We went to three dealerships and made a decision yesterday. Today we get to wrap it up and finalize the deal. (First does anyone want to buy a car? 1996 Altima for sale, $750, needs work and a starter.) The first dealer we went to was a nice guy and let us both test drive the car. We also looked at some other cars in the lot. He was just nice. But we wanted to drive more than one car and his deal we thought wasn't so hot so off we went.
The second dealer was impossible to get into as the driveway was right next to a highway entrance ramp. Then we couldn't find the building. Then we couldn't find the guy. Finally, we find the guy and the car and he sent us off for a test drive without him. Then we came back and had to wait around and wait around for him to reappear. No deal offer at all.
Last, we went to a giant dealer which had a receptionist who didn't speak English, the sales manager we were told to ask for wasn't there so we dealt with another guy who gave us to a sales rep who had no authority and wouldn't give us prices or let us walk around the lot. His first question was what color car do we want? (I hate car dealers who do that.) Every time I asked him for a number, he said he would have to find out. Or its the new 09's and I dont have that memorized yet. Finally, he showed us two cars and tried to get us to make an offer. Their deal was only slightly better than the first dealer. We said we needed to discuss it and would get back to him.
After consulting with our automotive advisor (my brother who is a gear head), we decided to go with the car from the first dealer but will ask him to meet the third dealer's price. Mostly because we liked him best - easiest to deal with and no run around.
Car shopping is a horrible experience. However its much better than in previous years as the customer is now educated and knows what the dealer invoice is. But the invoice price is also just another number that the dealer gets incentives from the manufacturers so it is definitely not carved in stone. What I thought was interesting is that at the last dealer they didn't want to give us prices but every car in the lot has a window sticker on it. Their ploy ws to keep the customers in the building and bring the cars up to the customers - so they can't walk around and see what exactly is available and how much it is. That is why they will not get our business.
More importantly, I was right. Lahey was trying to call me on Friday. The unknown phone calls were from the preadmissions department for my upcoming gall bladder adventure. They work seven days a week and called me yesterday. Now I found out I am ill prepared for this - I dont have a living will or health care proxy (I keep meaning to but forgetting - you would think after this many medical adventures I would) and I am not an organ donor (but I don't think they want mine after chemo, etc anyway). Well, I can work on the living will and health care proxy in the next few weeks.
Today, for a change, I am off for a walk and then work at home. How exciting. Then I am going to the airport to pick up a friend's son who is coming out here for college. I hope to beat the traffic back out of the city but am not sure this will be possible. But I am doing a good thing.
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