Lord How I HATE Shopping for Cars

So we're approaching the time when we will be looking at replacing the car. Not desperate yet but we know it's coming so we've started watching the promotions.

Asked about one promotion, out of curiosity, and of course this unleashed to whole car buying experience even though we're just looking. First the salesman calls us up to schedule an appointment (sure, why not). We go in and get pitched for the secondary vehicle we asked about. They did this because they had just sold the last of our first choice. Naturally they want to move vehicles on the lot rather than bring in others.

Can someone tell me why the salesman has to run out back for 15 minutes every time you ask for a price? First he has to go for the one vehicle. Then he has to go again because I really want a price on our first choice. You've had this promotion on for 3 weeks. Am I supposed to believe that I'm the first person to walk in here and ask what the payments would be? A guy did this to me at a Ford dealership years ago. While I waited, I stepped into the lobby. Looking down the hall I could see him sitting on a desk chatting with a coworker. Is it just a ploy to make up think they're going to the mat for us?

Also (stupidly) current salesman is directing most of his attention at me. Stupid stupid stupid. I might know what features to look for but Wifey is the financial whiz. After some pointed questions from her (and her catching a mistake he made) he finally asks for her name too and writes it down. May be too late at this stage for him to recover from telling her about the makeup mirror with lights as a big selling point (hoo boy, I bet you're the guy who buys your wife a vacuum cleaner for Mother's Day).

In the end I told him that we were going to wait and watch for a few months. He leaves a message that they worked up a better offer. Now I'm thinking, "Wait, you mean you didn't offer me the best price you could in the first place???" Don't know if I want to see what the offer is or not. We would probably still decide to wait and it might just invite yet another phone call.

All in all, I'd rather go to the dentist than shop for a car and that's really saying something.

Kind of makes you wish you had your avatar face hey.

I dispise car sales people. Its amazing how the industry still hasn't made any advances in their people skills. Once a slimy tool always a slimy tool. It amazes me how they treat everybody like you were that natural born sucker. Good on your wife catching his faux pas

I was looking one day years ago at getting myself a extended cab truck. My trade would have been my imaculate 2 dr GTP. With my hubby at my side it took 3 sales men and a test drive, then they called down the owner. Who unwittingly tried to sell me a ford product. At this time myself and hubby are hardcore GM people was not impressed that they didn't get our brand loyality. I now drive a Jetta TDI and the hubby has his stoopid big truck Chevy of course

So yes Fowler I get ur pain. Maybe just toy with him like he tried to do with you. At least the dentist numbs the area he's gonna work on

I just bought a new car, what I did is every dealership I went I told them all of the cars I was checking out and my criteria. I test drove each one and started narrowing down. I told the sales people who made the short list and then they started competing with each other. They all called with added incentives etc. I ended up buying the gmc terrain awd, which I love by the way. I did test drive a bunch and walked in with my research and started talking before they did. I didn't start with price, I started with what I wanted in a vehicle. I left price till the last and by that time they were in competition mode. Ford did the least. Hyundai and GMC did the most. I actually bought the slightly more expensive vehicle as it was a better fit.

Ughh you think shoping for a replacement car is burtle! Try shoping for your first car and wanting to get a half decent car for ~3000 (well SUV in my case.) But i am really picky! Any one that watches Big Bang knows how Sheldon is with his seat. I am the same way with my chairs (parents threw out my chair because it was 'broken' and i know sit in my room because the chair they got to replace it is not the same!!!!!!!) So yah i have some OCD issues.... Not your friend when looking at used cars. Ohh my. I am trying to stay away from dealers. UNLESS i think they won't try to push me to do anything.

I would rather go to halifax than shop for cars. AND i hate going to the city. TO many people, to many escaltors (i have a phobia about those things. Just don't like them!).

We haven't shopped for a new vehicle for a long time. Last one be bought was used at a dealer. A tough vehicle to find in good condition and it met all our requirements. We actually stumbled on to it before it was even cleaned up and ready for sale. We paid a little more than we wanted to, but the truck was worth it. I don't like buying from dealers but sometimes it is how it works out.

Anyways, why doesn't someone develop a new way of selling cars. Take all the BS out of it. No dickering, just the bottom line price. What you see is what you pay. No crazy mark up on anything, just the price. You wouldn't need a bunch of quick talking sales people in the place, just nice, friendly people to help you with your paper work. I think it would revolutionise the car selling industry. We are not stupid, we do our research and know what we want to pay. Don't you think that would be a better experience? I know I would like that better.

Hope you find the right vehicle for you and your lovely wife. What are you guys thinking about? I am so not up on all the new things out there. Like my trucks to much to care about the little vehicles!

