None of my salesmen has ever sold a car

[austin_dern]

Back to the car experience: My father got to thinking talking about how last time he got the car serviced they didn't have the little tool to reset the service-counter, so that the computer claimed it had been longer since the car was serviced than it really had been. And also they got new brakes last year, and new tires too. So when we got back to Toyota to re-discuss the 2008 Something he blurted out to the car dealer guy about this. The sales guy said that this sort of thing would certainly help him in his case arguing for a higher re-appraisal of the trade-in and therefore we just might be able to get that couple extra thousand dollars. He went off to that strange place car sales folk go when they're doing the ``I have to catch by surprise, tackle, and force the other guy at our agency into doing something, but I'm working for you!'' routine. I mostly sat uncomfortably, as the cubicles provide a standard two seats, and many people walking by offered to get a third so both me and my father could sit simultaneously, and my father kept refusing.

Eventually our sales creature came back and said they'd agreed to the new appraisal for the trade-in, if my parents were willing to make a deal right now. So my parents talked it over briefly, largely my mother asking if my father was comfortable with it, and my father refusing to say anything besides that it was her decision. My parents looked over various financing options based on generic choices for payment plans and decided yes, they were comfortable, and what cars did Toyota have on hand?

So about 2 pm I started to realize that I really should have brought my bookbag, where I've been letting my camera sit: there was a nontrivial chance that our cars were changing that day. Normally I don't go anywhere without my bookbag, but I figured since we were just going for a few test drives, and also suit-buying, that I wouldn't need much, and I foolishly left it at home. As I thought over this, the car sales person was discussion interior options packages with my parents: what ones do have heated front seats, but do not have the navigation console. And what do they have on the lot.

Trivia: The Anglo-French Agreement of 1904, primarily describing relative dominance of Egypt and Morocco, also included clauses discussing borders in West Africa, and agreements on Siam and Newfoundland. Source: The Struggle For Mastery In Europe, 1848 - 1918, A J P Taylor.

Currently Reading: A Ball, A Dog, and a Monkey: 1957 - The Space Race Begins, Michael D'Antonio.

Comments

[orv.livejournal.com]

I hate the whole car dealer ritual. It's one of the reasons I tend to buy my cars used from private parties.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

The baffling thing was how ritualistic it turned out to be. I'm confident everyone involved knew the play they were going through, yet we went through it anyway, like bad sitcom reenactors.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

Buying my current car was my only experience with buying from a car dealer and I hated it. We managed to get the salesman quite a bit down past where I think he was trying to plant his feet, but we had to make like we were walking to the door to finally crack him. Throughout the whole thing, he was doing the stereotypical "I have to ask my boss"/"my boss won't let me do that" thing. I didn't realize he would actually, literally say things like that, but he did.

Next time I buy a car I think it'll be from a private party.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I was uncomfortable just being on the outskirts of this. All the actual discussion was between the car guy and my mother, and my involvement was just that I didn't have anywhere I could go off reading or napping on my own.

Actually, maybe I could have hid in the back of a Scion and avoided the action.