Car Buying

Enkidu

Who Princess wrote: »

Enkidu, thanks! I can believe that about your mom's Civic wagon. I knew someone who had one. Great cars. I agree about seeing teens with expensive new cars. I know that makes me sound like an old fart, but I am one anyway.

People would stop my mom on the street and ask if she wanted to sell it. She lived in Virginia so it went through snow and sleet and just kept on working.

We went into the car dealership very prepared. And the only thing I wanted extra (oh, Imalive is gonna make fun of me again) was heated seats. Yeah, I live in LA, but we don't have a garage so sometimes in the morning heated seats are really nice.

Wobbie

I will not make fun of you....warm buns are a good thing.

deadendp

Our last experience with purchasing a car was a pain in my ass.

My RAV had to go in for an oil change and recall repairs. I phoned a salesman and told him that since I was going to be there at the dealership waiting anyhow, I wondered if they had a Yaris on the lot that I could test drive. My husband drives generally a half hour to work and he wanted something economical.

Do we have a trade? Yes, a 1997 Tercel. (This was December, 2013.)

I go to the dealership. I'm dropping the RAV off to the gentlepeople at service and some guy walks in and says, "My appointment hasn't shown up yet and it is noon!" Then he looked at me and said, "Well, are you Amy?" :tip of the head and clinching my teeth: "Yes, I am. When I made my appointment with you, I told you that I needed to drop my RAV off and I would be in to see you right after."

We walk out of the service door and he says, "So, did you bring your Tercel with you?"

"Well, as I just said and I stated when I phoned, I brought the RAV in for service. Unless I can drive two cars at once, then no-- I did not."

We go out. He shows me the Yaris. Fantastic. "Can we take it for a test drive?"

This is where he starts giving me statistics about the percentage of people who can drive standard vs. those who really do and what a low percentage it is of women who can.

Really?

I drove off and he was stunned. I think he expected me to stall it and not even get it out of the lot. Asshole.

So we take it for a drive. It's lovely. We get back and he says, "So, the dealership wants me to ask what I can do to get you in this car today."

"As I stated previously, this car is for my husband. It is not my place to purchase a car for him. I was doing a bit of legwork. I was the first who had the opportunity to drive it, but ultimately, it is up to him." Then he takes me to meet with their finance guy. This is where it got real ugly. They took me to a secluded room towards the back of the dealership. I have the two of them badgering me about buying a car and signing today . . . I was texting back and forth to my husband to tell him where I was and what was going on. They wanted to run financing. We did not rob a bank, but we didn't need to finance because I had saved for years to buy the car in cash. They were mad. "You know, no one will give you any type of deal with cash. That's not where the deals are at." I also told them that as a responsible consumer, we were price checking. "Where are you checking around?" "The Cleveland area." "Well, we can't even touch Cleveland prices!" Am I supposed to feel sorry for them? This is a major car dealership in the area. My heart did not bleed for them.

They wouldn't look at the Tercel for any type of trade-in.

I was finally able to escape, I got my vehicle and promptly went home to write the dealership owner a letter. I told him that we were driving 40 minutes north to purchase the car in Cleveland. We did. They were wonderful. I haggled the price down. We had the Yaris driven up from Cincinnati so that it was the color that my husband wanted. They happily purchased the Tercel from us without a problem. It was a 16 year old vehicle with 235,000 miles on it. They said a college kid would buy it cheap.

I will continue to go to the local dealership for service only. Their service department is wonderful. We will never purchase another vehicle from them ever again.

Halifax2TheMax

I have a market changing concept for car purchasing. Send me a blank check, your social security number and your full name. Once you do, I'll let you invest in my concept. I'm telling you, as one who hates the car buying process in this, the 21st Century, we can and will do better. But, in all seriousness, I feel your pain.

Hobbes

Agreed with statement above about timing. Went in on Halloween 2013. Through some clever chit chat between my girlfriend and the salesman, found out he needed to meet his quota for the month. Desperate to make a sale and to get home to take his kid out trick or treating, the haggling process was pretty painless. He dropped five grand off the price without me even trying.

Again, research is important. I knew exactly what I wanted. When he asked what I was looking for and rattled off everything down the color, trim and accessories, he knew he wasn't going to sell me anything else.

That was my first new car purchase. I had heard horror stories and by no means was this a walk in the park, but it wasn't so bad.

2014 Subaru Outback, in case you were curious.

HesCalledDyer

When I bought my car, I did my research beforehand online, knew exactly what I wanted. It only came with two options, 1) a moonroof and 2) traction control. I wanted the moonroof, didn't want TCS. Wanted the car in silver, I wanted a 5-speed, and I wanted the hatchback not the 4-door. I visited the two local dealerships and called a bunch out-of-town. I cannot tell you how many times I heard "We have what you're looking for in red/blue/black//white." Uh, then you DON'T have what I'm looking for. "We have what you're looking for in an automatic." Uh, then you DON'T have what I'm looking for. "We have what you're looking for without a moonroof, but we can install a pop-up." Uh, 100% fuck no! Seriously had a dealer tell me they would install an aftermarket pop-up sunroof on a brand new car!!

I ended up buying my car at the ONE dealership who said over the phone "We don't have what you're looking for in our inventory, but let me check our dealer swap and see if I can locate one." The guy called me back an hour later and said he found it. I asked him "Silver, right?" Yes. "Hatchback?" Yes. "5-speed?" Yes. "Moonroof?" Yes. "Traction control?" No. He then sent me a quote with the offering price and his signature. Starting price was $5 under factory invoice and he threw two mfg rebates on top of that. Their price was $5k less than every other dealer who couldn't even get me the car I wanted in the first place. 11 years later I'm still driving it and when I buy my next car, I will go back to the same dealer.