Okay folks.  I have narrowed it down.  I have decided upon, or think I have decided upon the Outlander.  Jared and I went to Day Subaru yesterday and had quite the experience.  I wanted to look at it again to decide…

 

The salesman was very nice.  In fact, probably one of the nicer ones I have come across.  I’m convinced, though, that he is all part of this “game”.  Let me elaborate…

 

After we decided on the car, it all happened pretty quickly: he told me the price, asked what my trade-in was, and asked if I had a down payment.  He then had me fill out a credit application and from there we waited.  I spoke to (what I though was a salesman) about my job in Carnegie, and he mentioned he was a township supervisor in Robinson.  We made some small talk for awhile and I thought nothing of it again.  Turns out he was the General Manager.

I was feeling a little uncomfortable because I hadn’t yet been given the opportunity to negotiate.  Then, the finance manager was a jerk.  He kept us waiting and waiting without any response.  Then he went to lunch.  I couldn’t believe it.  Then, Jared went to their waiting room where he heard the finance manager on the phone.  Jared told me he sounded like even more of a jerk (though his term was asshole haha!).  We had been waiting about an hour at this point without hearing from anyone.  Then the finance manager came back and asked if I would be willing to take “less car” because he believed my down payment wasn’t enough.  I said, I will increase my down payment to X.  In the back of my mind, I knew how much I wanted to finance and somehow knew how much I could finance.  Women’s intuition. 

They told me they would give me $1,200 for my car and were going to sell me the car for $25,600.  No room to negotiate on the $25,600.  Thus, I had to increase my down payment.  I was a little sick feeling after this.  After I told the finance manager that, he said, let me go back and work the numbers.  Another hour passed and nothing.  Jared and I got up and left.  We were not going to be waiting and ignored.

So we left.  We went to Pamela’s for lunch.  I had an egg white muffin sandwich and felt very down in the dumps.   I told Jared was done with looking at cars.  We decided to go to the Outlets because I have a few gifts I still needed to buy.  I was on the phone the whole way there with my parents and they told me to call back Day and complain about the way I was treated.  It sounded like the right thing to do. 

When I got off the phone I had a voicemail from the finance manager “Hey Whitney, sorry we missed you before we had the chance to tell you you were approved for the car.  Come on back and sign the papers so we can get you in this car today”.  Bull.  I called back and went right to the Sales Manager.  I told him how upset I was because of the way I was treated, that I had been waiting there for 2 hours without being talked to, and that I found it very disappointing this is the level of service you give someone who is about to purchase an automobile. 

Jared and I eventually came back.  On the drive back I talked to my uncle who sold cars briefly between jobs.  He gave me some pointers. 

We went back and dealt with the sales manager.  He wasn’t full of roses himself.  I kept referring back to the sales man, who was very nice.  I asked him why I should buy a car from Day.  I told him I would purchase the car and be done.  That they would never see me for service.  Again, I was not provided the opportunity to haggle over the car.  I said, I did my part and increased the down payment, where are you going to meet me?  He said, they are going to have to eat the $250 bank fee from the loan.  I scoffed at that.

He then said I was being financed directly through Subaru.  My blood was boiling.  After I increased my down payment amount, I should have gotten instant approval.  I knew I would.  That wasn’t the point.  The point was that here I am meeting them 90% of the way and they gave me an extra $300 on the trade-in.    I also reminded them that the reason I saw this car was because it was a Rohrich.  It got to the point that we just left.  We thanked Gabe, and the sales manager, and we just left. 

When we got home, I was wrapping gifts and saying to Jared that I thought it was all a game.  They are super-nice with Gabe, they are an asshole with the finance manager.  They are super-nice to get me back in and won’t budge when I get there.  And I thought I felt bad for the salesman, but Jared and I agreed after that he’s a part of it, too.

Then I get a voicemail from Gabe (if you haven’t caught on, he’s the salesman).  He was apologizing for what happened, he agreed and hopes I find the car that’s right for me.  He said if I want this car, don’t let pride stand in the way and he will work with me.  My uncle told me to get the salesman on my side.  Let’s hope that worked.

Then I get an e-mail from the man I was talking to earlier!  The township commissioner from the dealership (who I thought was another salesman) turned out to be the general manager. Whoops.  Totally not my style to use my job to get a car.  Totally not.  Um, that made me very uncomfortable.  His e-mail was basically apologizing for my experience, assuring me that future service would be excellent, and asking me to call him to discuss anything.   In fact, I like to think I am “Whitney B” outside of work hours not “Whitney B Borough Manager”.  My parents disagree.  I guess it’s true.  Not like I am running around bar-hopping on the weekends, but you get my gist.  The most I am doing on the weekends in running around.  Bad joke. 

 

So now I am stuck, but I think I have my action plan.  I am going to respond to the GM’s e-mail on Monday.  I am going to explain to him that I am not upset about the service, that these things happen.  I am going to explain to him that I was never offered an opportunity to negotiate the price.  That the sale’s manager kept reminding me that the dealership is “taking a hit” with the $250 bank fee.  That if I would have been more involved in the process, they would have learned I was able to increase my down payment, that I wanted to meet in the middle.  I am going to ask him to meet in the middle (for the first time).  And remind him I have not asked this before.  And also that I didn’t want to make a scene (not that I made a scene) and tell him I am surprised by the fact that I haven’t been given the opportunity yet.  Simply put:  Sell me the car for $23k.  Value my trade in at X and take my DP of X.  Done deal and you will have a service customer for the life of the car.  Did I mention the car in question is a demo with 2,000 miles on it!??!!?  Not like I am trying to have them cut a huge loss on a new car!

 

Jeez.  Talk about a day!  I really don’t even want to buy a car now.  Seriously.  Will all of my experiences be like this?