Wow. That is a bummer of a way to buy a vehicle. I have a friend that had to buy a new car that way, too. Car died en-route somewhere, and he ended up just leaving it and buying a new one (a Honda Odyssey minivan...you want to talk about an "everything" hauler! Whew...he can carry an amazing amount of people and all their gear in that thing. And at 72 y.o, he and his wife don't exactly fit into the category of minivan-driving soccer moms!).
Good luck with the new Escape. As I had mentioned, I have no major complaints about mine. I hope yours serves you as well as ours has for us.