Actually we are pretty open to anything. We were looking at Kia Sportage and Sorento just because they had a promotion on but the numbers weren't where we'd like. May look at used as well.

I agree. I think a new way of selling cars would become VERY popular.

Also the salesmen get so territorial. Going back to that guy I mentioned at the Ford dealership. I was in one day just walking around the lot seeing what was there. This guy comes up and says hi to me. Told him I was just looking and left. Later I go in to ask about a price and get talking with an older guy. This guy was good and is explaining things to me in language even I can understand. Suddenly 'Parking Lot Guy' pops up and says something to him. Older Guy asks me if I had been speaking with him before. I said, "Well we spoke in the parking lot but..." Older Guy puts up his hands, "I'm stepping away!" and that was it. Now Parking Lot Guy comes up and tries to do the selling. Unfortunately I am now pi$$ed off (What? You say Hi to me and you somehow own me?) Not to mention this guy sucks. You can tell he's nervous and he just didn't know his stuff. I ask him a question and he ends up going back over the exact same numbers he just did. I ended up walking away from him. He chased me to my car and was still trying to talk through my window as a drove away. It would have been funny on TV. Being there, I wanted to slam his head in the door.

Let that be a lesson. Don't say hi to salesmen in the Lot. The good ones are probably inside working.

Yikes!

Let me tell you about my Ford truck buying experience.

We went in looking for a good milage, bottom of the barrel, no bells and whistles, Ranger. Financing was 4.9% and no rebates. However, we could buy a top of the line Ranger with all the bells and whistles, bigger engine and horrible gas milage AND receive a big cash back incentive as well as an intrest rate of 0.9%. No, the rebate and interest rate could not be applied to the no bells and whistles Ranger.

We purchased a Toyota. I had this strange feeling there was some scamming agenda at work here.

Then I spoke to people who bought the top of the line Ranger. After the warrentee was off almost all the 'extras' had developed problems that required high priced repairs. Aha!

The only problem the Toyota has had in two years was an inconveniently noisy heating fan. It was a $40 fix.

About 6 or so years ago, we decided we wanted a new Dodge Ram 1 ton truck. We have been with our dealership for over 20 years( used to buy trucks(15 one year) for a oilfield company). Made a appointment with our salesman, wait three days for him to come back from vacation, go in. GUESS What, It is raining and a couple (New never been there) came in from to lake and he is waiting on them. Comes out to tell me that 'SO 'N SO', will help me. 'So 'N So', comes out asks what I want , tell him and he goes and gets the truck. Takes me outside and asks when MY HUSBAND, will be in to look at said truck and take it for test drive. Tell him that it is ME buying this vehicle. He continues to ask what hubby wants in vehicle, I walk into 'our' salesman's office in front of 'said customer', and inform him take he just lost the sale. Why he asks, first he is there with new couple, gives me a salesperson that thinks women have no buying power, then 'So'N'So, told me I could not take vehicle out for test drive as hubby not there. Long story short, started to go to Ford dealer, but Chev was in-between, stopped. Dealer showed everything, told me to take the one I wanted to show 'hubby' home for the weekend, and come back Monday. Bought a $65,000 truck. Hide-sight, should have gone to Ford, the Chev (2006 Chev Silverado(), now only has 70,000 KMs and every time I need the new truck, something has been wrong with it. Just after New Year's the engine light came on again, need to take it in and have it checked, so fed-up with this truck. Our Ford's are great still driving a 1992 1-ton with 360,000 and still going strong. Good luck. Car salesmen leaves much to be desired.

coopslave wrote:Anyways, why doesn't someone develop a new way of selling cars. Take all the BS out of it. No dickering, just the bottom line price. What you see is what you pay. No crazy mark up on anything, just the price.

This is how Toyota sells. The price is the price. You can go online, follow a flow chart for purchasing, and finish with a sheet that includes all your options model of car, color, etc. with a price breakdown and a total at the end. Print it off, take it in to the dealership, and they will search Canada for the car you want, find it and bring it in for you.

I have purchased 3 Toyotas new and all have been very pleasant experiences.

