Buying a New Car is Not As Much Fun as it Sounds
We spent the better part of the last week doing nothing more than trying to find Paul a new car, by "new" I don't mean brand new, but new to him. However, after looking for several days we realized that the price point difference between recent year used and brand new 2011 (or even 12) wasn't enough to justify buying used (at least not on any cars we'd consider). Since this was for Paul the choice was really up to him, and he wanted to stick with an SUV so he had the option to pick things up at the hardware store or whatever occasionally (as well as plenty of room to carry his golf clubs).
The accident was Thursday night, so Friday we picked up the rental and met with the adjuster to see what he thought about the car. He was pretty quick to call it totaled and didn't even give us an estimate on fixing it. The good news was that by it being totaled it was suddenly worth a good bit more than had we tried to trade it or sell it ourselves. That was a nice plus. We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday checking out various dealerships to see what Paul might even want. By Saturday afternoon I was worn out and ended up having him take me home and continue on his own. The sales people just seriously sucked the life out of me with their high pressure tactics and using every "game" in the book. Had it been me choosing I would have been quick to walk away, but since it was Paul's choice it was up to him to decide when he'd gotten enough info to just walk away.
While he was out alone he hit up the Nissan dealership. Since it was after dark already and he was still a little stilted from the wreck he wasn't wanting to drive a car but did want to get a feel for it. The sales guy of course was high pressure. Paul commented that he'd have to come back with me anyway to get my input. The guy just short of called him whipped saying that "my wife trusts me enough to make the right decision for us.... I know her so well.... we've been married 2 years..." LOL. I had a feeling some one would pull that crap on him when he went out alone, because I also knew that he'd likely say something about getting my input (it's more about making sure i CAN drive the car he buys than anything else). That pretty well pissed him off enough that he left and didn't want to deal with the guy... yet somehow the guy got his number.
Sunday the lots were all closed but we still drove around to a few and just looked at the cars. Monday he took off early to pick up the accident report and go look at a few more cars. The guy from Nissan had been calling him already and made him a "today only" offer that was too good to be true on a Rogue. We both pretty well knew it was going to be a bait and switch and Paul went so far as to call other dealerships within a 50 mile radius to see if they could meet the price. After a dozen calls back and forth he got the guy to email him the quote (although I wouldn't call what he emailed a real quote - at least not anything he couldn't easily get out of). Paul found out that Lynn Layton in Decatur will "match" any price, and they did. The only issue was that what they matched it with was a demo car with 3500 miles AND it was missing one feature that Paul really wanted - alloy wheels. He could put them on after market but we just weren't sold. We kept it as an option though and kept looking.
By Wednesday I was just frustrated. I'd been making calls during the day and getting online trying to find him a car. By that time he'd pretty well narrowed down his search to either a Nissan Rogue or a newer Kia Sportage (at least 2011). The sales people are no lower pressure on the phone, btw. I was seriously ready to just throw the phone through the window the next time it rang but things did finally start getting better. My mom came by in the afternoon to return my car (which she'd borrowed) and remembered that they knew a guy who worked for one of the Nissan dealerships. Shortly after she got home Ted called me to give me his info, having already called him. So this guy, Jamie, works at the same dealership where Paul had dealt with the jackass earlier in the week. I called him and let him know where we stood, told him about Lester (yes that was really his name - I mean with a name like that his parents just expected him to sell cars I guess, or be a child molester). I told him that had Ted not recommended him there was no way we'd have considered going back to that dealership (between Lester and other things we'd heard). He took all that info to his boss and within 2 hours we had a deal that we were happy with on the Nissan Rogue the class above the car Paul had looked at in Decatur. They just had to transfer the car in.
It took a few days and we stressed in between, wondering if they were delaying us only to get us in the door and have the price be something other than what we'd agreed to. I spent the next 2 days texting back and forth with Jamie asking when the car would be there and finally got a call from the GM Friday afternoon that it would be there late that evening and setting an appointment for us to come sign the next morning. We were still worried. Once we got there everything was as it should be and we even briefly considered getting a second one if they would have given me enough in trade for my car. They actually said they'd give us a second one at the same price (even if they had to go find it). All was well until we hit the Finance office. Why oh Why do they make you go see the Finance Manager when you are paying cash?! Why because Finance Manager is nothing but another name for "Extended Warranty Salesguy". Damn he was pushy and had we not been getting a great deal we would have been tempted to get up and walk out on him for being so pushy. We finally did flat out tell him that he was crossing a line and needed to shut it. From there he was just quick to finish the paperwork and get us out of his office, go figure.
