The Car Game

[ladykeryth]

Since Chris's department is moving to the other side of town in July, the time has come to buy another car. I hate this, I love car pooling, not just for the gas savings, but for the extra 25 minutes of sleep I get on the morning commute. Alas, there is nothing to be done about it, so car shopping it is. After doing (what even my dad called) too

Comments

[egearman]

I would say talk w/Cecil, but it appears you have done your research quite well...

[ladykeryth]

I do know this car and the others that made my top list better than the sales people I've talked to so far. We went to Honda Cars of Columbia twice, the first time they only had the Fit regular trim, the second time the guy told me on the phone he had a Fit Sport for me to drive. When I got there he pointed at a regular Fit and said, "That's the Sport." I could tell from across the parking lot that it wasn't (I was right) and he eventually found me the right kind of car to demo. I get really annoyed because every time I ask a question, they turn to Chris and answer him... Chris doesn't know about this shit... I did the research! Grrr. Sexism is rampant in the car sales business.

[egearman]

Be rude. Or at least blunt. Tell them that if they answer another of your questions to Chris, tell them you want to talk to the sales manager and want a different salesman. One that answers your questions to you.

See, 'cause according to Cecil (at least I remember him saying this), as soon as another salesman gets involved, they have to split the commission. So hit 'em where it hurts for them. Plus, if I recall correctly, this is also one of the slower times for selling cars, Memorial Day specials aside.

[ladykeryth]

I believe the commission splitting thing is true. I read a long article on Edmunds by a guy who went undercover at two different dealerships. It was amazing how many of the tricks he talked about in the article the guy from Honda Cars of Cola tried to pull. I was armed with enough information to mostly just frustrate him. When he tried to pressure me to buy today because they couldn't keep these cars on the lot, I smiled innocently and said, "Great, so you'll be ordering more!" He had no verbal response, and a satisfyingly annoyed facial response, to that. I do have some time on my side, but I am thinking I'll be going with the $265 discount from the dealership in Rock Hill. They really aren't that far from our house.