Car shopping (now very long)

[jenP_97]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at y..., "cindysphynx" <cindysphynx at h...> wrote:

> I find new car buying far more upsetting than used car buying, 
> though.  You go in as a reasonably well-educated, mature, and 
> thoughtful person, but you are presumed to be a total car-buying 
> idiot until you prove otherwise.  On my last such excursion (1992), 
> I went by myself to buy the family car.  The salesMAN patiently 
> explained that he sold a car to a wife once, and the husband didn't 
> like it, and it was a big mess.  
> 
> Cindy (driving her car into the ground to avoid a trip to a 
> dealership)

Haha... that's pretty similar to what my little sister experienced 
when she bought her first new car.  She'd just graduated college, had 
some extra money in her pocket (don't know HOW she accomplished 
that), had a new job with the county as a social worker, and was 
living with my dad, so no bills.  So she decided to get a Honda 
Accord... 

Went to the first dealership (the largest in the area).  SalesMAN 
came out and asked her what she was looking for.  Now, my sister was 
VERY well-informed about the car.  She knew *exactly* what she 
wanted, exactly what she wanted to pay for it, exactly what the blue 
book value was, etc.  She had a printout of exactly how much all her 
options cost the dealer, and was pretty confident... so she went in 
with the idea that she was going to get exactly what she wanted 
without a lot of bs from the salesman.  Ha!  Salesman asked her what 
she wanted, she said that she was looking for a 4-door Accord.  He 
took her to a "blue" one, and asked her, "Now... isn't this a 
beautiful automobile?"  She said, "Sure, that's why I picked this 
model.  But why do you have a 'dealer markup' listed on the sticker?  
Let's just take *that* right off, okay?" And proceeded to tell him 
that he'd marked such and such too high, because it was only worth 
_this_ much, and so on.  He was pretty patient with her, telling her 
that "Well, we're in business... we have to make enough money to pay 
our rent, don't we?" and "Well, when you have weather where it rains, 
then has a long dry period, then rains, then is dry, you have a real 
rust problem on your hand and the undercoat is a GREAT value!"  
(note: undercoat is useless, and we get under 5 inches of rain per 
YEAR, so you can own a car for 20 years and never see a spot of rust 
ANYWHERE) So anyway, she finally found one w/ options she liked, got 
in, and the first thing the salesman said to her when she turned on 
the engine was, "See?  Very quiet.  You won't spill a drop of your 
coffee while you're driving around in this car.  Now this is special 
- look here - it's a SUNGLASSES holder!  All you have to do is touch 
this, and it conveniently opens at optimum reach distance!"

Sheesh.  My sister had a fun time with him.  When he absolutely 
refused to take up the dealer markup, she said it was time for her to 
leave, and he *actually* told her that "Go ahead and leave - you're 
never going to get a better value than this, and you're going to feel 
very stupid in the morning when you realize what you've given up."  
She said, "Ah.  Well, maybe tomorrow, when I fax you the amount I got 
from another dealer and you know that you lost a sale and financing 
deal, you'll be able to say the same thing about yourself."  And 
walked off.

She got exactly what she wanted the next day at another dealer, and 
she made her salesman call the one she'd seen the previous day and 
rub it in.  Apparently, the rude salesman hung up on the other one, 
but what can you expect.  No manners. ;)

Jen (who apologizes for the length of this, but isn't *really* 
sorry... hehehe)