Car Buying

We Get Paid To Lie To A Car Salesman

We stopped in at the Mazda dealer over in Augusta this morning. Our worst fears were that the same joker who tried to show us a Miata a couple moths ago would greet us. He didn’t and we were welcomed to the lot by a pleasant enough fellow who saw my $25 test drive certificate and asked if we were just here for that or did we have any intention to buy. So we gave him the same story we did to all those other salesman back in the spring – instead of replacing the Miata with a new one that we didn’t like, we were going to buy a second car.

I told him that I wanted to drive a 6i Touring and he said they didn’t have any on the lot, all they had were the sport models (AKA the base car.) He said that they usually kept more on the lot but they were having trouble getting them because of the earthquake in Japan. The first thing I though was, “Are all car salesman pathological liars?”, the 6 is assembled in Flat Rock, MI. (David, I apologize if they can’t make them because supply shortages from Japan.) He had a key for a 6i Sport in Kona Blue in his pocket, which would have been our color choice. He started it up, cranked the A/C and then showed us the trunk and the exterior of the car while the interior cooled.

We went for a drive. Instantly I liked the way it drove, the road feel of the base model was leaps and bounds better than the base Sonata, more on par with the Optima and our Sonata SE. The 176 horsepower felt as quick as the 200 of the Sonata. The car was quiet, roomy and very comfortable, for me. Donna didn’t like the way the seats hit her in the back and couldn’t get settled. The sales guy chimed in that the Touring seats were different, still cloth, but they might be more comfortable. We had the perfect out of any sales pressure because we were interested in a model they didn’t have, so he filled out the form for us, gave us a brochure, his card and took down my work phone number so he could give us a call when they got a Touring model.

The day after I was disappointed in the base Sonata we visited the Mazda dealer. Had the Miata test drive gone smoothly I think we might have tried driving a 6. They might have had a Touring model in Kona Blue. If those things happened differently back on our first try at this dealer back in March we might have ended up owning one of these. But I have zero regrets on missing out on the Mazda.

And we really didn’t lie to the fellow, everything we said was simply misplaced in time, and when we said we were going to buy a second car, we were using the word were in its simple past indicative form.

Four to six weeks later we’ll get a $25 gift card in the mail. It’ll make a nice down payment on a Carstashe for the Sonata.

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Miata Top Tran?si?tions since 10/24/08: 1041

Maybe Not Worth The $25

I received a card in the mail yesterday from Mazda touting 0% APR financing for 60 months plus up to $1000 APR Cash and Owner Loyalty Cash. To zero interest is on any Mazda, but the cash is only applicable to certain models. It is about 2 months too late for any of that nonsense.

There was also an offer for a $25 gift card for test driving any Mazda. It came from the dealer in Columbia which is 65 miles away, so a round trip divided by the 27 MPG of the Miata (can’t expect me to drive a brand new Hyundai onto the lot) times $3.50 a gallon of gas comes to $17. We can go to any dealer, so we could drive to the Augusta store which is only 39 miles away that way we are spending less than half of the card value on gas, but we were entirely displeased with the test drive process the last time (and that was when we were actually buying a car.)

We are probably headed over Augusta way this Saturday anyway, so if the process turns out to be as painless as it was at the Kia dealer we just might take a Mazda 6 for a spin. After building one online and optioning it out as close to the Sonata SE we now own, the list price of a Mazda 6i Touring was right in the ballpark price-wise and the dealer’s online inventory shows they have one in stock.

Sure hope I don’t like it.

Done Deal

This was a much more pleasant experience today than Monday evening. The only two negatives were a) something that I knew would happen and b) something I should have expected.

a) You know how they say that for every year a human ages, a dog ages seven, well car dealer time is just the inverse. When they tell you it will be just a minute, that maybe what it feels like for them, but in car buyer time it is seven minutes. When they tell you it will just take a few minutes, you think that means 5 to 10 minutes, it will actually take 35 minutes to a little more than an hour.

b) When the deal was made I said I will give you X dollars down and I want the payment to be X dollars a month. After you have signed on the dotted line of nearly as many pieces of paper as you do at a house closing, the last one is the actual loan agreement. And just like you agreed upon the payment is X dollars a month, but there are some numbers to the right of the decimal point. The digits are carefully calculated to be not too big to make it seem like they are trying to add a whole extra buck to the payment, but big enough to amount to something for the dealer. They took the page right out of Walmart’s playbook, the payment is $XXX.88

Started up, went down, back up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1004

A Composition For One Or Two Instruments

Typically in three or four movements in contrasted forms and keys.

The Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour headed west to Augusta tonight and for the second time in three days I have left a car dealership with an agreement on a deal for a car. And again all that needs doing to make it happen is the detailing of the vehicle and the final financial paperwork.

29 HOURS AGO: At 2:30 on Monday afternoon I call the Honda dealership to make sure everything is on track. I’m told salesman Brad is at lunch, so I leave a message to be called back. At 3:30, having heard nothing, I call back. This time I’m told Brad isn’t in, he had called in sick. I tell the clueless receptionist that I am supposed to pick up my new car at 4:30. “Who do I need to talk to?”, I ask. She transfers me to someone named John (really) an he tells me he will have some one call me right back and takes my work number.

Twenty minutes later, literally 5 minutes before I get off work, I get a call from Brian (this name I’ll remember) and I tell him I’m twenty minutes away. He says, “Come on down, I’ll get paperwork started, so it should be almost done by the time you get here.” When we arrive, Brian is waiting in the showroom near the door, but he has not done anything on my paperwork. Our experience goes downhill from there, culminating in Donna and I driving off with the John Candy character chasing us down shouting my name.

Maybe later in the weekend I’ll have time to post about the rest of our fun with the Keystone Kar Salesmen of Honda Cars of Aiken.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1001

Do We Have An Accord?

In our last installment we left our heroes with a difficult choice, but as anyone who has successfully navigated the tricky waters of matrimony knows, the key is compromise. Brian compromised by not going for the sports car and Donna compromised by not going for the small car.

At 5PM on Saturday afternoon I called Brad, the Honda salesman, and asked what we needed to do to get the ball rolling on buying an Accord Coupe. I told him that it turns out we didn’t really want a blue one after all, “We’d take one in red. Did they have an LX-S in that color?” He thought they did, but he needed to check. I said I’d call him back in a few minutes. When he answered my call he said yes they did. I told him I’d be there in 15 minutes to fill out a credit check application. Our compromising was fine, but what really drove the choice was we could get the car now, because Honda was offering a .9% deal on 60 month loans.

I got to the dealership and Brad and I took a San Marino Red Coupe for a short test drive. When we got back we sat in a little open cube and talked money. I had done my online research by pricing the car on Honda’s web site. Then I headed to Edmond’s and got the invoice figure and what they call a fair market value price, which for this car was about a grand less than invoice (which itself is $2,000 less than list.) I offered several hundred under the list, telling them I had X dollars for a down payment and would finance the remainder at their .9% resulting in a monthly payment of X dollars. That offer also had to include in it the $300 (capped) SC sales tax and any document fees associating with titling and registering the car. I felt this was fair because I knew that they would still be getting more than the invoice price of the car, which is not what they really pay for the car, plus they get to keep any manufacturers hold back money. Brad takes my offer and disappears to the other side of the sales floor to show the figures to the Sales Manager Sam (I didn’t catch his name, but he looks a little like Sam Elliot with white hair and no mustache.) Brad comes back about 5 minutes later (there’s that wait time again) with the famous 4 square box.

One of the squares says $27,000. This is what their sticker on the window reads for the price of the car. They have added wheel locks, mud flaps, a Trunk Condom (a big rubber mat with sides that will catch a whole gallon of spilled milk) and my favorite, the $2500 First Class Finish Package. In the upper right is the figure that really catches my eye, $448 for 60 months. I stand up and offer Brad my hand and say if that’s the best you can do, I’ll be going. He says, “Wait, I’ll see what I can do.”

Now the dancing commences in earnest. He is gone less than a minute, Sam would like to know where I got my figures. I outline for Brad what I did above for you and off he goes again. Brad returns in a skinny minute and says, “They’re working on a better deal.” While we wait Brad fires up a browser and goes to the Honda web site and builds my Accord and sees where I got the list price from.

