I.Hate.Car.Shopping

[Malarky]

Really, I'm just dreaming right now.  I have a perfectly adequate, low mileage SUV and an abhorrence for car payments.  

Unless of course, DD gets around to getting her license and I give her said SUV and get something I like better.  

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

When I bought my Forester, it was the fastest I had EVER purchased a car.  And all you'll need is a set of crutches!

I just had surgery and was having a miserable time getting behind the wheel of my Sentra.  I left work at 3 one day, going to look at my short list of cars (Forester, RAV-4 and CRV in that order).  So I went to the Subaru dealership and drove a 3 year old model with 30K miles on it.  I liked it, but the dealership would NOT negotiate down from the $19K that they wanted for it.  I wound up negotiating for a new model (exactly the same) for $1500 more.  It was about $1500 lower than sticker.

After I was at the dealership an hour, I told the salesman that I needed to go home.  That exhaustion hit me late afternoon and I'd have to continue the negotiation later.  He did NOT want me to leave (which I knew) and I burlesqued the issue just a bit.  He changed his tactics and stopped trying to slow things down to wear me out.  

The deal was made so quickly, paperwork done so fast, that it turned out that I drove away with the wrong vehicle.  I got a call the next day and they asked me if I could come back and sign replacement paperwork, that they did all the paperwork with one VIN, and I took the other!

I'll dig my crutches out for the next car deal I do.....

[siralynn]

Another vote for only dealing with internet sales departments. So much easier and cheaper.

I have a love/hate relationship with car shopping. Hate because the whole process can be so obnoxious, but love because I'm so stubborn that it's kind of funny watching them try all their tricks that I'm not going to fall for.

And several dealerships have lost their chance at my business in the past by ignoring the fact that I was the decision maker and negotiator, even though I'm the woman.

[imanangel]

Apr 27, 2015 14:05:56 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Yea, the Traverse is larger.  Also has more bells, whistles, etc.  I'm not really into it but the incentives make it kinda hard to pass up (that's the idea, right?)

DH is at dealership #2 as we speak.  mmmph.

We have a Traverse.  We like it and it has been a good car for the family.  I don't drive it often though because I am only 5'1" and it is difficult for me to see out the windows.  It has a lot of blind spots for me.  

[The Captain]

Whelp.

Sigh.

DH got quotes from two dealerships that gave us more for our trade in than the place we went to (and walked out of) on Saturday.  He now has his heart set on that silly Traverse.

So (after clearing it with me - *smooch!*) he called them back and told them if they'd match the trade in on the old car they'd have a deal.  He was actually really smooth about it and apologized for walking out on the "misunderstanding" saying it was a long week/day and we were all tired.

They agreed and we're getting the car for less than the amount we agreed to on Saturday.

I.hate.car.shopping!!!

In other news he can't find the title to the old car.  Grrrr!  I know we can get a duplicate but that's about $100.

Oh, and remember the pushy dealership he texted me on?  Apparently he walked out when the salesman told him to just go ahead and buy the car and tell me he did it when he got home.  This AFTER he told them he and I both had to come to an agreement on the vehicle.



The good news is Dad's car is less than 6 months old, Sis's is less than a year and my BIL's is barely a year old.  Mine is closing in on 4.5 years so as long as no one totals their car I don't have to deal with this shit for at least 5 more years when DD will start driving.

I can hardly wait.

[The Captain]

Apr 27, 2015 23:43:09 GMT -5 imanangel said:

Apr 27, 2015 14:05:56 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Yea, the Traverse is larger.  Also has more bells, whistles, etc.  I'm not really into it but the incentives make it kinda hard to pass up (that's the idea, right?)

DH is at dealership #2 as we speak.  mmmph.

We have a Traverse.  We like it and it has been a good car for the family.  I don't drive it often though because I am only 5'1" and it is difficult for me to see out the windows.  It has a lot of blind spots for me.  

I'm 5'4".  I've driven extended delivery trucks (just shy of needing a CDL), cargo vans, moving vans, and lots of different size cars.  While this will be DH's primary vehicle I'm pretty comfortable I'll be able to handle it.

In a way I'm kinda glad there is such a size difference between the two vehicles (remember I drive a Malibu).  It will be a good teaching tool for DD when she starts driving.

One thing I noticed is the lumbar support in the seats is really nice! 

[busymom]

Congratulations The Captain!  (I needed the lumbar support too, which the Equinox was good with, too.)  At least this is one less thing to worry about. 

I'm dreading this Summer, as DS is planning to go car shopping, & guess who's going to get to help? 

[chiver78]

Apr 27, 2015 21:29:51 GMT -5 Ratchets said:

Apr 27, 2015 13:21:39 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Spent the first fours hours of Saturday calling various dealers, checking options, incentives, rebates, and interest rates.

Spent another four hours at a dealer on Saturday afternoon/evening only to have the numbers change right before we were going to buy.  Don't try to pull a switch on an accountant!

We walked.

Mr. Captain is being surprisingly patient with me.  I was ready to throttle someone.

Gaaahhh!

We had that happen twice, the first time I caught it because the final number was $800 more than the sum of the car, tax, etc. The second time they got me - again for $800 - when I questioned the "fee" they said it was title transfer and tax. Then I got a letter from the State of Oklahoma asking me to come in and pay the tax and title transfer. Sooo, went back to the dealer and asked what it ~really~ was and they said a dent protection plan that couldn't be refunded.  They eventually cut $800 off the loan, but it took a lot of effort and finally letting the PTSD out of the bottle and making other customers so uncomfortable that they left in order to get the refund.

you'd be surprised how much better your odds are at making your point when there are other customers around.