All in all, I'm happy it didn't work out for me to trade my car. I still like it, and after driving Paul's new car a little more I like mine better than his. I'm just happy that we should be good on the car front for at least 5 years now, for both of us (knock on wood).
The accident was Thursday night, so Friday we picked up the rental and met with the adjuster to see what he thought about the car. He was pretty quick to call it totaled and didn't even give us an estimate on fixing it. The good news was that by it being totaled it was suddenly worth a good bit more than had we tried to trade it or sell it ourselves. That was a nice plus. We spent the rest of Friday and Saturday checking out various dealerships to see what Paul might even want. By Saturday afternoon I was worn out and ended up having him take me home and continue on his own. The sales people just seriously sucked the life out of me with their high pressure tactics and using every "game" in the book. Had it been me choosing I would have been quick to walk away, but since it was Paul's choice it was up to him to decide when he'd gotten enough info to just walk away.
While he was out alone he hit up the Nissan dealership. Since it was after dark already and he was still a little stilted from the wreck he wasn't wanting to drive a car but did want to get a feel for it. The sales guy of course was high pressure. Paul commented that he'd have to come back with me anyway to get my input. The guy just short of called him whipped saying that "my wife trusts me enough to make the right decision for us.... I know her so well.... we've been married 2 years..." LOL. I had a feeling some one would pull that crap on him when he went out alone, because I also knew that he'd likely say something about getting my input (it's more about making sure i CAN drive the car he buys than anything else). That pretty well pissed him off enough that he left and didn't want to deal with the guy... yet somehow the guy got his number.
Sunday the lots were all closed but we still drove around to a few and just looked at the cars. Monday he took off early to pick up the accident report and go look at a few more cars. The guy from Nissan had been calling him already and made him a "today only" offer that was too good to be true on a Rogue. We both pretty well knew it was going to be a bait and switch and Paul went so far as to call other dealerships within a 50 mile radius to see if they could meet the price. After a dozen calls back and forth he got the guy to email him the quote (although I wouldn't call what he emailed a real quote - at least not anything he couldn't easily get out of). Paul found out that Lynn Layton in Decatur will "match" any price, and they did. The only issue was that what they matched it with was a demo car with 3500 miles AND it was missing one feature that Paul really wanted - alloy wheels. He could put them on after market but we just weren't sold. We kept it as an option though and kept looking.
By Wednesday I was just frustrated. I'd been making calls during the day and getting online trying to find him a car. By that time he'd pretty well narrowed down his search to either a Nissan Rogue or a newer Kia Sportage (at least 2011). The sales people are no lower pressure on the phone, btw. I was seriously ready to just throw the phone through the window the next time it rang but things did finally start getting better. My mom came by in the afternoon to return my car (which she'd borrowed) and remembered that they knew a guy who worked for one of the Nissan dealerships. Shortly after she got home Ted called me to give me his info, having already called him. So this guy, Jamie, works at the same dealership where Paul had dealt with the jackass earlier in the week. I called him and let him know where we stood, told him about Lester (yes that was really his name - I mean with a name like that his parents just expected him to sell cars I guess, or be a child molester). I told him that had Ted not recommended him there was no way we'd have considered going back to that dealership (between Lester and other things we'd heard). He took all that info to his boss and within 2 hours we had a deal that we were happy with on the Nissan Rogue the class above the car Paul had looked at in Decatur. They just had to transfer the car in.
It took a few days and we stressed in between, wondering if they were delaying us only to get us in the door and have the price be something other than what we'd agreed to. I spent the next 2 days texting back and forth with Jamie asking when the car would be there and finally got a call from the GM Friday afternoon that it would be there late that evening and setting an appointment for us to come sign the next morning. We were still worried. Once we got there everything was as it should be and we even briefly considered getting a second one if they would have given me enough in trade for my car. They actually said they'd give us a second one at the same price (even if they had to go find it). All was well until we hit the Finance office. Why oh Why do they make you go see the Finance Manager when you are paying cash?! Why because Finance Manager is nothing but another name for "Extended Warranty Salesguy". Damn he was pushy and had we not been getting a great deal we would have been tempted to get up and walk out on him for being so pushy. We finally did flat out tell him that he was crossing a line and needed to shut it. From there he was just quick to finish the paperwork and get us out of his office, go figure.
All in all, I'm happy it didn't work out for me to trade my car. I still like it, and after driving Paul's new car a little more I like mine better than his. I'm just happy that we should be good on the car front for at least 5 years now, for both of us (knock on wood).