If you are a regular reader you know that we have had car problems for the last 5 months, (see ME? A Recluse?). We thought that this past weekend would see an end to the situation. It did but not in the way we expected. We did something we never thought we’d do. We bought a car.
Here’s what happened: I picked up the new computer brain we had ordered last week. I found out that although we could easily install this part it had to be “reflashed” by the service department so the car would recognize its new brain. Friday found us loading our broken car on a trailer (no easy task) and driving it to the big city to get fixed. Since we had a few hours to kill we thought we would walk around the various car dealerships on that particular street and check things out.
A young salesman joined us at one of the car lots and started to “do his thing”. We allowed him to show us some cars and humored him as he continued his sales talk. We could tell he was new at this so we allowed him to practice on us. He showed us a number of cars (we were looking for good gas mileage above all else). Each car seemed to get fancier than the last. I’m sure that most people are impressed by all the bells and whistles but we are not most people.
We were trying to tell him this. I explained that we lived on a long gravel road, that my husband works at a potato processing plant where the parking lot is dirt and gravel and that we were farmers. He didn’t really get it. Finally we said, “We need a car we can USE not a living room on wheels.” He laughed but we still didn’t think he got it.
Meanwhile we get the call saying our car had been fixed. We headed over to pick it up. This decision caused much grief in the sales office ( I think sales class #1 teaches “Don’t ever let them out of your sight after negotiations have begun) but we promised we would be back. Once away from the pressure, we decided that even if they met our impossible offer we would decline. We just didn’t feel ready.
So we are picking up our now running Sentra but before he hands us the keys, the service manager wanted us to see under the car. Basically, they had found several very serious problems. One problem left us unsure of it even making it home. We drove it back to the sales lot and added a new request- what will you give us for trade in value?
At this point, I decide to get some fresh air and walk around the lot a little more. And there it was- our car! I knew it the minute I saw it. I ran in to ask about it. The sales people called it a “plain Jane” type of car. They were surprised that we were interested. We were surprised that such a car is still being made. We assured them that we are “plain Jane” kind of people.
They met all our requests AND gave us $1200 trade in for the car we couldn’t have sold for $500. We said yes. It is our dream car- it has roll down windows, manual locks, non electric car seat adjustments and a non cloth interior! It is also great on gas. The very best part is it won’t take us 3 years to figure out what all the buttons are for. Like I said- we are “plain Jane” people and don’t have any plans to change much in the future. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
Here’s what happened: I picked up the new computer brain we had ordered last week. I found out that although we could easily install this part it had to be “reflashed” by the service department so the car would recognize its new brain. Friday found us loading our broken car on a trailer (no easy task) and driving it to the big city to get fixed. Since we had a few hours to kill we thought we would walk around the various car dealerships on that particular street and check things out.
A young salesman joined us at one of the car lots and started to “do his thing”. We allowed him to show us some cars and humored him as he continued his sales talk. We could tell he was new at this so we allowed him to practice on us. He showed us a number of cars (we were looking for good gas mileage above all else). Each car seemed to get fancier than the last. I’m sure that most people are impressed by all the bells and whistles but we are not most people.
We were trying to tell him this. I explained that we lived on a long gravel road, that my husband works at a potato processing plant where the parking lot is dirt and gravel and that we were farmers. He didn’t really get it. Finally we said, “We need a car we can USE not a living room on wheels.” He laughed but we still didn’t think he got it.
Meanwhile we get the call saying our car had been fixed. We headed over to pick it up. This decision caused much grief in the sales office ( I think sales class #1 teaches “Don’t ever let them out of your sight after negotiations have begun) but we promised we would be back. Once away from the pressure, we decided that even if they met our impossible offer we would decline. We just didn’t feel ready.
So we are picking up our now running Sentra but before he hands us the keys, the service manager wanted us to see under the car. Basically, they had found several very serious problems. One problem left us unsure of it even making it home. We drove it back to the sales lot and added a new request- what will you give us for trade in value?
At this point, I decide to get some fresh air and walk around the lot a little more. And there it was- our car! I knew it the minute I saw it. I ran in to ask about it. The sales people called it a “plain Jane” type of car. They were surprised that we were interested. We were surprised that such a car is still being made. We assured them that we are “plain Jane” kind of people.
They met all our requests AND gave us $1200 trade in for the car we couldn’t have sold for $500. We said yes. It is our dream car- it has roll down windows, manual locks, non electric car seat adjustments and a non cloth interior! It is also great on gas. The very best part is it won’t take us 3 years to figure out what all the buttons are for. Like I said- we are “plain Jane” people and don’t have any plans to change much in the future. That’s the view from my side of the street, what’s yours?
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