Is there anything more soul-deadening than shopping for a car? The process is equal parts delusion, disappointment, despair, and bitterness. The lies of "sticker prices," the smarminess of salesmen, the relentless dancing around the question of price, the constant up-selling, the complete disregard for anything you might be saying or any preference you might have, the never-ending emails and phone calls and promises no one has any intention of keeping...it's all too much!
And yet, since we sold our last car in Doha (couldn't have imported it because of US emissions and manufacturing standards or we would have just brought it along with us), and we're moving to a place where the husband will be commuting to work and, you know, there are winters in them thar woods, we need to buy not one but two cars in fairly short order.
So last Monday afternoon, after we got the kids back from their penultimate urban gym class, we headed off to visit some dealerships. And first we went to Honda, because I have loved our last three Pilots, and we thought we might go with them again. And I was hopeful, because we knew exactly what we wanted, and we were going to pay IN CASH for it right then and there (thank you, Sidra severance), and I said as much to the salesman: "Listen, we have cash in hand for this purchase. We want to buy a Pilot. We do not need a test drive. We do not need to be convinced of anything. We want to buy this model with these features or this model with these almost identical features, but we do not care one little bit about the color, inside or out, and we want to walk out of here as quickly as possible. What can we do to make that happen?" And I thought that if I were a new car salesperson, that would be music to my ears and I would be tying myself into knots trying to cash in on this easy sale.
But no.
Instead, we had to go outside and look at the new Pilots (very similar to the old Pilots only with less cargo room--say what?? That's half the appeal, Honda!), and the model in which we were not interested, just because that's how the schtick goes, apparently. And I got very impatient, even more so while they were working out their "deal" which really wasn't that much of a deal and trying to locate examples the models we were requesting at one of their "sister" dealerships. (They only ever succeeded, much later, in locating just one, so these sisters seem to be in a dysfunctional relationship). Let's be clear: I am not a bells and whistles girl. I like towing capacity, cargo space, third row seats, and reliability. A working radio is nice but not essential. The end. Vector whatsamahoozits and tri-climate thingamajigs do not impress me. What impresses me are transparence and speed in the car buying process.
But no.
Eventually, we had to leave. They had no models like the ones we wanted, they couldn't find them elsewhere, but they wanted to take as much of our money as they could while we were waiting. So we left. We had other makes of SUVs to test drive, potentially, if we couldn't find a Pilot and some used Pilots to track down on the way. We proceeded to our next stop, a GMC dealership that had a very lightly used one year old Pilot. Turns out, our salesperson was very new and refreshingly unaware of what he should be doing so he kept deferring to a very, ahem, experienced older gentlemen who made the realization that someone somewhere had screwed up in obtaining this vehicle. Turns out, they probably paid more for the car than they should have. But the older man also realized they could rectify the problem if they were willing to take a loss with this couple who clearly knew more about Pilots than they did. There was some dickering, we pulled the Carfax just to be sure we had a winner (one owner, 6 months and then repossessed, low mileage, no accidents, pristine maintenance history), and eventually the husband got the car for almost much, much less than Trucar said we should expect to pay for this model in this condition.
And you know what? It's perfect! It even has leather seats, something I had given up on because the new models with leather were so much more expensive than those without. And the boys love it: E wanted to spend the night in it! And it's exactly what we wanted and needed and the second place was so much nicer to deal with I left both with a car and without a migraine! And the finance guy there was even a Jordanian who was so happy to hear that every Jordanian we have ever met has been one of the nicest people (100% true, by the way--Jordanians are universally lovely in our experience!)
So so SO relieved to cross this one item off our ever ballooning to-do list! Huzzah! Which means, if you see a large black Honda Pilot driving by you as you cross the United States this summer, it's probably us, happy as clams and packed to the gills!
And yet, since we sold our last car in Doha (couldn't have imported it because of US emissions and manufacturing standards or we would have just brought it along with us), and we're moving to a place where the husband will be commuting to work and, you know, there are winters in them thar woods, we need to buy not one but two cars in fairly short order.
So last Monday afternoon, after we got the kids back from their penultimate urban gym class, we headed off to visit some dealerships. And first we went to Honda, because I have loved our last three Pilots, and we thought we might go with them again. And I was hopeful, because we knew exactly what we wanted, and we were going to pay IN CASH for it right then and there (thank you, Sidra severance), and I said as much to the salesman: "Listen, we have cash in hand for this purchase. We want to buy a Pilot. We do not need a test drive. We do not need to be convinced of anything. We want to buy this model with these features or this model with these almost identical features, but we do not care one little bit about the color, inside or out, and we want to walk out of here as quickly as possible. What can we do to make that happen?" And I thought that if I were a new car salesperson, that would be music to my ears and I would be tying myself into knots trying to cash in on this easy sale.
But no.
Instead, we had to go outside and look at the new Pilots (very similar to the old Pilots only with less cargo room--say what?? That's half the appeal, Honda!), and the model in which we were not interested, just because that's how the schtick goes, apparently. And I got very impatient, even more so while they were working out their "deal" which really wasn't that much of a deal and trying to locate examples the models we were requesting at one of their "sister" dealerships. (They only ever succeeded, much later, in locating just one, so these sisters seem to be in a dysfunctional relationship). Let's be clear: I am not a bells and whistles girl. I like towing capacity, cargo space, third row seats, and reliability. A working radio is nice but not essential. The end. Vector whatsamahoozits and tri-climate thingamajigs do not impress me. What impresses me are transparence and speed in the car buying process.
But no.
Eventually, we had to leave. They had no models like the ones we wanted, they couldn't find them elsewhere, but they wanted to take as much of our money as they could while we were waiting. So we left. We had other makes of SUVs to test drive, potentially, if we couldn't find a Pilot and some used Pilots to track down on the way. We proceeded to our next stop, a GMC dealership that had a very lightly used one year old Pilot. Turns out, our salesperson was very new and refreshingly unaware of what he should be doing so he kept deferring to a very, ahem, experienced older gentlemen who made the realization that someone somewhere had screwed up in obtaining this vehicle. Turns out, they probably paid more for the car than they should have. But the older man also realized they could rectify the problem if they were willing to take a loss with this couple who clearly knew more about Pilots than they did. There was some dickering, we pulled the Carfax just to be sure we had a winner (one owner, 6 months and then repossessed, low mileage, no accidents, pristine maintenance history), and eventually the husband got the car for almost much, much less than Trucar said we should expect to pay for this model in this condition.
And you know what? It's perfect! It even has leather seats, something I had given up on because the new models with leather were so much more expensive than those without. And the boys love it: E wanted to spend the night in it! And it's exactly what we wanted and needed and the second place was so much nicer to deal with I left both with a car and without a migraine! And the finance guy there was even a Jordanian who was so happy to hear that every Jordanian we have ever met has been one of the nicest people (100% true, by the way--Jordanians are universally lovely in our experience!)
So so SO relieved to cross this one item off our ever ballooning to-do list! Huzzah! Which means, if you see a large black Honda Pilot driving by you as you cross the United States this summer, it's probably us, happy as clams and packed to the gills!