We are joined by player number three, could be the finance manager or the assistant sales manager. Not only didn’t I pay attention to his title, but I don’t catch the name either. I am too distracted by the fact that he could pass for the John Candy character in the movie Splash and wondering if it would be impolite to wipe my palm on my pants to dry off the sweat he left behind during the handshake. John Candy has a computer printout that shows the list price (just what I said it was) and then their cost that they have in the car with the options and all. John points to a hand sketch of a scale marked in little increments going from 2% to 9% and tells me that dealers need to make somewhere in that profit range to stay in business. He asks if I felt they weren’t entitled to make a little money, so could I please add $5 more to my monthly payment. I look at him like he is speaking Swahili and mention that he can go ahead and take off the wheel locks, mud flaps and remove the trunk tray as I don’t want them. But to show them I was a sport I offered him the $300 up front. John tells me that it would cost money to remove the mud flaps and wheel locks but they would remove the trunk tray. Neither of us mention the $2500 First Class Finish because I think they know I know that this is nothing more than an updated version of the 70’s and 80’s Rust Proofing Pure Dealer Profit Scam. To quote Captain Jack Sparrow to Will Turner, I say to John Candy, “Do we have an accord?” (a nice play on words, if I don’t say so myself.)

I tell Brad my wife is going to have dinner on the table in a few minutes, I better get home and I’ll be back on Monday after work to finalize the paperwork. They don’t want me to leave (maybe figuring I regret that $300 and not come back) so Sam Elliot is back and says let’s finish up the offer sheet and run your credit before you go, it’ll only take 10 minutes. I tell Sam that I’ll do that, but I’ll be coming in on Monday with $50 less if the dinner gets ruined and I have to take my wife out to eat. They don’t have a real figure to work with because I’ve got them rushing, so I am asked to sign something that says I will purchase this car if the following conditions can be met, my new X dollars down and my X dollar a month payment for 60 months. Everybody seems happy and I leave telling Brad I would see him at about 4:30 on Monday to pick up the car.

This is getting kind of long winded, so come back tomorrow night for the tale of today’s stop on the Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour.

Started down, went up, back down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 1000

120,000 Hondas!

Yesterday the Brian & Donna Buy A New Car Tour came east both physically and figuratively. But first a couple of house cleaning issues.

1) Yesterday I mentioned the Red Sox were 2 and 10 after their win, but they were actually 3 and 10. After today’s 8 to 1 win over Toronto they still have the worst record in baseball at 4 – 10, but jumped to second to last in run differential.

2) Somewhere near Riverwatch Parkway and I-20 on the way home from Augusta yesterday the Emperor eased past the 120,000 mile mark. That is an average of 1.85 miles for every hour we’ve owned it.

Our last car test drive event was over in Augusta and consisted of all Korean cars, yesterday we stayed closer to home and shopped Japanese at Honda Cars of Aiken. And while there actually were only 106 new Hondas on the lot, it seemed like there were 120,000 to choose from. As we walked through the showroom door we were instantly greeted by someone and we said we were there to test drive a couple cars. He said he was a manager of some sort and he would get us a salesman. True to his word, within seconds, Brad arrived and asked what were we interested in. We wanted to drive a Civic Coupe and an Accord Coupe. Brad asked what color and we told him it didn’t matter as long as it was a base LX model, but when we buy one it’ll be blue. He came back in less than five minutes with a dealer plate and a key (we like this experience better already.)

First up was a Civic in Royal Blue Pearl. This is the smaller car and the equivalent to Hyundai’s Elantra and while not nearly as swoopy in styling it is still a nice looking car. We are both instantly 100% more comfortable in it than the Elantra. Right legroom for me as the driver is acceptable, but the left leg is stopped short by the dead pedal (which should be easliy remedied by just taking it out.) There is a large digital speedometer above and forward (almost a HUD) of the large tach and other gauges, interesting and slightly quirky. We start our drive and I take a turn off US1 towards Graniteville and at the stop sign I ask what is considered a reasonable test drive. Brad replies from the back, “Whatever you want.” I briefly consider a left turn up Chalk Bed Rd, but Donna says we need to cross some railroad tracks (a convertible’s nemesis), so I take a right and drive through “downtown” Graniteville. This is a great test because along with those railroad tracks there is one section of road that probably started life as concrete sections, like those found on some interstates, so we got to drive over all those seams, cluh-thunk, cluh-thunk, clu-thunk. Each transition is felt and heard in the car, not as rough as a Miata, but definitely inexpensive, small car-like. Overall we both like the car, it is small, but really the right size for us. Donna is almost sold, but I have a couple of reservations. Including the very lame, “They are too common.” On any given day, there are probably 150 cars in our company parking lot and 3 or 4 recent vintage Civic Coupes and at least twice as many as that of Civic Sedans.

