Car Buying Experience...
In recent years, I have had positive car buying experiences. In fact before we left for the dealers on Saturday, I was telling Katie that it wasnt like it used to be, and was generally an efficient and pleasant experience. Not this time! Things were set back 10 years!
I sold my old car on craiglist after it being posted only 1 day! Amazing. Craigslist is usually jokers-only. Gone. Sold. 2 grand more than I paid for it 2 years ago! Let's not mention how much I spent on it in those 2 years.
My motivation: I needed a car with real back seats (for booster seat for Nick). Quiet and comfortable for freeway (Portland and back every month atleast) but hot and fun-to-drive. Oh, and automatic, so Katie can pick my drunk-ass up in it. So, switchable automatic, so I can have the illusion of shifting gears. BMW 330Ci.
I found 2 on autotrader. We headed off to the see the first, a 2004 blue one. It was parked behind 20 cars on the lot. We had to climb things to get to it. The guy who came out STANK. Then he sat in the car and lit a cigar! In the car I was potentially buying. The battery was dead. It had been sat on the lot for 6 months! The break disks were rusting. Some interior trim was hanging off! OK, we're out of here. The guy suggested I buy one that was nearer the front, so it was easier to get to!! Bye-bye.
We went to see the second. Ooh, it was so sweet. And nicely presented. Went for a test drive. All's well. Yeah, yeah, rain-sensing wipers etc etc. It had everything I wanted (sport package, premium package, 18" M style wheels, 30,000 miles), OK lets go buy it.
So, until then we had a fairly nice sales guy named Sam. When we went inside, we were "switched". This very weird over-the-top phoney guy stepped in. He was a big-ish black guy, and he had a voice that can only be described as "old fashioned black guy voice". Think the crows from Dumbo. To me, smarty-pants, socially-awkward english guy, this man was weirdly unnerving, and I think he knew it. The sticker on the car said $30,700, reduced from $32,000. So I said, "OK, I want to pay 28 for it. Let's do it?". He said he had to go speak to his boss (which is total bullshit) and disappeared for 15 minutes. In that time, I looked on the internet, on my blackjack :-), and noticed that it was listed on autotrader for 29,700. He comes back in the room and says the lowest he can go is 30k. I said, it's fucking advertised for 29,7! He says no it isnt. I said look on the internet, yes it is. He said "I cant check that right now, the internet department has gone home". You-fucking-what?? I say: I have my own internet department right here on my phone! They never close! He gets on the phone, it actually seems to me like no-one is on the other end, and he is just acting, I shit you not, and he says "can someone send the internet down to this office". Whoa. Then he starts making stuff up about the car, about what its worth and various options, and it is all just non-sequitor nonsense, and clearly lies. It was so weird! He's just making stuff up to me right in front of me, like I'm a 5 year old. I'm really pissed. The price has been going up and down, above what it was advertised, he claims it wasnt on the internet, he claims the internet has gone home etc etc. There was more shit going on than I have mentioned.
"OK, fuck this, were leaving". Katie and I stand up and walk out. He throws his arms up and says "OK, goodbye".
As were walking across the lot, I say to Katie "I totally want that car, I'll just come back tomorrow and get it". Then, someone is yelling over at us and running towards us. It's the previous guy's boss (or atleast that's what he says) and he wants to sort it all out - what happened, he asks? I tell him the crazy story about the guy who doesnt know what the internet is, is a complete liar, and is saying the lowest he can go on it is MORE than it is advertised for. Were stood in the parking lot. He says do you want to buy it for 29,5. OK. Done deal. Here's 10 grand cash.
We had to sit and listen to the woman in the finance department tell us her life story. She has a Harley, a snow-mobile and a Hummer. This woman is single-handedly causing global warming! We havent eaten all day and weve been in this fucking place for 3 hours.
Here it is parked in my garage.
I sold my old car on craiglist after it being posted only 1 day! Amazing. Craigslist is usually jokers-only. Gone. Sold. 2 grand more than I paid for it 2 years ago! Let's not mention how much I spent on it in those 2 years.
My motivation: I needed a car with real back seats (for booster seat for Nick). Quiet and comfortable for freeway (Portland and back every month atleast) but hot and fun-to-drive. Oh, and automatic, so Katie can pick my drunk-ass up in it. So, switchable automatic, so I can have the illusion of shifting gears. BMW 330Ci.
I found 2 on autotrader. We headed off to the see the first, a 2004 blue one. It was parked behind 20 cars on the lot. We had to climb things to get to it. The guy who came out STANK. Then he sat in the car and lit a cigar! In the car I was potentially buying. The battery was dead. It had been sat on the lot for 6 months! The break disks were rusting. Some interior trim was hanging off! OK, we're out of here. The guy suggested I buy one that was nearer the front, so it was easier to get to!! Bye-bye.
We went to see the second. Ooh, it was so sweet. And nicely presented. Went for a test drive. All's well. Yeah, yeah, rain-sensing wipers etc etc. It had everything I wanted (sport package, premium package, 18" M style wheels, 30,000 miles), OK lets go buy it.
So, until then we had a fairly nice sales guy named Sam. When we went inside, we were "switched". This very weird over-the-top phoney guy stepped in. He was a big-ish black guy, and he had a voice that can only be described as "old fashioned black guy voice". Think the crows from Dumbo. To me, smarty-pants, socially-awkward english guy, this man was weirdly unnerving, and I think he knew it. The sticker on the car said $30,700, reduced from $32,000. So I said, "OK, I want to pay 28 for it. Let's do it?". He said he had to go speak to his boss (which is total bullshit) and disappeared for 15 minutes. In that time, I looked on the internet, on my blackjack :-), and noticed that it was listed on autotrader for 29,700. He comes back in the room and says the lowest he can go is 30k. I said, it's fucking advertised for 29,7! He says no it isnt. I said look on the internet, yes it is. He said "I cant check that right now, the internet department has gone home". You-fucking-what?? I say: I have my own internet department right here on my phone! They never close! He gets on the phone, it actually seems to me like no-one is on the other end, and he is just acting, I shit you not, and he says "can someone send the internet down to this office". Whoa. Then he starts making stuff up about the car, about what its worth and various options, and it is all just non-sequitor nonsense, and clearly lies. It was so weird! He's just making stuff up to me right in front of me, like I'm a 5 year old. I'm really pissed. The price has been going up and down, above what it was advertised, he claims it wasnt on the internet, he claims the internet has gone home etc etc. There was more shit going on than I have mentioned.
"OK, fuck this, were leaving". Katie and I stand up and walk out. He throws his arms up and says "OK, goodbye".
As were walking across the lot, I say to Katie "I totally want that car, I'll just come back tomorrow and get it". Then, someone is yelling over at us and running towards us. It's the previous guy's boss (or atleast that's what he says) and he wants to sort it all out - what happened, he asks? I tell him the crazy story about the guy who doesnt know what the internet is, is a complete liar, and is saying the lowest he can go on it is MORE than it is advertised for. Were stood in the parking lot. He says do you want to buy it for 29,5. OK. Done deal. Here's 10 grand cash.
We had to sit and listen to the woman in the finance department tell us her life story. She has a Harley, a snow-mobile and a Hummer. This woman is single-handedly causing global warming! We havent eaten all day and weve been in this fucking place for 3 hours.
Here it is parked in my garage.