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Car Buying Tactics
- Thread starter Mermaid
- Start date
Wow~ I knew I came to the right place for asking for car tips! This is great & I really appreciate all the comments and words of wisdom I'm feeling a little better about having to get another car now.
Jessica, since you asked about us hauling all our beach toys, er, necessities, around, I'll tell you how this all came about.
I have the Explorer and it's been an okay car to drive except now it's getting crochety. All sorts of things are messing up--the key sticks, the little alarm bell for lights rings even when the lights are off, the A/C's gone AWOL, you name it. None of this has bothered me in the least. I am the mother of teens and driving a dinged up old car is something that comes with the territory (they put the dings in, not me). I lower the tone of every neighborhood I drive in, but that's alright. The only thing that has bothered me is that now the car has a hex on it. It's jinxed. I mean it! It's operating under a cloud of bad luck. I know it's not me, because I'm a lucky person. So, by process of elimination, it has to be the car. It flirts with danger and tries to find accidents to be in. Again, I know it's not me because I'm never the one who's at fault for all these near-misses that I get involved in. For example--one of many I could present--last week Philippa and I almost got crunched by an idiot mother running a red light at high speed (late to school, I suppose). I shudder to think about what could have happened. And then only this weekend Philippa locked the keys in the car while the motor was running and we had to pull two thugs off the street to help us break in. We'd have called AAA but we used up our goodwill allowance with them when we had the Explorer towed long distance last month. See? If it's not one thing it's another.
After the red light incident I was really frightened--anyone would have been--and I told Merman I had to have another car. He was very sympathetic but thought the hex was a piece of hooey and even my (sincere) crocodile tears wouldn't convince him to fix me up with something safer and nicer. That did not sit well with me, not a bit. So I thought and thought and steamed and steamed and finally told him that I didn't care what I drove as long as it was safe and sound, that I'd even drive his old car, and BINGO. Those were the magic words.
So now I'm going to take the Durango--the fabulous beach toy hauling workhorse that has had
professional Kurt photos taken of it --and Merman gets a new car. Funny how quick that man opened his wallet when there was a benefit for him, but I'm not supposed to notice that little coincidence.
And what about my Explorer? It's going to someone who deserves a junker, someone who played a very important part in turning my car into the pitiful heap that it now is: firstborn son Alex. He doesn't believe in hexes either. So now I have two happy men in my family and we're going car shopping.
When we get what we get, I'll let you all know. :roll:
Jessica, since you asked about us hauling all our beach toys, er, necessities, around, I'll tell you how this all came about.
I have the Explorer and it's been an okay car to drive except now it's getting crochety. All sorts of things are messing up--the key sticks, the little alarm bell for lights rings even when the lights are off, the A/C's gone AWOL, you name it. None of this has bothered me in the least. I am the mother of teens and driving a dinged up old car is something that comes with the territory (they put the dings in, not me). I lower the tone of every neighborhood I drive in, but that's alright. The only thing that has bothered me is that now the car has a hex on it. It's jinxed. I mean it! It's operating under a cloud of bad luck. I know it's not me, because I'm a lucky person. So, by process of elimination, it has to be the car. It flirts with danger and tries to find accidents to be in. Again, I know it's not me because I'm never the one who's at fault for all these near-misses that I get involved in. For example--one of many I could present--last week Philippa and I almost got crunched by an idiot mother running a red light at high speed (late to school, I suppose). I shudder to think about what could have happened. And then only this weekend Philippa locked the keys in the car while the motor was running and we had to pull two thugs off the street to help us break in. We'd have called AAA but we used up our goodwill allowance with them when we had the Explorer towed long distance last month. See? If it's not one thing it's another.
After the red light incident I was really frightened--anyone would have been--and I told Merman I had to have another car. He was very sympathetic but thought the hex was a piece of hooey and even my (sincere) crocodile tears wouldn't convince him to fix me up with something safer and nicer. That did not sit well with me, not a bit. So I thought and thought and steamed and steamed and finally told him that I didn't care what I drove as long as it was safe and sound, that I'd even drive his old car, and BINGO. Those were the magic words.
So now I'm going to take the Durango--the fabulous beach toy hauling workhorse that has had
professional Kurt photos taken of it --and Merman gets a new car. Funny how quick that man opened his wallet when there was a benefit for him, but I'm not supposed to notice that little coincidence.And what about my Explorer? It's going to someone who deserves a junker, someone who played a very important part in turning my car into the pitiful heap that it now is: firstborn son Alex. He doesn't believe in hexes either. So now I have two happy men in my family and we're going car shopping.
When we get what we get, I'll let you all know. :roll:
Unplugged
Beach Fanatic
audie, this is how Mrs. Unplugged prefers to shop too 
you are not alone! We do love Hondas also - excellent cars.Our philosophy: "Life's too short to 'research and haggle', go for short-term leases, trade often and enjoy the ride baby!!" :clap_1: Zoom Zoom Zoom
This is not a popular 'car buying tactic' but it sure is FUNN!
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skippertoo
Beach Fanatic
If you are a member of a credit union you might check with them to see if they have a members car buying service. The last car we bought we did that. We got a great price and even did a trade in and the transaction was done at the credit union. We never walked on the car lot.
audie
fartblossom
Our philosophy: "Life's too short to 'research and haggle', go for short-term leases, trade often and enjoy the ride baby!!" :clap_1: Zoom Zoom Zoom
This is not a popular 'car buying tactic' but it sure is FUNN!
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i knew i liked mrs unplugged the moment i met her !
bamabeachbum
Beach Fanatic
Not sure if you have purchased a car yet but my company is a Hertz Franchisee, we purchase all our cars and sell them when they reach around 20,000 miles. Most still have some of the full factory warrenty left on the car.
We have people from all over the southeast buy cars from us. We do no haggle pricing. If your looking for a SUV,we carry the Toyota Four Runner and the Honda Pilot, the Pilots will not come out for sale untill later on this year, but the Four Runner is a great SUV. Check is out and let me know if I can help.
http://www.decaturtransit.com/carsales.html
We have people from all over the southeast buy cars from us. We do no haggle pricing. If your looking for a SUV,we carry the Toyota Four Runner and the Honda Pilot, the Pilots will not come out for sale untill later on this year, but the Four Runner is a great SUV. Check is out and let me know if I can help.
http://www.decaturtransit.com/carsales.html
audie
fartblossom
i'm taking the s2000 in for service tomorrow, and when the guy asked how many miles were on it he laughed when i told him..... when i had to crv maintenance stuff done, the guy couldn't believe i meant 21000 miles not 121000 miles - :roll:
Smiling JOe
SoWal Expert
Have you ever seen the way people mechanically trash rental cars? I wouldn't knowingly touch one to purchase, unless it was a 1966 Hertz Mustang. ;-)
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That's too funny Audie! I bet he WAS shocked!! If you were to sell that car you'd probably get close to what you paid for it with that low mileage. Honda's depreciate very slowly anyway, but you're a used Honda buyer's dream!;-) But a Honda dealers nightmare...you don't have to come back very often to buy> I'm the opposite - I put about 25,000 miles on my car yearly.