Front, back, side to side

As you might expect, the Scion xA is too small for my family now, and so Bunky and I decided it was time for an upgrade.  The main things we wanted were AWD and enough cargo and rear seat space.  Bunky often has to sit in the back now with Kiwi, and it is tight in the xA.  Plus, the stroller basically takes up the entire “trunk” which makes shopping very challenging, and rather like mobile Tetris.  After browsing Consumer Reports, we settled on the Hyundai Santa Fe as a good value with the right amount of size.

I didn’t really do much negotiating with the xA, but after that experience we mutually decided it would be best if Bunky stayed out of negotiations altogether.  The first place, Bowser, I went really wasn’t willing to work with me on price, and everyone who was authorized to make price cuts was out of the office.  WTF?  With a name like Bowser, you’d think they’d be good.  They obviously didn’t care about my business, so I walked out, rather than accept their take-it-or-leave-it terms ($17,500 overall after trade-in for a color I didn’t like).  The next place I went was #1 Cochran, and the process was much more pleasant.  I guess that is why they get to have that #1 in their name.

My Terms:

• Santa Fe: I was quoted the online price, after the $1,500 incentive, of about $22,500 for a Santa Fe base model.  CR and Edmunds had the true price of the Santa Fe pegged at about $24,000 for the GLS AWD trim, so this was even better than the $23,000 we were originally going to offer.  This is why whoever names a number in negotiations first usually loses.  I decided I was going to try to get it down to $22,000 just for the heck of it.
• Trade in: Uhhh, so apparently I barely ever drive, and so our 2005 Scion xA had less than 27,700 miles on it.  Kelly Blue Book value puts a good condition model between 6,000-6,500 for a trade-in in very good condition.  I was hoping to get $6,500 but I was willing to settle for $6,000.
• Others: I was hoping to get the overall price down to $15,500 (unrealistic), but I was willing to buy the SUV for 16,500 since the GLS AWD was one of the less common trims.  I also wanted wheel locks, floor mats, and mud flaps and was hoping to get at least one thrown in for free, especially since I was willing to buy the vehicle immediately.  Oh yeah, and no stupid dealership decals on the car if you aren’t paying me advertising dollars.

Their Terms:

• Santa Fe: I got a different salesman than the one who gave me the quote, and the car had just come in a day or two ago, so I think he got confused.  He thought the $22,500 quote was inclusive of the cargo net, wheel locks, first aid kid, and floor mats that were already in the car.  They were included in the original quote… for $23,000.  However, I was told that this price was non-negotiable.
• Trade in: They were running a program by which you could get up to $1,000 over KBB value for your trade-in.  Of course this was a bit of a scam, since they offered me $4,800 + $1,000 for my xA, which was too little.  This would put the overall price of purchase at $16,700.

When the salesman came back with the number, I told him that I understood they didn’t want to lower the internet quote, but I was only willing to pay $16,000 overall and I didn’t care how they massaged the various numbers to get to that final price.  He took the offer to his manager, and was “surprised” that the manager agreed to it.  The SUV was so new that the title and inspection had not been done yet, so I couldn’t drive off that day, but I put $500 down to hold the vehicle.

I was very pleased with how negotiations went.  Because the extras were included, I basically got every single thing I wanted at the price I wanted.  In essence I got the SUV for $22,500 which was already a great price, traded in the xA for $6,500 which was the max I was hoping to get (and saves me  money on sales tax), and got over $500 (MSRP anyway…) in extras thrown in due to a misunderstanding of what I had been quoted.  I figure that the dealership is still making money from the holdover, and I recognize they don’t feel cheated at all.  I figure if I had taken a really hard line I could have quibbled a few hundred dollars down, but I got everything I wanted, and I didn’t want to spend a week playing sales games with the dealership.

Overall, I was very pleased with my experience at the dealership.  Yeah they tried the standard stuff of lowballing me a little with the trade-in and asking me what monthly payments I want, but they didn’t press the issue too much.  I think doing research and bringing your numbers with you goes a long way to smoothing negotiations, and of course you have to be willing to walk out.  I’m not sure if the economy and the fact that I went near the end of the month/quarter helped, but I feel that I got a very good deal!

Creepy as hell

Bunky and I were excited to go shopping with Kiwi this weekend, but as soon as we started up the car, we started hearing this squealing noise, mixed in with a scraping metal sound.  Obviously this is no good, so we turned right back around and then I took the car to Pep Boys for repair.  Now I should mention that I really hate Pep Boys.  The workers act like they can’t see you, they never call you back, they always try to rip you off, and everyone in the store is generally rude.  However, it’s close enough for me to walk to, so I keep going back for more.

