| New Car Shopping |
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| Written by Steven Estrada | |
| Sunday, 15 November 2009 | |
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Being a FORD LOVER, and living a few miles from Don Reid Ford in Maitland, every time I go new car shopping, I visit them. They got a habit of pretending like they wouldn't care less if they sell a car or not, and act like they're doing me a favor by arranging financing. If that wasn't enough to change my mind about buying a new car from them this time, the sales worksheet was. It had so many profit-inflating, BOGUS FEES tacked on, I needed my calculator to add them up. When I brought up an issue with their math, the sales manager got angry. I'm happy to pay $20K for a $20K car,and give the local dealer a nice profit - but won't tolerate being talked down to by snotty, arrogant sales managers. Haven't these people learned to make friends with customers about to give $20K to a perfect stranger? I walked out annoyed. As usual. The Courtesy dealers Toyota, Chevy, etc, were horrible. All of them. They're real old school with upsells for fake Scotch Guard and other junk, left me waiting so long I almost fell asleep, tried to push hefty dealer markup fees, and treated me like a complete idiot. I just missed smashing the 2010 Corolla cause it's brakes were so mushy, they almost didn't work. The salesman said that's it's anti-lock feature. Anti-stop is more like it. The saleslady at Chevy insisted the cheap inflation kit that substitutes for a spare is just as good as a real tire. Try telling that to someone with a punctured sidewall. Over at Greenway Ford, I showed the salesman my best price, and asked him to beat it. He comes up $2K over. I guess he didn't understand the first time, so I explained again. He came back $1K over. I walked out. Kia had a nice ad in The Orlando Sentinel - $5K for any trade in. If you think that's hard to believe - you're right. I finally told the saleslady to forget the trade in. Those people seemed weird after a salesman from Egypt joined the saleslady, and both took a test drive with me. "What's the problem?" I wondered to myself. Was the saleslady afraid of being raped? I clutched my checkbook with both hands fearing it would be raped. And left. Honda - you'll never see me in a Honda showroom - not after buying that brand new 1990 Accord 19 years ago that broke 14 times in the nine agonizing months I owned it. I don't care what Consumer Reports says. You couldn't give me a Honda. Dismayed and worn out from the local dealers, I called the credit union and a bunch of banks, settled for a preapproved loan from Bank Of America, then went on the internet and filled out a form with the car and options I decided on. Multiple dealers from all over the country answered the email. Some replied by asking for tons of unrelated personal info only a fool would give, rather than answering my questions about a new car. I didn't bother with them. Others tried to lure me into visiting their showroom. I emailed those folks back saying "I don't need to come in for a test drive," and asked, "Will you sell me this car, with these options, at this price?"Arsene at Greenway Ford on Colonial (one of the local dealers I already visited), called instead of answering the email, found a car with the specs I asked for, and emailed me the sticker. He didn't just meet my price. He exceeded my expectations. When I drove over to pick the car up - I was surprised to see it with nice pretty pinstripes I didn't ask for, the kind you pay over $100 for. I said "What are you gonna do, pull a bait and switch on me?" Nope. The pinstripes come with the car. Then - holding my Bank Of America preapproved loan - went to pay. The finance guy offered a better rate from another bank than the one I walked in with. Of course I took it. Then drove away happy with a nice, new, built in America Ford Focus, waving good by to my new friends at Greenway Ford. |
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