I brought my car in for the first milestone service, and when I came back at the end of hte day to pick it up, I noticed a sizable chip in the paint on the driver's door. think like when your fingernail flakes a layer off? similar. and you could see light hitting it clear across the lot. I was not happy. first, they tried to tell me it was like that when I brought it in. um, no.....try again. they offered to "touch it up" but that I would have to keep the loaner overnight to allow time for the paint to dry. okay, that's fine.

next day, a nice busy Saturday morning, I go back to pick up my car. it looks like they put blue paint into some white-out, and just brushed it on. not only was it clearly visible across the lot for being too much material than what was needed to fill in the chip, it was a different f*cking color! I got into it again with the service guy, who was doing his best to tell me to pound sand. I leaned in and very quietly said "listen, it's a full waiting room behind me. do you really want to pick this fight with me right now? you will lose way more than just MY business if you do."

they kept my car the weekend. when I picked it up finally, they had sanded down and repainted the entire door. and that was the last time I ever did business with that dealership.
*MA posters - if you want to know which one, PM me.

[bean29]

Apr 28, 2015 8:30:01 GMT -5 The Captain said:

Whelp.

Sigh.

DH got quotes from two dealerships that gave us more for our trade in than the place we went to (and walked out of) on Saturday.  He now has his heart set on that silly Traverse.

So (after clearing it with me - *smooch!*) he called them back and told them if they'd match the trade in on the old car they'd have a deal.  He was actually really smooth about it and apologized for walking out on the "misunderstanding" saying it was a long week/day and we were all tired.

They agreed and we're getting the car for less than the amount we agreed to on Saturday.

I.hate.car.shopping!!!

In other news he can't find the title to the old car.  Grrrr!  I know we can get a duplicate but that's about $100.

Oh, and remember the pushy dealership he texted me on?  Apparently he walked out when the salesman told him to just go ahead and buy the car and tell me he did it when he got home.  This AFTER he told them he and I both had to come to an agreement on the vehicle.



The good news is Dad's car is less than 6 months old, Sis's is less than a year and my BIL's is barely a year old.  Mine is closing in on 4.5 years so as long as no one totals their car I don't have to deal with this shit for at least 5 more years when DD will start driving.

I can hardly wait.

LOL, I really have no problem with DH buying a car on his own, as long as I know he got the best deal possible.  I got involved when he was looking for a car for DD and came home and said he bought two cars, one for her and one for him.  I not only researched the price of the car, what he should pay and nixed his original purchase for a larger car...I researched the trade.  When they said they could not give us what we wanted on the trade, we got up to walk out and they miraculously decided they could do the deal on our terms.  My DH says I bought the last three family cars, and while I think the "just go ahead and buy the car and just tell the wife you did it when you got home tactic" works well with some men, I don't think it will work with DH anymore b/c he felt we got a better deal with me involved. 

I also helped my Mom shop for her new car this past fall.  Mom involves my brother pretty heavily in her financial stuff, and I wanted to be careful not to step on his toes.  I kept him in the loop and had him at the car dealer when we negotiated the first purchase.  We agreed on a price and the salesman went off to write the contract, I had another commitment so I left my brother and Mom to sign the paperwork.  My brother called later that evening to say they tried to jack up the price by about $1,000.  He said they walked.  I took Mom to a Consumer reports true car dealer (internet pricing dept) and we did the same deal we originally negotiated and due to a weeks delay she got an extra $500 rebate.  My brother was busy, but if he had asked me to hold off on the deal I would have.  I think he was perfectly confident that I was negotiating a decent deal.  I again had my brother handle the car pickup/final signing...but he did not change anything.  I think we were both just glad we had someone else that could pick up the deal and keep it moving forward.  My Mom had been debating buying a new car vs. fixing the old one for months and then decided she needed a new car ASAP.  Luckily when she started talking about needing to make a decision and then said she was going to fix the old car, I told her to shop for a new car, and narrow it down to what she would buy if she needed a new car so that if her car died in winter we knew what we were shopping for.  It really eliminated a lot of hassle for us.

I have a co-worker that has bought a lot of new cars, and he often buys the company cars.  He is shopping for a car for a relative right now, and I pulled the internet pricing on what he is looking for and he indicated the prices looked better than what he had previously negotiated.

We live in Wisconsin and went to Shamburg IL, to buy two of our cars.  We did end up with issues with the tax and title...so I don't plan to do that again unless the dealer sells enough cars across the border that they have a tax payer id...We almost bought DH's Santa Fe at a dealer like that but ended up at the other dealer...The dealer did give DH some bling (Carmats, etc) to make up for the screwup on the paperwork.

Glad you are getting your new car and you are both happy with the deal.  Congratulations!      

[lynnerself]

I couldn't believe when DD bought her 1st car on her own in just over a week. She did her research on line and decided what she wanted and could afford (used). Looked at the on line ads for the area and when one came up for sale at a good price drove up one evening and bought it. Her Dad went with her, but he says she was a tough negotiator and he stayed out of it.

My car purchases usually take months to decide, test drive and shop.