Look up everything that there is on the internet about there specials ,the dealer will NEVER tell you about them unless you dop your home work .My Nephew bought a Mazda last year and he checked on line ,knew all of the specials that were being offered and went in and bought the car for so much less that the other dealer that he was dealing with ( helps to have to that can go head to head )said that he didn't know how he had gotten the price down so low ? The dealership that sold him the car was blown away because he knew all the discounts that are on the vehical ,and they all have them ! I normally go in with a Poker face ! They sweat not me ! I'll ask for a history if it's a used vehical ,if they don't give it to me I'll copy the VIN number down ,although now they have to supply the history .On new or used I'll look the sales person directly in the eyes and tell them they have one shot at this ..........give me your absolute best price ! If I don't like it I get up and walk and that's the end of me dealing there !So far I've known what fair market prices are ( avaliable on Line ) and if the meet or excede them then we can deal ! I have walked from some dealerships ,when they say it's the best they can do I get extremally mad ! first question is normally why they want to start off with a lie ? I told one sales person that the best they can do is sell it to me just above cost ,but I expect them to make a small profit and I expect to get a great deal!If they mistreat you ask to see management ,they all answer to them and some do there dealings in ways that management would frown on ! I find the hardest is knowing what I want ,not so much with the dealings after I've made up my mind ........good luck

This is how we do it.

Go on Kijiji, find mid 70s or 80s model pick-up that you like the colour of. Note price. $4000. Laugh. Get $2000 cash, flat deck trailer, transfer papers and drive to back alley where truck is parked.

Look skeptical while owner talks up its many attributes, empties the mousetrap and removes his bag of weed from under the seat. Ask if mouse trap is part of deal. Say, I will give you $2000. Show him the cash. If he says yes, winch truck onto deck after getting his John Henry on the transfer papers. If he says no, go home without a truck, stop at Tim Hortons and talk about how he's obviously an idiot and he will regret the day he didn't take your money.

If you do buy the truck, deem it a 'parts' truck that you will drive until you purchase your 'real' truck. 9 years later park the parts truck for repair, use your other parts truck for parts. Wonder where you went wrong in your life.

Edited to add: I guess we have a very odd approach to vehicles. Our guiding principle is, never have more money tied up in a vehicle than you are willing to walk away from. I know this won't work for most people. But we know people who spent tens of thousands on a truck and are now stuck having to pay for the big fix, they have too much money invested to let it go, to walk away. We avoid that. Drive junk, when it piles, it owes you nothing. You can decide to fix if you want, ditch if you want, but by having relatively little invested we are never obligated by large investment to continue to repair. It does little for ur vehicular ego, but it's very freeing financially.

ALso, I have bought a few vehicles over the years from dealers and being very unskilled in the dance, I use the same approach as we do with the back alley guys. We decide in advance what we will pay. We make our offer. There is NO dickering. This is eihter yes, or no, pick one. I have zero patience for this weird, psychologically manipulative feeling of suspense they create with this running in and out. I ask right out, if you are not the guy who can say yes or no, go away. I either talk to the grand fromage, or no one. But mostly we hang out in back alleys talking to people without front teeth, at least they don't give us the run around. THey just sell us stolen trucks!

Uno,

You make me laugh so much. And what you do is very much like my parents do. They have never bought a new vehicle, and most of the vehicles they have had they paid less than 1000 for them and they have got 3-4+ years out of them. To me it does not seem like tying up a lot of money on a vhicle is a smart thing to do. Because used ones are out there, and by the time on Kijiji for for a few grand, most safty issues/recalls would have been done on said vehicle. SO IMO getting a used one is safer than a new one.

Uno i am guessing you have done that once or twice?

Yeah Call Ducks, once or twice. Good to know your parents get 3 or 4 years of service out of a cheap ride. That's pretty good. I've managed to squeeze 17 years of driving out of my last ride, and still going.

uno wrote:Yeah Call Ducks, once or twice. Good to know your parents get 3 or 4 years of service out of a cheap ride. That's pretty good. I've managed to squeeze 17 years of driving out of my last ride, and still going.

17 holly crap! Do ya buy the big old trucks?

uno wrote:I've managed to squeeze 17 years of driving out of my last ride, and still going.

I guess your darling husband might get a little of the credit for that, hey?

Oh by the way I still have some big, awesome cardboard for him. I won't recycle it if he wants it. His eyes sure lit up when I mentioned it last time I saw you guys.

True dat, FarmChiq, the man does lay out in the dirt a lot, wrenching. Hang on to that cardboard!

Yes Call Ducks, we like those big, old ones. So does the daughter. Having these trucks is kind of like a homing device; we know exactly how far away from home she can afford to get. It's not far.

But having heard the stories of the excruciating adventures in truck buying, I don't know how people stand the stress!

And Fowler, I think your Missus should have kicked that salesman right in his make-up mirror!

I have to agree with you Uno, I love shopping on kijiji. I have sold and bought some pretty good deals on that site. I love the older vehicles back in the day when things were built to last and if they broke you didn't need to get a pro, you could do it yourself.

