Monday, May 25, 2015
The Automotive News
I did end up buying a car this week. It was, as it always must be, a horrific experience. There were so many psychological techniques at play I felt like they were trying to get me to confess to murder. At one point they actually withheld my driver's license and car title from me in an attempt to coerce me to continue negotiating. I was afraid the rubber hoses were going to come out at any moment.
There were also shades of the bad romantic comedy, with lots of twists, turns, and declarations of affection. One dealership manager actually followed me out to the car to try to entice me to come back in with a lowball offer. It was all lies, though, of course. And now I can't get the rejected dealers to stop calling me.
In the end, though, we got a car we liked at a price that didn't feel like (pun definitely intended) highway robbery. It's a Prius C4. Gray. (One place tried to stick us with one that was fire truck red, but I'm not looking for that kind of attention.) Lots of fun options like voice recognition and a back-up camera. I could back up all day long with that thing. And the dog has already shed all over it, so it feels like home.
Now let's not do this again for like another ten years.
I did end up buying a car this week. It was, as it always must be, a horrific experience. There were so many psychological techniques at play I felt like they were trying to get me to confess to murder. At one point they actually withheld my driver's license and car title from me in an attempt to coerce me to continue negotiating. I was afraid the rubber hoses were going to come out at any moment.
There were also shades of the bad romantic comedy, with lots of twists, turns, and declarations of affection. One dealership manager actually followed me out to the car to try to entice me to come back in with a lowball offer. It was all lies, though, of course. And now I can't get the rejected dealers to stop calling me.
In the end, though, we got a car we liked at a price that didn't feel like (pun definitely intended) highway robbery. It's a Prius C4. Gray. (One place tried to stick us with one that was fire truck red, but I'm not looking for that kind of attention.) Lots of fun options like voice recognition and a back-up camera. I could back up all day long with that thing. And the dog has already shed all over it, so it feels like home.
Now let's not do this again for like another ten years.
