Car Wars Episode 5: The Dealer Strikes Back

The morning after the Scion incident of '08 was Saturday. Bryan had to work but I decided to venture forth on my own to see if I could find some cars to look at together when he got home. The first place on my list was a dealership that had a car salesman that was actually recomended to me by a lady I work with. She and her husband had both bought their cars from him and would go back to him in a heartbeat. Very high praise for a car salesman.

When I got there I still had a chip on my shoulder from the night before and I think he picked up on that so I got handled with tender kid gloves the whole time. No pressure. I didn't even have to test drive anything (which was AWESOME b/c I hate driving new cars - I leave that to Bryan)(this fact alone makes me an unfit car shopper). He showed me 3 cars he thought would work: a camry, a PT Cruiser, and a Rav4. I was instantly crazy about the Rav. I might have even cracked a smile. But I was leary of the MPG. Our criteria was a good reliable car that gets excellent gas mileage. I didn't think the little SUV would cut it.

When I got home after visiting another dealer, I did some research on the Rav. It turns out is the highest rated SUV in it's class in fuel efficiency and it will go forever. AND the asking price was WAY under the Kelly Blue Book value. SCORE.

When Bryan got home we headed over and he loved it too. We found out that we could afford to get it and a pretty dang good 2 year warranty so we thanked them and decided to think it over until Monday morning. And get this - they were OK with that. They even held the car for us. WITHOUT A DEPOSIT.

This is the point in the story where we should have quit while we were ahead. We should have gone straight home, bought a bottle of wine, and pass out in front of Buff the Vampire Slayer re-runs. But no. We didn't do that. We drove by another dealership that was advertising this cute little 08 Dodge Caliber for a really good price. We stopped. We went in.

Of course the advertised car had no A/C which is a dealbreaker because we live in Oklahoma and the 08's with A/C were way out of our price range. So they showed us an 07 model that was supposed to be in our price range. When we got back from the test drive, we were told that the car was close to our price range if you think that $5000 OVER our price range is in our price range.

The owner of the dealership came over at this point and listened to our car sob story and our price and promised to be our best friend and find us just the right car. He had an 05 Cobalt brought out and we drove it. It was a fine little car (please note that no matter what I say from this point on - I have nothing against the Chevy Cobalt) but it wasn't really what we had in mind. But it wasn't bad and it boasted 32 MPG.

We went back inside after the drive to find out about the cost so we could compare. The asking price was totally doable. Then they started pushing a warranty. A huge mother fucking warranty. For 10 years/100,000 miles. Wow! We thought. That sounds like a great warranty and it was only thousands of dollars! What a steal!

After hearing all this business about the warranty, Bryan fell in love. I was still very hesitant. I knew nothing about the Chevy Cobalt and I wanted to at least think it over until Monday and call my brother (the family's resident car guru). When I mentioned calling my brother about it, the dealer commented on how he never advised people to call family members because they are always jealous of the person(s) getting the new car. Um. Our family is thrilled that we are getting a new car and if they are anything they are annoyed that it has taken us this long to find one.

I called anyway and my brother immediately pointed out the warranty was 20% of the cost of the car and we didn't need a warranty that size because the car still had 15,000 on the factory warranty. I agreed and tried to tell Bryan and the dealer that and he promptly came down $500 dollars on the price. Now Bryan really wanted to do it and I really wanted to flee.

They both could see that I was getting upset so Bryan and I went outside to talk about it. We were outside for about 2 minutes having our private conversation about whether or not we wanted to spend A LOT OF FREAKING MONEY on a car we were MEH about when the dealer came out and told us it was now even lower with cash back and the deal was off the table on Monday.

I burst into tears because I was totally freaked out and afraid that Bryan was going to hate me forever if I insisted on thinking it over until Monday. I screamed at him about how nice the other place was and we have a great vehicle already picked out, and blah, blah, blah. Then I grabbed my purse and got in the car. And sobbed. Bry went back inside to tell them we were leaving and came out and told me the deal was now EVEN LOWER. I didn't care. All I wanted was to go home and look up a consumer report on the Cobalt. So we left (I think B was starting to sense that I was uncomfortable).

