Right, so now granddaughter attends and works at a local college. We basically gave her the family car. I have my work truck and granddaughter has a 12hr schedule Mon-Thu and morning class on Fri. So, the wife has no transportation for doctor visits etc. I had planned to buy another family car but, have been delaying because I hate the "shopping for a car" experience. I try to haggle like a shrewd Arab trader but usually feel like I've been fooked in the end. I have been researching new cars on the web for several weeks now. I was able to narrow the field from 20+ vehicles down to 5. A couple of weeks ago I put out feelers to local dealers looking at their selections and getting their "best internet pricing". One was eliminated because there was not really much of a selection. Another was eliminated because of ridiculous prices. Last week I contacted six dealers (2 for each car) and arranged test drives for yesterday.
No intent to buy, just test drive and have a good look, which is always a bitch cuz they don't want to let you leave without buying that car.The first car that we drove, we disliked so much we canceled the test drive at the second dealer for that car. So now we are down to [HASHTAG]#1[/HASHTAG] and [HASHTAG]#2[/HASHTAG]. The first dealer for both cars were typical, not very informative and very pushy. We liked both cars but, neither dealer had colors and/or trim packages we wanted. The second dealer for car [HASHTAG]#2[/HASHTAG] was a pleasant surprise. He provided lots of information, not pushy at all, and gave us a very good price. Color was the only issue. Not for the wife but, I don't drive black or white vehicles. He said he could an acceptable color in a day or two. We went home after to have a bite and I realized I had left my phone in the car we drove and I called the salesman. He found my phone a held on to it until we came back to get it. He said it was a sign that the phone wanted to stay in that car. I told him that I didn't like the color and to go ahead and see what other colors in that trim package he could find. It started to rain as we were leaving and I was thinking of blowing off the last test drive when they called to see if we were still coming. I mentioned the rain and they were 30 miles away and said it had just stopped where they were. So we went and I glad we did. A salesman snagged us on our way in the door. I told him that we were there to see the internet sales manager. He took us to his desk and called the manager and was disappointed to learn that the manager had already hooked me up with a salesperson. A whole lot of
. A couple of inches taller then me, with girl next door beauty, and only about 23-24. Something nice to look at is a plus, but I'm thinking "oh great, another salesperson that doesn't know shite". Boy was I wrong! We started with a 10 minute walk around pointing out all the sensors and cameras and what they did. Then a 30 minute tutelage of all the controls, screens, and indicators. What they do and when to use them. Her last words before we left the lot was "I'm going to scare you, but don't be scared. Let's roll". At 60mph she said "Let go of the wheel and let the car drift out of the lane". The car auto-corrected. "Set the cruise speed 10mph faster than we are going now". The car caught up with traffic in front of us and automatically slowed down and the sped up after traffic cleared. "Don't step on the brakes for this red light" That one worried me, my foot was poised over the brake, but the car glided smoothly to a stop behind the car in front of us. I knew that all of the other cars that we drove had similar features but no one bothered or know enough to show us. We were sold, but I held to my "not going to buy anything today" premise. When she said, "What can I do to earn your business today", my mind went to the depths of the gutter. Lucky for me, I have developed a little tact over the years. 40 years ago, I would have tried to show her what she could do. 20 years ago, I would have at least said what was on my mind. But, yesterday I just smiled, not wanting to deal with any flack from the misses. I did manage to get out the door without buying anything though. Got a good price. Just trying to get them to sweeten the pot a little. Maybe double the length free maintenance contract and/or some accessory additions or upgrades.
Whoa got a bit long winded here - sorry