Buying a Car

The news says that the economy is sluggish at best. Skyrocketing fuel prices lead to more expensive clothing, appliances, and food. Gloom and doom set the mood for the country. With that outlook, it’d seem that car dealers would fall over each other in an effort to sell a vehicle. Instead, some of these businesses employ practices that have stained the industry’s reputation for years.

My old Pathfinder still chugs along, but it’s not dependable enough to take on a journey to Chattanooga or Nashville, cities where my kids live. The 2009 models were coming out, and I figured the time would be a good one to get a good deal. So, I visited dealerships in the area. What transpired is what only can be called nightmarish.

One dealer advertised a couple of used cars in the morning newspaper ads. One was a subcompact; the other a compact. The stated prices piqued my interest enough that I made the trip to the lot. I’d written down the stock numbers and registration numbers of the cars to make sure I got the right one. By 10:00 a.m. I arrived and waited for the first salesman to swoop in. He did in about a second and a half. I showed him the stock number of the first vehicle and told him I’d like to see it. He looked at his list, and then back at me.

“That ones not here anymore,” he said.
Stunned, I looked at him and said,
“How can that be? It was just advertised in the morning’s paper.”

Then, this guy has the gall to look at me with a straight face and reply,
“We sold it at 8:30 a.m.”

I glared at him in angry disbelief. However, I another car appealed to me, so I asked him about it. The salesman said he wasn’t familiar with that one. He suggested we go to the showroom so that he could look at the log sheet that listed all the cars. I followed him, all the while resigned to the belief that the day was going to be a bad one.

This salesman didn’t do anything to contradict my feelings after he came back to me in a couple of minutes.
“Hey, you’re not going to believe it, but we sold that car at 8:30 too. Man, we had people lined up and waiting to get to these babies!”
By then my mood had gone from excited to ticked off. I looked at the salesman and said,
“Don’t blow smoke up my tail. I was born at night, but not last night. You guys lied. It looks like a bait and switch move!”

As I turned on my heels to leave the showroom, I told the salesman loud enough for everyone in the place to hear that I would never buy a car from his business—EVER!
A salesman at another dealership told me he was giving me special deals because we had a mutual friend. I thanked him and told him the vehicle I wanted, and he gave me a figure. The close of business was near, so I contacted him the following morning and asked that he give me an “out-the-door” price for the car. He promised to call me back in “a few minutes” with the number. Two hours later I called again but could only leave a message since the salesman wasn’t available. Another two hours passed and I called the third time. The guy forgot what I wanted and faithfully promised to call me in a couple of minutes with the total. At 7:00 p.m. I called the last time.

Now remember, this guy is going to give me a special deal. What he gave me was the shaft. From the time I’d called him that morning until that evening, the price of the car had gone UP $2000.00. He offered some dribble about having to pay someone to make sure the new vehicle had all the fluids, that it was washed, blah, blah, blah.

I was furious by that time. I asked him why he wanted to treat me as he had done and called him out about the continuing hike in price. Then I told him to take the car and drive it up a dark orifice and that I’d go somewhere else to buy any future vehicles.

I bought a car, but it wasn’t from a dealership in town. I hate to buy cars anyway, and when guys jerk my chain as these salesmen did, I vow that my next car will be purchased from some little old lady who will at least tell the truth.