I wrote about<\/a> how we replaced my husband\u2019s car, or, as I prefer to think of it, The Car My Husband Tends To Drive (because I don\u2019t like thinking of the cars as belonging to each of us individually); we switched out one Impala for another, with the new one, at any rate, having more bells and whistles in the electronics.\u00a0 It was actually a smooth car-buying experience, as these things go:\u00a0 GM offered (past tense because this was a year ago) the ability to get an internet no-haggle quote; the dealer that offered us the best deal and had available the trim level and color we wanted was a bit further away but it was worth it.\u00a0 And at the dealer they were pleasant and professional.<\/p>\nOur newest purchase, finalized last night?\u00a0 Eh, not so much, actually.\u00a0 It\u2019s a Pacifica, because GM doesn\u2019t have a minivan in their lineup, and we decided to replace the 10 year old old Grand Caravan with a hybrid before Congress chopped the tax credits, since that tax credit brought the price down to that of the \u201cregular\u201d Pacifica (though it\u2019s still admittedly not a cheap car).<\/p>\n
When we first started shopping, we went online, and Chrysler had a \u201cget a quote\u201d option which we assumed was similar to the Chevy version \u2014 but all it got us was a phone call from the dealership inviting us to come in and look at cars, which was pretty useless.\u00a0 We went into the other dealer nearby, test drove, got a trade-in offer and an offer on the car itself, did some research, decided to purchase the car \u2014 and then, when my husband went into the dealer to work out the final numbers (e.g., what\u2019s the \u201cout the door\u201d price with taxes and fees?), they started to get snakey.\u00a0 \u201cOh, we can\u2019t give you that discount.\u201d\u00a0 He pushed them a bit more, and finally got the numbers he was looking for, and put down a deposit for them to get the car from another dealer.<\/p>\n
And then we waited.\u00a0 First it wasn\u2019t available just before Thanksgiving, then not just afterwards, then a couple days later they admitted that the car they were going to get for us was already sold, and were we OK with a different color, and then we were finally ready to get the car last night.<\/p>\n
And \u2014 after a fairly pleasant experience a year ago, we were now back to Why I Hate Car Dealers.\u00a0 Tons of\u00a0wait time to \u201cput the paperwork together.\u201d\u00a0 A \u201ctour of the dealership.\u201d\u00a0 And not one, but two, individuals said, \u201cI\u2019m going to explain the warranty to you,\u201d and proceeded to try to sell us rust-protection and other extended warranties.\u00a0 Finally we were ready to write the check \u2014 but oops! the number that they had given us as the \u201cout the door\u201d price was not on the Bill of Sale.\u00a0 \u201cWe didn\u2019t include the Cook County Tax before.\u201d\u00a0 They made it out as if their inclusion of it now was a convenience to us because otherwise we\u2019d just have to pay it separately.\u00a0 And, with my husband quite calmly saying, \u201cwe need for you to keep to the Out the Door price you quoted us,\u201d the man across the desk from us (\u201cfinance manager\u201d or some such title), quite angrily said, \u201cyou need to stop yelling at me.\u201d\u00a0 At some point I tried to interrupt him, too, and ultimately after he\u2019d said his piece, he turned to me and invited me to speak, and, I suspect, expected me to be conciliatory and say, \u201coh, it\u2019s no big deal.\u201d\u00a0 Instead I said, \u201cthe out the door price you quoted us was what we relied on when we made our decision about whether this was the right car for us.\u201d\u00a0 So finally he said, \u201cI\u2019ll talk to the manager,\u201d came back, backed into the price they quoted us, we wrote the check and, after nearly two hours, were finally out the door.\u00a0 (Was this a true mistake?\u00a0 Do they always underestimate the \u201cout the door\u201d calculation so as to bait-and-switch?\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u00a0 To be honest, that which I was most concerned about was them backing out of the trade-in offer, which didn\u2019t happen.)<\/p>\n
Which is very disappointing.<\/p>\n
I mean, it\u2019s a fine car.\u00a0 It\u2019s got leather seats, a nice assortment of electronics (though not the top trim level), it\u2019s shiny and white, and, whatever the arguments are about whether you really\u00a0get your money\u2019s worth in gas savings, or whether the are harmful consequences to the environment in terms of the mining of the rare earth minerals for the battery, or the like \u2014 it\u2019s still neat to have a car that, when running on battery, is dead quiet.\u00a0 Plus, not only is it \u201cAmerican-made\u201d (given that Canadian cars also count in that definition), but it\u2019s made in Windsor, which is, after all, practically my hometown.<\/p>\n
But we didn\u2019t leave the dealership excited about the new car.\u00a0 We left somewhat deflated, as if car-buying was a chore among others, not something special.\u00a0 And, of course, all of this is on top of my inherent distrust of car salesmen, and my expectation that they\u2019ll try to cheat me as a woman, which in the end means that I am reluctant to deal with them without my husband.<\/p>\n
So, as usual, readers, please share your experiences!<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
So back a year ago, I wrote about how we replaced my husband\u2019s car, or, as I prefer to think of it, The Car My Husband Tends To Drive (because I don\u2019t like thinking of the cars as belonging to each of us individually); we switched out one Impala for another, with the new one, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":7777,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[455],"class_list":["post-7775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-cars"],"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/p>\n