Next up we drive an Alabaster Silver Metallic Accord Coupe. For a car that appears to dwarf the Civic, the interior room in the front of the Accord feels exactly the same size as the Civic (and the numbers bear it out.) The dash is more my old school liking in that there are a two large circular analog gauges (tach & speedo) surrounded by a temp and fuel gauge with an odometer in the middle bottom. The extra 600 pounds of this car make drive through bumpy Graniteville much smoother and quieter, more what I was looking for in a new car. That extra 600 pounds of the Accord over the Civic is almost exactly offset by the 50 extra horsepower it has, so the seat of the pants acceleration feel is about the same. Neither is probably much quicker than the Miata in a straight line, but there is not the same sense of speed as in the open topped car (which is both good and bad.) When we get back to the dealer I pull it along side the previously driven Civic. Donna jumps in the driver’s seat of each car for crucial short driver test. Amazingly she feels she has a better sense of the knowing where the front of the larger Accord is compared to the Civic. We look inside at each trunk and just like in the interior, there doesn’t appear to be any more room in the Accord’s than the Civic and the Civic’s is shaped better. We both like this car too, me more than Donna.

We thank Brad profusely and take home a Civic and an Accord brochure along with two of his business cards, one for me to call if we decide on the Accord and one for Donna to call if we opt for the Civic.

It is a tough call between the two. We both like the looks of the Civic better and the Civic’s blue is nicer shade too. The Civic is the right size car and really all we need. As a plus it is $5k less in price, but to me it rides much choppier and noisier, sort of like it is $5k less. Now, comparing the Accord Coupe to the Genesis Coupe, is where the whole thing falls apart. The Hyundai is about the same size car, but doesn’t look as bloated. The Genesis is a rear wheel drive with 210 HP and because it is turbo charged, a much flatter torque curve with the peak appearing at half the RPM of the Accord. The Genesis Coupe is a sports car and the Accord Coupe is a sheep in wolf’s clothing.

Started down, still down.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 998

Two Hundred Thirty Four

That is the number of days in the countdown widget until we get a new car and that equates to Saturday November 26th. According to a web article I just read (Five Tips That Can Save New Car Buyers a Bundle) that is pretty much the best time to buy a new car. According to Tip #2 the weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas are the lowest for new car showroom traffic. And Tip #3 the best week to buy a car is past the 3rd week of the month. Saturday is the only negative as that is the busiest day of the week at dealerships. May have to add a couple days to push it until Monday or Tuesday of the following week.

Right now the front runner in my book is the Genesis Coupe, but it has a couple of negatives. As for the co-signer of the loan goes, it is the fact that it just might be too sporty. My concern is that the car has its very own active internet forum, GenCoupe.com. This means there are also several “tuner shops” with loads of neat gee-gaws to make your car your own. In just a few hours I have imaginably spent several hundred dollars already. There are the OEM fog lights to be added to my base level car, $79. Replacing the stock Hyundai logos with spiffy winged ones from the Korean version of the car, $99. Rear window spoiler, $225 and matching rear lip spoiler, $245.

We have still to drive the Accord Coupe and so far, with out driving it, all we have for a negative is Honda’s stupid Big Deal commercials.

Of course there are a couple of wildcards still out there, the Genesis coupe is do for a mild refresh and maybe they will perk up the interior (it looks a little dated compared to the new Sonata and Elantra) and maybe they will do something about the pinched look of the frontend. Or maybe they will make it worse… The other is that maybe by this fall details of the next generation Miata might be available and we will be tempted to wait for it into 2012.

Started down, went up, still up.
Miata Top Transitions since 10/24/08: 987