Yesterday was a rainy mess but I think it's the cold front that is *hopefully* going to usher out hot weather. When it's 80 degrees the weekend before Halloween weekend, I'm not a happy camper. I was doing some voice work and it was like every single car everywhere drove past our place and it was loud. I had to cram in all I could before the next one came by. It will be a crap show for my editor.
We had a gathering after work so that meant the Mr had to get up at 5:30am to get in his workout. Which also meant I was going to have to workout at some point during the day. That was going to be interesting given it was cardio day and my leg was still pretty jacked. I got by and basically danced a little and did some stuff to get my heart rate up and then rolled the hell out of everything from the lower back down.
The Mr decided he was going to go test drive a Subaru Outback on his lunch. He seemed to like it. We've got a year before we're getting anything but I get to listen to 18 months of research, numbers and the like being spouted out. I appreciate he puts so much research in it but imagine hearing about the thing you hate most on this Earth for that long. Just saying the term "buy a new car" or "test drive" makes me ragey. I have my dad to thank for that. Lets just say he made my first car buying experience pure hell. I won't even go into it but then also try shopping with your mom. When two women come in the sexism is rampant and I'm not talking the current conditions of sexism. They might as well say in their best hillbilly voice "weh-hell little lady. That thar vagina means you have no business trying to make a deal on your own. You got a husband or daddy that we can talk to about those big bad numbers? Why don't you go back in the kitchen where you belong." Seriously.
I've never had a good car buying experience...ever. Well, maybe when I bought my 97 Intrepid where we caught the manager of a dealership smoking weed with his employee after hours and he gave us his card. So we went to a dealership across town and said "bottom line, this is the deal we were given at X dealership but we're not a fan of this guy and if you can match it, we'll buy from you." They spent 20 minutes running the numbers and three guys all came back and said "I really don't know how you have this deal because we'd lose money. We really want to sell you ours but if he's giving you that, take it. We would." We knew the extra $500 we took off the deal pot man offered was the line between profit and not on the outgoing model year. We asked how close they could get out of curiosity and they said $250. We took it because they were honest about it and were in pain telling us to go elsewhere and so in awe of the deal. They asked if we minded telling them what dealer and we gave them the dealer name and the name of the dude. I know they all know each other in a roundabout way so that made it legit. Heh heh. But yeah, that's the only time I've had a good experience...20 years ago. Last time, we were trapped in a dealership who couldn't find their asses with a GPS for six hours and I had a migraine. If I wasn't basically getting a free car out of the deal, I would've told them to cram it in an orifice. It's just not something I remotely want to do. Like to give you an idea, remember when I told y'all about that laser treatment for toenail fungus that felt like a match under my toenail and rubber band being snapped on raw flesh? I'd rather do that for 3 hours than be at a dealership. Bottom line is, if any car doesn't load up the way ours did to Vermont with the seats UP then no go. You know darn well I'm packing our current car that way, driving it to the dealership and transferring our crap from our trunk to theirs and if it doesn't fit, we reload our car and leave. So you can imagine with being a year out, I'm not ready to relive the PTSD of all of my horrific car experiences. Luckily I'm not getting the new car so I won't have to be directly involved except for some financial decisions but still. When he starts talking about it, I want to plug my ears, close my eyes and say "la la la...I don't hear you!"
Anyhoo, I just traumatized myself with all of those thoughts so let's get back on track. Oh yeah. So the gathering was meeting my mom for a belated gathering with the Mr for his birthday. She gave us a choice between ice cream and pizza and ice cream seemed like the lesser of the evils. So I skipped breakfast (unintentionally at first but it worked out) so I didn't feel so guilty for indulging. Well no need because she cancelled because she wasn't feeling well. So we'll reschedule on that one. If she's got some stomach creeping crud, I want no part of that!
But I guess yay for workouts being done early so I made dinner.
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| (Fish, sweet potato gnocchi and mixed veggies) |
Then we watched Halloweentown II: Kalabar's Revenge. I know they're a little hokey but they've become part of our Halloween watching tradition. We've also been on a big old school horror movie spree so that's been fun to see popular people pop up in roles early in their career. Like Carl from Ghost (aka President on Scandal I think) was victim #1 on one of the more terrible Friday the 13ths. So funny!
What was your worst car buying experience?
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I haven't bought a car in years. I hate the haggling so much that I went to carmax
ReplyDeleteAs you know, buying a new car with my familly was one of my earliest memories. I associate a new car with a pleasant experience and I love the process almost as much as actually being handed the keys to the new car at the end of the process. You won't have to be involved in this one, but obviously your input on overall comfort on some of the cars I am looking at is an important piece of the puzzle. Maybe some of your readers have some input on Subaru Outbacks. I know a lot of people own them and love them so if anyone has anything to share, even bad stuff, feel free to reply!
ReplyDeleteI really like the look of the Outback. I seriously considered it for my last car, but ultimately went with a Chevy Captiva. It's not as roomy as I thought, the back end doesn't actually hold much more than my Nissan Altima's trunk did. I saw all that space and didn't consider that I can't really pack it to the ceiling because it will all come flying into the backseat the first time I stop hard. I really really like my car though even though it's not quite as great as I thought it would be.
ReplyDeleteMaybe buying used makes a difference? All but one of my buying experiences have been tolerable and one was even pleasant. That time I was able to buy from a small used lot in my town (usually I have to go out of town) and the salesman was respectful and helpful. He even let us take the car for an overnight test drive. I got the car for blue book plus a reasonable profit for them and felt really good about the purchase. My worst one was the time my now ex and I went to buy a SUV at a used lot and the sales guy told me I should call my dad and ask for money so we could afford more for a car. We were in our mid 20s at the time. We should have walked away, but of course by that point we'd decided on this vehicle and really really wanted it. Today I would walk out and tell them manager on the way out why they are losing my business, but at the time I was shell-shocked and just sat there. We both had to work that night and we thought it would be quicker to just buy the damn thing than start over somewhere new. We should have walked away and gone someplace else. We started at 10am and were both late for work at 6 o'clock that night.
I had some of those experiences helping my mom shop for a car years ago. But surprisingly I do well with the auto dealers and I'm the one who does all the talking when we've bought cars. I don't mind going toe to toe with somebody because I've done my research ahead of time and know what I'm willing to settle on. I literally walked out on a deal that was $5 above what I said I would agree to and the guy refused to budge. I will say that buying a car takes longer than to sign closing docs on a mortgage. I'm always stunned that we're like eight hours in by the time we get the keys handed over. I don't enjoy the process at all, but I do better than when I was younger.
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