Recon emblem

[Jay_Jeep]

I had to remove that free advertising on mine too. Thankfully they don't drill through the body panels and affix a badge for that crap anymore. Those days sucked.

My dealer was super chill when I ordered my JL, I requested no dealer stickers, tire cover or license plate and they accommodated so I didn’t have to bother removing anything.

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[LARSONEM]

only free advertising they had on mine was a vanity plate and was replaced with a wrangler one later. Then I got a 392 Wrangler one in black/bronze that is there currently. Thankfully no dealer stickers although my dealer experience was well above my expectations.

I too was surprised the dealer didn’t put a decal and license plate frame on mine either. It was the first vehicle I’d ever bought from them and it took three trips to the showroom floor to get them to order it then sell it to me for invoice price otherwise known as factory wholesale price. Buy the time the Jeep came in 3 months later the honored Chrysler Friends and Family as I was able to get a FFP number from a Chrysler retiree friend. Of equal surprise was the salesman moved the non slotted hex head screws from my trade to protect my personalized plate JEEP4US.

 

[LARSONEM]

So I have this blank area under the left tail light where on my 4xe there used to be the "4xe" emblem. I was thinking something is missing here and decided to see if I can put a Recon emblem there and Viola!, there is one that Mopar sells. Shouldn't these be on the Rubicons as standard?! Yep, my OCD hates blank areas... Mopar wants $71 for it which is crazy.

Actually it’s a perfect spot for our ORV permits here in Michigan.

 

[GrayHawk20]

I too was surprised the dealer didn’t put a decal and license plate frame on mine either. It was the first vehicle I’d ever bought from them and it took three trips to the showroom floor to get them to order it then sell it to me for invoice price otherwise known as factory wholesale price. Buy the time the Jeep came in 3 months later the honored Chrysler Friends and Family as I was able to get a FFP number from a Chrysler retiree friend. Of equal surprise was the salesman moved the non slotted hex head screws from my trade to protect my personalized plate JEEP4US.

Which dealer did you buy from? Bought mine Chapman in PA.

 

[LARSONEM]

Which dealer did you buy from? Bought mine Chapman in PA.

It came from Champion CDJR in Lansing Michigan. They are a growing automotive group in mid Michigan. Along the I-96 corridor they have 3 CDJR locations, 3 Chevrolet locations and a Buick GMC location. Their home store is out of a Chevrolet dealership in the middle of all their locations. It started out as Champion Rocks. They had some blonde chick named Annie that went to our church at one time who was a model working for an advertising agency that did all their commercials. She went away and another better looking blonde chick named Jamie took over all their commercials. She'd point her finger at you on TV and say "our prices are so low, they'll rock you". A friend and I commented once that "she's probably rocking someone all right; too bad it isn't one of us". LOL. Now Danica Patrick stars in all their commercials. Honestly Jamie was better looking. Maybe Danica has a financial interest in Champion now; I don't know.

Honestly I'm not a fan of big automotive or dealership groups, but the manufacturers seem to love them. They sell product and it's less individual dealer principals that the manufacturer has to deal with. It isn't just car dealerships that get gobbled up like this; John Deere corporate stores are constantly buying up more and more stores to add to their empire. Unfortunately that drives out competition. That's what happened in our area; a Kentucky Deere dealer came in and bought 18 stores from two different corporate owners and we lost our family run store.

For the last 30 years I've dealt primarily with a small automotive group, Glenn Buege out of Lansing; one Buick GMC location in Lansing and one Chevrolet location in the small town I live in 15 miles south in Eaton Rapids. I've had 5 Chevrolets and 3 GMCs from them. When my dad was alive he was corporate Secretary Treasurer; knew where every nickle was at both stores. Glenn trusted him and didn't want him to retire; dangled a carrot with money and a furnished car and gas to get him to come back part time even after he retired. Dad finally told him he just couldn't do it anymore. Sadly dad passed away a couple years later. Because of our familes relationship with them as an employee/retiree family member, I've always bought at invoice or supplier price without any haggle. One gets used to dealing in that manner. I'll have to buy a Chevrolet next time I replace one of my GMCs as Glenn sold the Buick GMC store to a mega dealer; LaFontaine Automotive Group, just after I bought my 2500 Denali HD in 2019. Glenn Buege himself was on the showroom floor and talked to me for over an hour a couple weeks ago when I was in the Chevy store. Anyway, the LaFontaine automotive group has 30 plus stores across mid Michigan. They have 5 CDJR locations and 5 Buick GMC locations plus a bunch of other stores; Ford, KIA, Nissian, Toyota, a couple of preowned lots. They make me sick. They may sell vehicles at decent prices most of the time, but their parts and service prices are highly inflated to feed their bloated management structure. LaFontaine sucks so bad that when my neighbor was recently looking for a Jeep Grand Cherokee L, LaFontaine Lansing CDJR wouldn't even dealer trade with one of the other LaFontaine CDJR stores to get him what he wanted. So he bought from another dealer 40 miles away and they even brought the vehicle to his place of business to sign the paperwork and deliver it to him. I told Champion I wouldn't go across town to LaFontaine if they didn't meet my invoice price request, but would leave the area entirely. Thus my insistance of an invoice price when I bought the 2022 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon. I told the salesman, sales manager and general manager there were other CDJR dealers to deal with if they didn't want to do it my way, and I held to my guns. I knew the cards were in my hand because I knew 4 people who had ordered Jeep or Ram products from 2 different dealers and had gotten an invoice price within the last 6 months of 2021. The truth is because it's easy to find the invoice price on the internet, most dealers sell new vehicles for invoice or close to invoice (unless it's a Corvette, Rubicon 392 or something unique) because they have to in order to compete, especially when a customer orders a vehicle and there is no floorplanning (bank loans to the dealer) to keep inventory on the lot. Lot sales especially with limited inventory command a higher prices, thus the consumer advantate to ordering. The dealership money comes from pre-owned, parts and service plus markup stuff like extended warranties, paint and fabric protection, etc.

 

[JLJeepn]

I completed my Jeeps trim namesake "Rubicon" Trail and put my Jeep Trail Badge of Honor on that Passenger side location. I have done other Jeep Badge Trails but I think I am only going to sport this badge on my JL. I think it looks like a factory badge location like you mention. I have a Rebel Offroad aftermarket bumper and my license plate is mounted on the driver side.

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