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| Monday, October 25, 2004 |
| As the Weekend Turns |
Did a bit of car browsing this weekend. I really want a Subaru Forester (01 or 02 body style). The problem is, as you can probably guess, the financing. At the moment, I only have a "fair" credit rating, and, in addition, I can't really afford to pay more per month than I'm paying now. We'll see. I'm used to settling. (For those of you who've known me a long time, a name will immediately come to mind with that sentence.) I'm also looking at Honda CRVs and Accords, I have a secret liking for Toyota Tacomas with nice beefy tires, and I can totally picture myself in a Volkswagen New Beetle.
The other problem is where I work. Forensic engineering companies that, among other things, write reports on vehicle safety frown upon their employees driving around in jalopies. If I buy a GM or a Ford, I will never hear the end of it from the engineers. Besides, once you know about the safety issues in most cars (including the one I drive)--not to mention seeing the "after" pictures--you can't really picture driving one every day. Unfortunately, I can't afford a Volvo, and they aren't giving me one to drive here (if only I was business development, then I'd get a Volvo AND a Blackberry).
I met my best friend's Dad at the dealership. He had a plan. "I'm your uncle. You've got a three-week window to buy a car. We'll make sure to tell them that your mom just bought from them and we want to talk to the same sales guy." Right, all good in theory. So he starts talking.
Mr. D: "Yeah, this is my niece, she's looking at a Forester, she's not in a hurry to buy, but she wanted to talk to Dave. Yeah, my sister just bought an Outback from you guys a couple of months ago and she's really happy with it."
Sales Manager Jeff: Really? That's great. We'll see what we can do for you. What's your sister's name?
Mr. D.: *blank stare*
Me: Marlene R------ *smile*
Sales Manager: "Riiight. Ok well, you can go out and take a look and let us know if you need anything or want to drive something."
Smooth, wasn't it? Mr. D is great though (see archive entry on Spiritual Fathers). He won't let me get screwed over, that much I know. Once when Meg and I were younger we went to a now non-existant department store and bought some cheap roller blades. Got 'em home and mine were broken. So Mr. D goes back in with us and says, "we're gonna need a new pair of these, they were broken when we got them home." The guy behind the counter asked how he could know that we didn't break them and we're now trying to bring them back. How's that for customer service? Anyway Mr. D says "Listen, you can replace them now or pay for the lawsuit later when she uses them and breaks her neck." I had a nice new pair of roller blades.
Anyway, any suggestions on the car?
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posted by LoRi~fLoWer
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| 3 Comments: |
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No words of wisdom? No "always kick the tires"? No nothing for a poor girl out in the wild jungles of used car dealerships who doesn't know a cylinder from a spark plug?
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I just went through that whole car-buying thing... can I give you any advice? Not a lot, but here's something. There's a website out there, can't remember which one, where you can look up how much the dealer pays for a car. Granted, that may only apply to new cars, but it can't hurt to try it for a used car. That way, you'll know if they're trying to rip you off if they tell you a number WAAAAY higher than what they paid for it.
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Do you think that a 2000 Subaru Forester with 63,062 miles would be bad? I know that's kind of a lot of miles. It's $11, 990
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No words of wisdom? No "always kick the tires"? No nothing for a poor girl out in the wild jungles of used car dealerships who doesn't know a cylinder from a spark plug?