great deal. I’m much more domestic now and I will definitely make them clean up after themselves.

Getting Serious for a Minute

*** warning*** the part below is sad*** You can skip it if you want*** It basically says 2020 sucks****

2020 has been so stinking challenging. Even before the worldwide pandemic, it was the worst year I can remember. I went into quarantine already mourning. We had to make some heart-wrenching decisions. I had my hardest year as a teacher and decided to make a career change. We have several friends who had to bury a spouse or a child during the quarantine, and I had to say goodbye to my sister-in-law, who passed away unexpectedly and left my youngest brother as a single father. I’ve seen my husband cry three times in the 17 years that we’ve been married. 2020 brought the tears. This year has felt horrendous.

*****okay***** it’s safe again****I’m done with the sad part******now back to the good stuff******

Thank You, Toyota Bountiful

All that being said, I want to say thank you to the marketing department of Toyota Bountiful for giving us a good laugh. Thank you for helping us find joy in something as silly as junk mail. We really needed that. I will probably be in one day for my new Highlander, but I will need a little more incentive than $0.

Out of curiosity, I looked online and checked to see what the black book clean value of my car is, and this is what I found. For the link on consumer reports.org to where I found it, click here.

So… although they were probably right about the actual value, the internet says it is worth $3,125.

So… 115% of that would be $3593.75.

And we still can’t afford to buy a new Highlander. Dang it!

We also found some great games to play with our young teenage sons… and our immature friends. >>>click here to read about it<<<

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