Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Car buying attempt #2!
Yet another try at another dealership. Now this dealership is 40 miles away and i was very disappointed at what they were offering. A phone call to the dealership confirms that the fleet manager would match the price of where we originally got the quote from so i excitely drove to the dealership to see the manager. The manager was not available when i arrived and he introduced me to a sales representative to start appraising the 2003 Acura TL Type S and he ended up giving me a trade in value that is $2000 less than the previous dealership. Reason being that the vehicle was lowered and had an aftermarket exhaust therefore they rated my car in "fair" condition instead of "good" condition. I asked them to read the description for "fair" condition because fair condition vehicle has som mechanicacl or cosmetic defects that needs servicing and the paint/body/interior need work performed by professional but the only explaination they could have given me was that it would take at least $800-$1000 to make the vehicle to factory condition due to the modifications. i advised them that the mods on the vehicle does not depreciate the vehicle and certainly is not any mechanical defect. He advised that their service department charges $100/hour to do the work. I asked them if their service department would actually charge the sales department owned by the same corporation/company that rate. also, if it is $100/hour on the labor they are charging and he quoted me for $800-$1000 to restore the vehicle back to factory condition, it means that it would take them 8-10 hours to do only spring and exhaust work. Now that sounds ridiculous to me. I asked them if the service department charges $100/hour to do the work, why wouldn't they just take the vehicle to their preferred body shop for the work since average labor rate is $36-$38/hr instead of $100/hour? The used car manager couldn't give me an answer. I then asked why would the spring work and exhaust work take 8-10 hours to do and if it would take that long, they are not following industry guidelines to perform all their servicing work. He again avoided the answer and went on to explain to me that my car auctions for $2000 less than what i would want for the value of the vehicle therefore they could not give me any better pricing.
@#$%! i'm now done shopping for any vehicles unless i'm purchasing the vehicle with cash only.
Sunday, December 04, 2005
Traumatic car experience
Ja-jang~ will this was the car i was going to buy yesterday. but, after spending 5 hours in the dealership, the deal was broken. Several days ago, my car which was modified by my husband (it's lowered, has aftermarket rims, exhaust/mufler, ice box, body kit):
broke down on the freeway. i was driving at approximately 60mph on the crowed freeway at around 6pm rush traffic hour when one of the control arms that supports the left wheel broke. my car started swerving out of control on the freeway. my steering wheels seemed to have a mind of its own but i managed to steer and brake my way to the right shoulder without colliding with anyone on the freeway. needless to say, that was a scary experience. My husband arrived shortly and we decided to tow the vehicle home. after the tow truck arrived, the tow man advised that he can't tow a lowered vehicle. if he tries to get the car on the truck bed, the body kit and possibly the body of the vehicle might break because it doesn't have enough clearance. i was running out of patient at this point as i have been out on the road for 2 hours after a 10 hour working day. after i heard the news from the tow man, i was flamming mad. we were not able to drive the vehicle home because the left rear wheel was tilted so badily. luckly, the right lane of the freeway closed down an hour later and the police was able to escort us to travel against the traffic to get back onto an onramp to move the vehicle into a fast food restaurant parking lot. 2 hours after my husband tried to fix the problem on the car, our hero for the day arrived! There just happened to be one of the mechanic that works for Acura that passed by to get his dinner from the fast food restaurant. he kindly came to us and asked if we needed any help. i almost bowed down to him and called him my God after he fixed our car!
After we went home, we were considering purchasing a new car as i was scared to drive that Acura again. I was afraid that the same thing might happen again and i would be stranded in the middle of nowhere. So we did some research and found a very good deal on an Infiniti FX35. It's a full size sedan/SUV looking car (see the first picture above) and we are getting the deal for $1000 under invoice, not MSRP, but invoice. We were excited and head to the dealership at around 6pm. After 2 hours in the dealership, they advised that the only color with the options that we wanted that is still available in their stock would be black. They took about an hour to prep the vehicle ready and we came to find out, the vehicle already has 108 miles on! that is NOT a new car if it has 108 miles on - -"".. So it took them another hour or 2 to find another black one that has only 18 miles on the car. After they detailed the vehicle, it's now about 10pm. the dealership closed at 7pm and at 10pm, there's only our sales person with the general manager left. We signed all the paperwork and did our walk around the vehicle inspection to see if there is any chips or dings or scratches and guess what!? there is a door ding on the right rear wheel well! ARRRRR now i'm really pissed. i've been at the dealership for way too long at this moment and the sales person is offering to either find another car or fix the dent at this point. i just said.. forget it.. i'm tired, i'm going home.. *sigh* i hate buying a new car..
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