Famous car salesman quote!
For the last three weeks, I have been trying to buy a car from a used car salesman. The car is sitting on a lot 3 1/2 hours from where I live. The car is a one-owner, 2007 Toyota Prius with 35,600 miles, clean interior, no door dents, white. "Great car," one would think. However, it has been on that lot for over 170 days. "Why," I asked. "Who knows," replied the salesman. "Maybe because the price is too high!!! Ever think of that?"
Well, needless to say, I did not want to drive 3 1/2 hours to look at it for that price. That is 7 hours of driving, 30 minutes of having to stop and go to the bathroom, 1 hour for lunch or dinner. 8 1/2 hours! Dreadful.
Joel (I will use his real name since I have never even met him) and I have become pretty good phone and email friends. I have an image of what I think he should look like based on his knowledge, lack of knowledge, candor, lack of candor, and used car salesman quotes. I am sure his perceived image of me is not particularly flattering, either, based on the fact that I am pretty direct, don't pull any punches, don't know this guy so am not afraid to say anything, and have flat out told him his price is too high, I won't pay a penny over the NADA price (which he originally suggested I go research, as they used nothing but NADA guide, not Edmund's, which is what I always use) and I will not buy the car by the end of the month. Obviously, if they've been looking at this car sitting on their lot for over 170 days, a few more surely won't matter. My take on this: I am in the driver's seat. I will buy it when I feel like driving to Billings. And if it sells before I get there, fine, the sale was not meant to be!
Every car buying experience should be over the phone with total strangers! It got me the price I wanted, a million questions answered, factory recalls researched and taken care of, and, saving the best for last, the car is being trucked to my house for free!
You may wonder how really stupid I am for buying a car "sight unseen." Well, I did get a whole bunch of pictures, which was better than nothing. I also called the Toyota dealership (not the Lincoln dealership where the car has been sitting) that was performing the recall work yesterday and asked them whether they thought that car was super great, asked if they would describe the car the way Joel did, asked what condition the engine and everything looked to be in, and finally asked whether they would buy that car if they were me. They said it was a super great car and liked my price that I negotiated. With no dog in the fight, I figured they would have no reason to represent it as anything more than it really was. In fact, if anything, they might want to try to sell me a new one if they could convince me this was a bad looking lemon.
Joel and I are still sparring over an extended warranty. I think that might be a good idea for the right price. The right price, however, is not what the dealership is trying to extort out of me. So my last call to Joel was to tell him," I will take the car, no extended warranty because the price is ridiculously high, and I will go find a warranty myself, if I feel the need." Which, you guessed it, then led to, "Well, what if we match the extended warranty price you found?" "Really? Why not quote me that price in the first place?" The simple answer is because that is not the way used car salesmen think or behave. They think, and hope, that most people coming in to buy a car have only half a brain. Which I also felt compelled at an earlier point to tell Joel, "I'm not stupid." He spent 15 minutes telling me he knew I wasn't stupid and didn't mean to imply that I was. He maybe didn't think it, but he certainly hoped it. Talk about a lot of wasted time on the phone over the last three weeks.
Long story short, I just got off the phone with the finance guy who pushes these overpriced extended warranties at the dealership, and I will NOT be purchasing an extended warranty from them. Time to move on.
I am quite excited to have the car delivered tomorrow, maybe even a little nervous. I will report back and let you know if I was also a little stupid.
Caveat Emptor! Let the buyer beware.
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