I dropped the car off around 3:00 PM, expecting I’d get it back that night.  The PB employee said right away it sounded like the brakes were at fault, and wanted to convince me I’d probably need the more expensive ceramic brake pads.  This kind of subtle scam is pretty typical, and I was glad that the problem didn’t sound more serious.  I was told the car would definitely be finished early that evening.  Of course, I never got a call, and when I called to check on the car I was told some of the cars ahead of me turned out to be real “nightmares” and so my car was only half done.  I was a little annoyed, but I figured I’d get it early on Sunday.  On the plus side, my brake pads were only 1/3 worn out, so all I needed was a slide change (cleaning out the dust and lubricating everything).  I also asked for an oil change.

When I called on Sunday, no one picked up the phone until 30 minutes after the store was supposed to open; apparently there had been crazy black ice, and all the employees had had trouble getting into work that day.  Still, I was assured that the car would be ready by noon.  Naturally, noon rolled by and when I called later that afternoon I found out my mechanic had totaled his own car on the way to work (due to the black ice).  Since there is no sense of teamwork at Pep Boys, no one picked up his jobs and so my car sat there all day.  When I complained about this to a manager, I was told it would be done first thing tomorrow (Monday!  Argggghhhh!) and I’d get 50% off the brake service ($45 off).

Although I was pleased about the discount, I was still wary.  The car was indeed ready that morning, but because the price reduction counted as a coupon, I couldn’t use any of the coupons I had with me.  Also, I noticed that the price seemed a little high.  On my way out the door, I went through the many small line items on the receipt and found out why: I had been charged a $40 towing fee, even though I had driven the car to Pep Boys myself.  WTF?!?!  I marched right back in there and pointed it out, and the manager just handed me $40 in cash from the register so he wouldn’t have to go through the effort of crediting my card.  His way of explaining the erroneous charge was, “Haha, sometimes those SKUs just get on there!”  WTF?!?!?!?!?!  So it took 3 days just to get my brakes cleaned and my oil changed, and if I hadn’t gone through the receipt thoroughly, Pep Boys would have charged me for services I never even received.

Much of my introductory research was done on Edmunds.com and Jeff Ostroff’s awesome car buying site. I also finally checked out my credit report. I got a 3-in-1 credit report, in order to get a better idea of what financing terms I could get. Although I have never been late with a payment, I was afraid I would have a low score because of how young I was (I’ve only had a credit card for maybe 3-4 years). However, I was pleased to find that I actually had a very good credit score and was just shy of the highest bracket. More importantly, the report had some very interesting information. I found I had 4 more credit cards than I thought I had. I think these credit cards were from things I signed while a freshman at Cornell (I am a sucker for “free” t-shirts). Most of them had pathetic credit limits like $300 (wtf…?) or $1,000, but one that I hadn’t known about actually had a higher limit than the two cards I use now! Fortunately none of these cards had ever had a balance, so I didn’t have to worry about someone opening accounts in my name. I’m not sure though if I want to close the accounts, because they are actually my oldest accounts T__T. Maybe I will keep the oldest one, and the one with the high limit, and dump the other two.

Armed with this newfound confidence, I actually went to a dealer. I had read all about their nasty tricks, and I ended up going to a dealership that was described as being sketchy and pushy by my coworkers (confirmed). It was an enlightening experience. I just wanted to see the cars and look inside them; I wasn’t even planning on test driving anything yet. Their salesman made a valiant go at it but was surprised to find that I basically ignored him. He would start talking about some unimportant aspect of the car, see that I was just saying “Hmm, mmm” and not even looking at him and he would just sorta tail off into a mumbled whisper. It was great fun. I’m not sure what they thought I was looking for, because the major parts pointed out to me were the emergency glow-in-the dark handle in the trunk (you know, cause I lock myself in there all the time), the shatter-resistant plastic on the headlights (because other plastic just shatters like candy glass), and the clearly marked label on the oil cap (omfg, sign me up now!)… Bunky noticed how my aloof treatment of the salesman was putting him on edge and tried to copy, leading to the following exchange before we left:

Salesman: Are you sure you don’t want to take a test drive?
Me: Yes. We’re just looking for today.
Salesman: How about a brochure about the car?
Bunky: No thanks, we’re not at that stage yet.
Salesman: ………….
Me: …………
Salesman: … Not even at the stage for a brochure…?
[silence]
Me: … er, we’ve already read about it… online…
[hurried exit]

[later]
Bunky: I don’t think I should go with you when you buy the car. I don’t want to ruin it…
Me: … Hmmm…

Incidentally, the brochure actually is online. It was still a useful fact-finding mission, at least. Recon stage complete!

