A few days ago, we said goodbye to an old family friend…
At first, she lived with my parents. Then she took my hubby to work.
She is our first car that made it past 100,000 miles.
And then some…
Rather like living past 100 in human years, no?
The car still ran great, but it felt like the right time to say goodbye.
I wasn’t looking forward to the car-buying “experience.”
Years ago, a salesman told me to “bring your husband so we can strike a deal.”
I was stunned that he didn’t think I could “strike a deal.”
In his defense, perhaps I looked tired.
Perhaps he thought I forgot my checkbook.
Perhaps he was just a jerk.
This time around, I was pleasantly surprised.
My salesman was terrific. He didn’t think I looked tired.
He didn’t even ask me to bring my husband to “strike a deal.”
As a result, I don’t have a weird car-buying story to relay…
but I am certain that some of you do.
.
What are some of the goofy things a car salesman said to you?
Lynn Kellan is a romance novelist devoted to finding the love and the funny in every story. Her novella will be available in 2012, but she is always here to focus on the lighter side of life. 
"You make me start my day with a smile!" from Ravit
{ 14 comments }
Let’s see, ever since my hubby and I have been married we’ve only bought 2 vehicles and we always bought them from a private owner so I can’t help you there. The first one we sold was a Toyota 4Runner and it had almost 300,000 miles when we sold it. Yes we actually still got money for it. We recently bought my hubby a Chevy Blazer because his pick up truck has around 195,000 on it.(which we still have and it still runs great) My Expedition has 145,000 miles on it. LOL! We figure they are just getting broke in by that time.
I can tell you one thing that people in general used to say to me that was pretty weird. They would say, “You’re tall, how tall are you?” And I would act shocked every time they pointed it out. Ha! Ha! People are crazy!
Have a SUPER FABULOUS day my friend.
Kim
Kim @ Homesteader’s Heart´s last [type] ..I Use My Kids as a Cover Up!
My wife and I should have known to walk away when she mentioned Consumer Reports and the salesman immediately said, “Oh, they’re a bunch of liars.”
We should have taken the hint when he spent a lot of time complaining about previous customers and talking about why it’s ridiculous that people think they can negotiate the price.
What finally did the salesman in was when he pushed a piece of paper across the table and said, “Before we can negotiate any further I need you to sign this.” Under the signature line were the words “agrees to buy a this price.” My wife crossed that out because we weren’t agreeing to anything yet, and the salesman jumped up and started screaming in her face, “DON’T WRITE ON MY PAPER!”
When we got up to leave and the manager came over and tried to stand between us in our door while the salesman yelled at him about us wasting his time we made it more than clear that we wouldn’t be buying a car from him and that we’d never come back to that dealership ever again.
The sad part is I doubt either one of them knows what he did wrong.
I bought a new to me vehicle from an older salesman that my parents have bought all of their vehicles from. I figured he would be nice & easy to work with & his lot had the vehicle I wanted. After the sale was complete he wouldn’t give me the keys until he explained & demonstrated what each button on the remote did. I guess he thought I couldn’t figure out what ‘lock’, ‘unlock’, & ‘panic’ meant…
our credit union has a car buying service. you e-mail them what you want…they find the best deal and then it magically pulls into your driveway…best thing since sliced bread!
I was looking for a pickup that could pull and stock trailer (you would think that would be a clue) and the salesman was showing me the interior of the pickup and made a point to show me it had not one but two vanity mirrors so I could check my make up…. seriously?
Another one told me that my price was totally unrealistic and that when you buy a used car you need to plan on spending at a min of $20k or it would not be worth even looking at
So when I bought my most recent vehicle, they asked why I bought from them, I told him it as because they did not tick me off!
june´s last [type] ..Altered Album!
@ Christopher – Wow. Just … wow. I can’t imagine how they sell ANY vehicles!
I don’t have any crazy salesman stories, which makes me pretty happy after reading the ones above!
I once had a car salesman take my keys to have the trade-in guy look at my car and then refuse to return them until we closed the deal. We had just stopped in on the way to dinner on a Friday evening and we had two children under the age of 5 who had not eaten. We had no intention of buying a car that night. We truly were just looking to decide if we wanted that particular model. After more than an hour, I picked up the phone on his desk and threatened to report my car as stolen. Amazingly, he found my keys and returned them. I wrote a letter of complaint to the dealer and never heard any response from them.
Grams´s last [type] ..What I Know Now That I Didn’t Know Then
We had a great salesman when we bought our car a little over a year ago. His manager was a different story. I wanted to strangle that man
Cheryl Barker´s last [type] ..Revisiting Beautiful Feet — Again!
Goodness, reading the above horror stories makes me grateful that we don’t have it so bad here (in Malaysia). It’s very competitive, so you can actually get for free, if you’re aggressive…I mean… if you’re assertive… , window-tinting, a tank full of petrol, and any other extras you can think of…
Valerene Matthews, Malaysia´s last [type] ..Botswana – Taking It All In.
When I bought my Honda Pilot *pre-owned* it kept going dead randomly! The first time it was when we were “showing it off” to my parents who had already preached to us that new was good, used was bad…although we got the lecture we still stand by our lightly pre-owned cars! Just too much of a depreciation hit on new for my liking….either way, we took it back several times and although we paid for this extra warranty they wouldn’t replace the battery because it “tested” fine – we ended up spending $120 (a LOT for young newlywed parents!) and the thing NEVER went dead again…said dealership (rhymes with BARMAX) said if we brought the receipt they would refund us….NOPE! Oh well, live and learn
That was the best and only car story I have…..but what I really want to know is….can I like….borrow….your dog? Really it would just be rude of me to ask if I can keep her forever….but if you need a pet sitter…just sayin 
I am really dreaming to own a new car..If that happens, I will be a good driver then…
Jezziel´s last [type] ..Treatment for Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Years ago my husband and I were car shopping and the ONLY thing the salesman said to me was “I can get it in any color you want.”
This is very inspiring…Thanks for the great post then…
Jandi´s last [type] ..Blossom Residences Singapore
I hope i can buy my own car and this serves as my inspiration…
Kriscia´s last [type] ..How to Diet to Gain Muscle
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