Seems like Old Times

It's been nine days since I've updated this. I'm probably going to have to send out a email to let people know that there's new postings. I've got a bunch of stories to tell so I'll start with the one that happened first and work my way up from there.

First, Tricia bought a new car. It's a Toyota Corolla, probably the most ubiquitous car on the road among us white, college-educated, early 30's people. The process of buying a car is so excruciating. If you do research on what you're buying then you know what to pay, but going to the dealer and getting that deal is such an agonizing day-long struggle. I'd done the research on these cars so I knew what to pay and what the dealers were likely to say to get us to up our price. I used the Consumer Reports Used Car Buying Guide to get the range of prices that the dealers ask and what we should pay and CarFax to find out if there was anything wrong with the cars we looked at. The two together were very valuable. I recommend them both to anyone who wants to put one over on used car dealers.

The first dealer we went to was in the Northland, Bob Sight Ford. They had three Corollas on the lot, virtually identical except for color. All 2005's, all within 5000 miles of each other and all with the same features. We went there on a Saturday morning, early, and drove the one with lowest mileage. It went through its paces well, but was a very boring "Champagne" color:

Probably the most boring thing on the road, but it would be reliable. We weren't too excited about this car, but the price would be right.

The salesman "Flick" (his real name was something like Dick Flickerton, which sounds like the car dealer equivalent of Biggus Dickus) sat us back in the little grimy cubicle that they sit you in to test your patience. We proceeded to haggle. I mentioned a price, which he refused and waited for me to negotiate against myself. We went back and forth, him getting up "to talk to his manager". I hate that they make you talk to someone who's not empowered to deal. He asked about a trade-in. They use this information to see if there's a way to get you to accept a higher price and make up the money with the trade-in. Since Tricia and I had discussed what to do if they asked about a trade-in, we both ignored his question completely. We finally agreed on a price, $10,700.

Then "Flick" brought out the deal sheet, which had a $199 'documentation fee'. When I told him that he should pay the fee he got the manager. This guy had to be the dumbest person on the block. I knew it for certain when he said to me "This is a Toyota Corolla, you won't find these for sale". I smirked at him and showed him the information sheets that I had compiled on seven other cars that we were going to look at. That wasn't counting the hundreds of other Corollas for sale all over this town that didn't meet our standards.

Well, by that time all trust had gone out of the bargaining. We left with an offer on the boring car, but when we talked about it we decided that their patronizing tone and moron salesmen had soured us on the whole deal. We left, never to return. So, if you're in the market for a car, avoid Bob Sight Ford in the Northland like it's got the plague, rickets and avian flu.

There's more stories to tell, I'll post more later today, I think. One concerns an award show!

(that's called a teaser, it supposed to bring you back for more. Let's hope it works)