I was supposed to grab Bunky on Saturday at Norfolk Airport, which I’d never been to. Plus, because I didn’t want to risk breaking down in an unfamiliar place (I’ve become desensitized to breaking down in familiar places…), I rented a car. Or so I thought. Even though I had called about a week ahead of time to reserve a compact car, they were out of them when I got there. So I ended up with a Dodge Dakota that had a backseat…

I’d never driven a truck before, so I wasn’t too pleased about this. I got in the vehicle and it was so large that I felt like I was in a limo. Unfortunately, the beast handled like a torpid turtle with a really large rear end. Did I mention that Hurricane Charlie was passing through at the time? It was the perfect weather for trying something new. Visibility was zero, and there was tons of hydroplaning fun on my drive. There were also flooded areas in the dips in the road, so I probably looked like I was on one of those log flume water park rides. Good thing I was in a big, heavy, tall hunk of gas-guzzling American steel (I later found that $10 wouldn’t even fill a quarter of the gas tank up, and I had used half a tank in 2 days driving T_T).

In spite of all the obstacles, I found Norfolk Airport to be very nice. It wasn’t that large, and it was near all these pretty trees and water. The signs were well laid out, and it was easy to find. Good thing I liked it, because I then had to spend the next hour waiting in the airport only to find that all flights into Norfolk had been cancelled. So then I had to drive back home in even worse hurricane conditions.

Anyway, it was definitely a real adventure as I got to visit a new airport, drive a truck for the first time, and debut my hurricane driving skillz. The experience was annoying, but I suppose it was a confidence booster.

Of course, the company only took cash, and I didn’t quite have enough on me. I went to the ATM machine, and naturally my card didn’t work. My bank was supposed to send me a new one, but they told me my old one should still work. Obviously they lied to me. So I couldn’t even get my car towed to a garage. In the end, it didn’t matter, because everyone was closed already anyway. At least I had money for the cab fare home. Sadly, when I got home, there was no food in the refrigerator.

The only bright spot was that I learned a lot about legal issues involving towing. I’d heard Bunky babbling about various property and right to foreclose issues, and it all made sense now. If I don’t pick up the car in 30 days, the tow company has the right to crush the car, but if they want to sell it, they have to wait another 30 days. Interesting…

I haven’t had this car for more than a year, and by next month, I will have spent over a thousand dollars in repairs on it. When I called the shop after learning about a leak in the manifold gasket, I was told the repairs could cost upwards of $500, even though parts were under $50… I could practically hear the Chevy executives laughing at me. I decided to do some checking online. After going to a site with several reviews of cars, I found that I was not alone. Go ahead and read every review of the Blazer through the 90′s. Even the owners who are satisfied spend thousands of dollars on repairs. EVERY SINGLE ONE of them fails from the same problems. Almost every reviewer had the same exact EGR valve problem that I had. More than half of them had the manifold leak problem I now have. This car is a piece of crap. I swear I will never ever buy an American car.

The one redeeming feature of the Chevy Blazer is that it is inspirational. Here are some quotes from real reviewers after being visited by Chevy’s muse:

A nail in your coffin if you buy!!!
If your (sic) trying to quit drinking don’t buy this truck!!!
Many minor flaws, devalues faster than Worldcom stock
I’d be better off walking!!
A repair shop’s dream
A total waste of metal
Chevy should be ashamed of this
An embarrassment to own
Avoid this company: Chevrolet
Mechanic’s Goldmine
Many times it has sat LIKE A ROCK
This SUV is for somebody who likes problems.
Nice ride when it runs (infrequently)
Okay if you are married to a Chevy dealer
Have a good nest egg (Blazer Repair Fund)
I’ve owned Chevy’s for over 35 years and this will be my last one, ever
A never ending headache
My car should be put to sleep
Most expensive to maintain vehicle I have owned
This Blazer is the worst purchase I ever made
This is an over sized Yugo
Purchase the extended warranty or be prepared to dip into your 401k

This is just a small sampling of review headings from the 90′s. When I get a chance, I will check out the full reviews for more catchy one-liners.