Purchasing a new car has all the makings of a good mystery movie. Lies, deceit, cold hard cash and a cast of characters that couldn’t be made up even if you tried. You start off with the best intentions, thinking this will be a wonderful experience that will enrich your life. You read magazine after magazine in the hopes that the information contained within those pages will help you decide on the vehicle that best fits your needs. You ask friends, family and search the internet on a relentless quest to make sure that nothing in the way of information escapes you. You pump yourself up with a mental Rocky Balboa style workout and in the end you are convinced that you will win the upcoming war with the dealer.

Most of us have had an occurrence like this and truth be told, it can make something that should be a wonderful experience downright painful. I’ve been down this road multiple times, each time thinking I was more prepared then the last, sadly though, this is never the case. I originally thought I was going to write a blog on “How to Buy a New Car”… but, as it turns out, I suck at it. So instead this blog will focus more on why I hate the process, why I hate salesmen and what I did to finally find the car I wanted, at the price I wanted to pay.

*Salesman… this next section may upset you so continue reading at your own risk.

Dealing with the customer 101 – A Note to the Salesman:
I could care less about your background, I don’t care where you went to school, what your dogs name is or what you did for a living before you sold cars. I don’t want to be your friend nor do I want to BS about politics, religion or healthcare. I want simple answers to simple questions. For instance, if I ask you: “How much is this car?” and you answer with “What do you want to pay per month?”… well… that’s not really answering my question is it?

You making your quota at the end of the month is no concern of mine and by telling me that I can help you out with this is not really a good idea. How about helping me out with a better price? I didn’t come there to help you, I came in there for you to help me. Understand how that works?

Finally, please do not treat me like I am an infant. If you want to sell me a car, please just answer my questions, be courteous and don’t lie to me – as a consumer, I hate that.

In the end the process of trying to buy a new car at a dealership was simply to much to bare, so I abandoned thoughts of a new car in leu of finding the perfect used one. I’ve already narrowed it down and so far I’m very happy with not only the direction I’ve taken, but more importantly with the people I’ve dealt with.

I’ll keep you posted.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.