Saves the headache of dealing with a sales person.

We are also think kind of people who hate having payments. I love knowing that I own this, not the bank and me just me .

When we bought the hubbies truck we had saved up for it. It ended up being at a repo outfit down in Vancouver. But we lucked out because it was an ex-lease, government vehicle. Not on bit of trouble and they didn't have any annoying sales people, just repo people ha ha

We bought a new car last year. Hubby does lots of distance driving, so we were looking for the least expensive, gas saving, family vehicle we could find.
We looked at the Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Ford, Kia and Mazda.
The Toyota dealer bent over backwards and jumped through flaming hoops for us. I think he still sends Christmas and birthday cards
The Ford dealer was great. Informative, but not pushy. In fact, he disappeared after we spoke and test drove the vehicle?
The Hyundai dealer was similar.
The Kia guy was young and eager, but not annoyingly so.
The Honda guy was dismissive.
We didn't bother even test driving the Mazda. It was too small. Driving sucks when you can't shoulder check around your knees. Perhaps I exaggerate slightly...
Maybe being such a small town, the sales people aren't quite as cut throat as the bigger cities? I don't know. Maybe me being dressed in my barn clothes made them think there was little chance we could afford a car? Whatever!
We ended up buying the Honda and are loving it. Hubby says I'd decided before we even looked, but when I told him to buy what ever one he wanted, he went with the Honda. Best bang for our buck, once the extras were added.
Hubby was shocked to get picked up and driven to the dealership, where the licensing, registration and everything was ready to go. Not sure if the others do that, but it sure was nice. The salesman even went out of his way to drop off my son's friend at home, on our way to the car. We were very pleased.
Good luck in your search.
Hopefully you'll find a good salesperson and the car you want.

Well I don't know much about buying vehicles especially not modern ones lol. I recently just bought my first truck. It was from a kijiji ad that turned out to be a family friend so sealed the deal with whisky. She's a 92 dodge w-150 built like a real truck. Didn't cost much but I've put about the same amount of money into it as what I payed for it it to pass the out of province vehicle safety. However stuff like brakes should last forever cuz its a standard transmission and who touches the brakes when driving a standard? And a muffler? I'll put it on for the safety inspection and rip it off and box it back up afterward haha.

I enjoyed the mousetrap story Uno, my truck came with a handful of odds and ends, like; a black sharpie, several handy albeit used toothpicks, about $10 bucks in change, gunracks, a handful of clamps, the real treasure a Jeff Foxworthy cassette, plus additional parts for the truck.

Didn't do any dealing on the truck, it was fairly priced and just the kind of truck I was looking for, 4X4, low kms for the year (145999, when I bought it) , even came with a truck topper so it's an ultimate chicken hauling machine.

My best advice for picking out a truck, get a good idea of what you want and wait until you find it. Thats the best way to be perfectly happy with your decision.

Oh I do envy those mechanical people who can keep the old cars going. My brother is such a one. I am not.

Now I'll have to check Kijiji...

auntieevil wrote: Maybe me being dressed in my barn clothes made them think there was little chance we could afford a car? Whatever!

Could very well be. A guy I knew went looking right after his work as a landscaper. Noone even spoke to him at the first lot he stopped at. Found a salesman who actually talked to him at another dealership and ended up buying that night. People's assumptions can cost them money.

Car buying is a royal pain in the ass.

First, they have the advertised price.
Then they have what they call a Puff (stupid name, I know). You go in, and offer less than the advertised. They then come back with the Puff price. This is somewhere between yours, and theirs. (still nowhere near their bottom line).
Now they think they have you, because you think you have them negotiating.
You make your next offer, and then they come up with another price (which most people bite on because they feel like they've got a great deal, and negotiated) or, they will just say no, then call you back that night, and say "just come in, we can work out a deal"

This is all standard procedure on a car lot.

Hillbilly wrote: Car buying is a royal pain in the ass.

First, they have the advertised price.
Then they have what they call a Puff (stupid name, I know). You go in, and offer less than the advertised. They then come back with the Puff price. This is somewhere between yours, and theirs. (still nowhere near their bottom line).
Now they think they have you, because you think you have them negotiating.
You make your next offer, and then they come up with another price (which most people bite on because they feel like they've got a great deal, and negotiated) or, they will just say no, then call you back that night, and say "just come in, we can work out a deal"

This is all standard procedure on a car lot.

Yep, pretty much what this guy is doing right now and we're not even biting.

Plus he keeps talking about how fast they're moving. 1. We're not the sort that suffer from FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out). 2. Every non-salesperson I've talked to have said how slow sales are right now (this is from a few different dealerships).