Yes, I usually do my research online to see what the dealer costs are before going ANYWHERE. I also like to know the dealer holdback and if the car has been sitting long. If only there a few days, they keep the holdback used to finance the car while it sits on their lot.
A lot of the big warehouse stores like Sams Club, Costco, and the like now have car buying services and I understand those can also be a pretty nice way to bypass this nonsense. I know some friends of my parents did this and it was pretty painless. They just paid for the car and it got delivered to that brand dealer. I think the dealer got like $500 for taking delivery of the car. They went and picked up the car and that was that. No hassle. I would of course test drive a couple different models of the car in question first. The only bad thing is if the new car comes in with a fatal flaw.
As for getting rid of cars, I know people do just want to get a new car. I am not so much this way but lots of perfectly good cars are sold used. There are also issues with being in the military and moving, etc. The guys around here at Ft. Leonard Wood either buy a really nice car that gets moved with them. You see lots of strange license plates like Alaska and Hawaii here which you know are all military. The other option for these guys is to just buy some cheap used car that gets passed around for several years and leave it behind. Unfortunately I know that one of the local banks has several guys just drop off their car and the keys when they ship out. I am sure this isn’t good for their credit but at least the bank doesn’t have to repo it.
Some are bone lazy as well as arrogant. I shopped at a Hyundai dealership and was interested in a Hatchback model with a certain number of extras. The salesman took the inventory book and leafed through it showing me the models without any detailed breakdown. He could not answer any question either.
I did leave my name and a woman called back later to check on whether I got good “service”. I told her that the salesman virtually drove me out the door with his attitude and I ended up at the Toyota dealer where I bought a car. They promptly got rid of the guy as I recalled.
Years ago a women “sales person” with an attitude refused to answer any questions about a certain Pontiac model. She took out the inventory list and asked “which one do you want”, not having a clue what each model had. I asked her to give me a price on a mid line 4 door with air and power windows. She got very hostile that I had the nerve to make her work. I even showed her where the big book was and all she had to do was take the base price and add the options. This made her even more hostile.
Hot tempered, arrogant and stupid is a bad combination.
As far as cleaning and repairing goes . . .
THAT is so often THE sales point factor that sells a reman engine , suspension rebuild, reman transmission, or other major repairs to the customer.
For X dollars you end up with a good used car…yours.
Just how many dollars will it take to get a different used car and just what are you ending up with ?
@jtsanders quote, “We often give our used cars away, @Ed Frugal. Stand back… Ed is going to run screaming from the room!” Naaah! I get it. (If I’m getting rid of a vehicle, its usually because I’m sick, tired, and fed up with repairing it. I don’t want to repair it any more.) In addition to being ‘frugal’ I am also a very private person. I can see the value in time and hassle saved in donating the vehicle and taking the tax deduction or selling it directly to the junkyard versus putting an ad on Craigslist and spending possibly a whole week or more haggling with unruly strangers in an attempt to squeeze out an extra fifty or hundred bucks. And then with Craigslist there’s always the possibility of ending up buried in a shallow grave in some unsuspecting farmer’s cornfield. :neutral: Too many psychos out there today, you just never know, you sell a guy a car, it blows up a week later, he comes back with a pistol and blows your head off. . .
I’m just not a wheeler-dealer like that. I used to like to think I could do it, but as I get older I’ve gotten honest about myself. I’d have trouble selling ice cold lemonade in the badlands. Plus I’ve worked in fast food and retail, so I’ve seen how demanding and unreasonable people can be over the most trivial things.
But to get back to cars and smoking, I seem to remember back in the day it seemed like all the car salesmen (and women too actually) were smokers. I wonder if it was the stress of the job or it gave them something to do with their hands? I didn’t notice any smokers when I was looking at cars last year, but on the other hand, nobody’s allowed to smoke on earth anymore, are they?
If they did it without extreme distress, why can't others?
Hear, hear!
While there is reason to be compassionate with somebody addicted...once the time comes to quit, they do NOT need a "buddy," a "softie," or a "shoulder to cry on." What they NEED...is a personal trainer, life coach, and drill instructor...all rolled up into one! Your monkey (whichever one you're fighting) is tough, and hard. To win, you need to be tougher...and harder. You aren't helping them do that by gently holding their hand, and saying "I feel your pain." (Trust me: you DON'T.)
Alas, today we're lousy with people who conflate "being soft" with "being loving." In fact, all such people are doing is "loving their addict to death."
Sometimes, the most loving thing you can do for another...is to call them on their B.S. This...is one of those times!
TY, and don't forget to compliment them on "kicking A and taking names!"
Yup!
Many years ago, I visited a Mazda showroom in order to see and drive whatever was the top-of-the-line 626. There were none on the showroom floor, so I approached a salesman in the hope that he had one in their storage lot. He pointed toward a 626 on the showroom floor, and sneered, “There’s one”.
I replied, No, that’s not the model that I wanted to take a look at.
His response was, “Well, they’re all the same”.
I then rattled-off the list of equipment that would not be present on that mid-line model on the floor, and asked if he had the model in which I was interested somewhere on the lot, and whether I could take a test drive.
At that point, he raised his voice and shouted, “Test drive? On a Saturday? We don’t allow test drives on Saturdays!”
My response–as I departed–was…and I’m not coming back this dealership!
@VDCDriver My strangest encounter was with a salesman at a Dodge dealership. I asked some questions and got no answers other than the guy pointing at the models on the floor. He then told me:" When you’re ready to buy one we can help you, and gave me his card.
I looked ta the card and it was from a GM!!! dealership a few blocks down the road. I guess he got fired there and was trying his luck elsewhere. I started leaving and asked him perfectly deadpan: “Are you sure you work here?”.
As for dealing with people on Craigslist and similar, I know what you mean. My job has me dealing with a large cross section of the general public. Some people are great while others are terrible. I am very wary of people after a few close calls. Once a guy threatened to break into my home to retrieve equipment I had worked on but he was unwilling to pay me for. I let him know that would be the last mistake he would ever make in his life and I never had more issues with him. This was when I put up security cameras, motion sensors, and started requiring some money upfront before doing any job.
I also once had a guy impersonating a cop who bought a car from me. He damaged the thing and then wanted to “return” the car. I called the real police and had that situation taken care of.
Back in 2006 I was ready to buy a replacement minivan as we had decided to sell our 2000 Windstar to our son who needed a better vehicle. The Chevrolet dealer had advertised some 2006 Uplanders at special prices. These were ‘program’ vehicles. When I went to look at them, I drove in in my 28 year old battered Oldsmobile. Salesmen were standing around talking to each other and didn’t seem interested in talking to me. After 20 minutes just as I was ready to leave, a young salesman who wasn’t part of the group standing around talking asked if he could help me. We checked out the minivans and I got his card and told him I would be back. The next day I came back in my teaching clothes and was driving the Windstar. The same group of salesmen all.came rushing over that hadn’t given me the time the day before . I asked to talk to the person I had seen the previous day. I was told it was his day off, but one of them could help me. I said that I would come back another time when the salesman I talked with previously was available. Suddenly, the young salesman I had spoken with the day before came out of the restroom. The other salesmen took off in a hurry. I did buy the Uplander.