The Thoughts of a Frumpy Professor

............................................ ............................................ A blog devoted to the ramblings of a small town, middle aged college professor as he experiences life and all its strange variances.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

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Clay & 'Bacca


I found three different potential Dodge Grand Caravans to look at more closely with my wife sometime this week.  One is a pretty blue 2013.  A second one is a nice, maroon 2011, and the third is a very nice burnt orange 2011.  Hopefully, they will all be in good shape, and then I can begin the long, drawn out haggling process.  I may need to have each dealership compete with each other to ensure that I get a fair price for the new beast, and also a fair trade-in value for the old beast.  I have spent quite a long time with formulae over the last 36 hours and have identified the correct price point that I will aim for.  I can be pretty damn stubborn when I want to be, and it is likely that one, two, or even all three salespeople will be seeing me walk out the door after they spout off their nonsense to me.  I will, of course, tell them the price I am willing to pay and the price I am willing to accept for my old beast, and then it may take a day or two for the salesperson to realize I will not budge and they may then rethink their strategy of trying to gouge me for their profit.

I once read a book about cars back in the early to mid 1970s that was written by consumer advocate, Phil Edmonson.  In that book, Phil wrote about the mindset of the car salespeople, and one thing especially stuck in my mind about that passage.  Namely, he said that salespeople disliked seeing pipe smoking gentlemen perusing vehicles in their car lot because they were considered too hard to sell to.  They tended to not get emotional about the experience, and were not as easy to take advantage of as others.  When I read that passage so very long ago, I was tickled with the notion that I was similar to the description.  Now-a-days, in 2012, I doubt the young salesmen have that same sort of opinion of pipe-smoking clientele.  Probably more than anything, today, walking around the auto lots, pipe in hand, I will simply be viewed as eccentric.... which is *also* fine by me :)  And, I will still be damn dogged determined to not be swindled.

My wife has her clay class later this evening.  I hope she continues to enjoy it.  Since I will be a "bachelor" this evening, perhaps I will stop at the pipe shop as well and look to see if there are any new leaf blends I would like to sample.

PipeTobacco

14 Comments:

Blogger Beth said...

For what it's worth, salesmen do not like to see older women with notebooks in hand sauntering through their lots either. I bought two cars last summer, researched and negotiated both, and got good and fair prices. One was new, one was used. Had the salesman tried to negotiate with my husband, who accompanied me to test-drive the car, there would have been no sale.

In the interests of frugality and repair records, I agree that you should look at Toyotas or Hondas -- RAV4, CRV. Much better than a hulking Dodge.

Tuesday, 18 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Smart people do not buy Dodge vans, but well educated people do.

In the first place you should try to sell your van so you don't have a trade in to haggle over.

Lacking that, if your state collects sales tax on vehicle sales that puts a new twist on the trade in thing.

Lets say the new rig (I'll just make figures up) is 20K and you think you want 8K for the trade in, lets say the salesperson goes along with that, now lets toss a loop at them that the owner of a Ford dealership taught me when I was his service manger.

Ask the salesperson to drop the trade in price to 1K and drop the new rig price an equal amount.

Why? You'll save on paying sales tax on 7K. They won't like you fucking with them at their game but at least you can enjoy fucking with them. :-)

But when you get right down to it the most power you will have is to decide what you are willing to pay and write a check for that amount and hand it to the salesperson and tell him/her to take it to the closer and see if the closer accepts it.

Assuming you can write a check for that amount of course, if you are going to finance it through them or another party they have a lever over you.

That is how I buy cars, I haven't made payments on rigs for more years than I can remember.

Tuesday, 18 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Oh, if you have a bachelor night out go enjoy a hooker, it will beat the hell out of pulling on a pipe and whacking off, hahahaha

Tuesday, 18 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

One other bit of advice, try to deal with a new salesman, the closer will often give them a good deal to make them feel good about being a fucking car salesman.

Wednesday, 19 September, 2012  
Blogger austere said...

Good luck PT.

BBC's sales tax comment is darned good.

Thursday, 20 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

And when it gets down to the nitty gritty and a three hundred buck difference don't dicker with the wrong person.

Dicker with the wife, "If you'll fuck me three times next week we got ourselves a deal." Hehehehe

Friday, 21 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Make sure the salesperson is a christian, better yet, a catholic, cuz you should be screwed by one of your own kind, hehehehe

Friday, 21 September, 2012  
Blogger austere said...

http://www.firstpost.com/india/how-india-grows-at-night-while-the-government-sleeps-469035.html?utm_source=MC_TOP_WIDGE

You'd like this.

Wednesday, 26 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Hum, I think what he would like is a good piece of ass three times a week.

Wednesday, 26 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Do we have to put up with this post until you make a deal on another piece of shit Mopar van?

Thursday, 27 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

Maybe someday I'll wake up and say, "I think I'll go buy a fucking Mopar van I can't work on." Hehehehe

Fuck, I could buy your trade in and drive it another three hundred thousand miles. Well, I could if it was a Toyota.

Thursday, 27 September, 2012  
Blogger BBC said...

The little engine that could seems to have jumped the track, should I dispatch a salvage locomotive full of topless engineers and capable crew?

Tuesday, 02 October, 2012  
Anonymous Schumacher said...

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Friday, 30 November, 2012  
Anonymous Bradaerz said...

Hum, I think what he would like is a good piece of ass three times a week.

Wednesday, 05 December, 2012  

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