TimesToCome

I have to say I really, really hate shopping for a new car. I hate it so much that the only time I trade in the car is when it is on the back of a tow truck and had one repair too many. This time I managed to drive the car onto the lot, but just barely. Another week or two and it would’ve been going to the lot on the back of a tow truck.

I don’t require much in a car. It needs to be American, weight more than 5,000 pounds and cost less than $25K ( any loan interest included ). I only require $1K for my trade in. I figure it’s the least the dealership can knock off the price to show me he’s glad I chose him.

Simple you’d think. It took three dealers this time.

The first dealer had an acceptable auto listed in the paper at $15K. We arrived at the dealership to find the last one of those had sold. What a surprise. I was expecting the usual ‘But we have one over here for $20K’ routine. No such luck. He had another on the lot alright, several in fact, but at $35K. Wow! I expected the 5K bounce but double the price? That was a pretty outrageous scam even by auto dealer standards.

The next dealer had no cars over 4,000 pounds. He bet people would want lighter cars with better mileage. Probably a good bet for him.

We finally ended up at Mac Haik. We found a car that met the requirements and it was a long but painless ordeal. You’d think they’ve found a way to speed things up but it still takes a couple of hours to run through all the forms.

Anyhow, it’s done, and at an average of 6,000 miles a year I shouldn’t have to do it again for 20 years.