We came home and thought about it (after I stopped crying) and realized that they were trying to sell us a warranty that was for 10 years/100,000 miles that we would only be able to use during the next 3 years because the car already had one for the next 15,000 miles and it already had OVER 50,000 miles. Good deal? Not so much.

We are getting the Rav.

It's name shall be 'Speedy #3'.

Car Wars Episode 4: A Dashed Hope

A day after we went to the dealer who would only show us one car, I found a certified Scion at another place in our price range. We were thrilled because it was a sporty little car that got excellent gas mileage and because it was certified, it came with a hefty warranty and boasted to be practically perfect in every way. SCORE.

When we arrived at the dealer we were really excited to see the car. On the outside it was everything we hoped and dreamed it would be. On the inside, it was a different story. The upholstery was dirty, it smelled like smoke, there were wires from glued on LCD lights hanging out of the dash, and there were, get ready for it, COBWEBS in the engine!! Frak?! I was pretty irritated considering that they knew we were coming for two days specifically to look at this car and I really, really, really wanted it to be THE CAR.

In the end we decided that if all these things were taken care of we would still be getting a good car so we made them a low offer. The used car salesman came back and told us that he didn't want to deal with us because we knew about all the changes that needed to be made and that put us in a 'negotiable' mood. Now that he knew about all the problems, he would fix them 'and not have to apologize for the car.' I was livid, and not exactly reserved in my expression of it. As we walked off (B was walking, I was storming) I said I felt like it was a complete waste of a lot of our time. Bryan said "No, no, no, I feel like I learned something really important." "Oh, yeah?," said I, "What did you learn?"

"I learned that I get kind of excited watching you tear into dimwits..."

Car shopping

It won't come as a surprise to anyone who reads this blog or has talked to me in the last 4 months to know that we have been having 'issues' with our cars. We are now shopping for a new one and technically - this is our first jaunt into the world of car buying from someone that we don't know. Hello, Mr. Dealer...

I was dreading it because buying a car means you have to, you know, spend money. And then you have a car payment. We haven't had one of those in awhile and I am not looking forward to it. I eventually got over these feelings of dread because I don't exactly have a choice. We have to get a new car because our other ones are slowly killing us. Did I mention the gas pump, water pump, and my newest reason to whine: air compressor belt?

We started the hunt online earlier this week and went and looked at a car yesterday. It was a brand new Kia Rio that gets 35 MPG. I was leary because it was 10 grand (actually a very good deal) but the second we drive it off the lot, it looses SOOOOO much in value. So I wanted to look at a few other cars to compare -like some 07's and 06's. The guy we were working with basically said 'why would you want to look at other cars when you have this car to look at'. Is it just me or is that crazy talk? I explained that this is the very first car we have looked at and we need to see what else is out there. He didn't want to show us other cars. Am I expecting too much? Isn't that his job?!?!

To top the evening off, when we tried to walk around the lot and look at other cars, his tooth literally broke and fell out of his mouth. He then proceeded to question us over and over about whether or not he needed to go to the dentist. Uh, you think?

The boy is going to the in-laws for the weekend so we are going to be car shopping most of the time he is gone. Is it always this bad?

Magic money from the sky

We got our 'you will be getting you stimulus check in the mail soon' letter on Monday and ever since then I have been anxiously checking the mail to see if it has arrived. We should have gotten ours months ago but we didn't because there was some glitch in the IRS' direct deposit system for folks that filed their taxes through a company that took their fees directly out of the tax return.

I feel really guilty that I have been looking forward to this check because I don't really agree with why it is being given out. OK, maybe agree isn't the right word. I don't think it is going to help anything in long term. I wish I could be like that one guy who said that he is going to use his money to buy a cup of coffee every day for a year. Or I wish I could give a large bit of it to charity.

We are planning to pay off some of our debt (this includes paying off one credit card completely) and spending the rest on much needed household items like a new litter box for the cats. And I am thrilled. I can't wait to spend it on a BILL. Watch out Capital One!

In the back of my mind, I am really worried that one of the cars is going to die again. I forgot to mention that after the fuel pump went out, three days later the water pump went out. I seriously hate cars.

Have you gotten your stimulus check yet? What did you spend it on or what are you planning to spend it on?