New Car and Stupid People

We bought a Toyota Corolla LE today. We'll get to pick it up within the next few days, so we're pretty excited.

Before deciding on the Corolla, we test drove a VW Jetta, and a Honda Civic. We loved the Jetta, and if it had only been two or three thousand less, there's no doubt we would have bought it instead. Maybe we'll buy it in a year or two when we can afford another vehicle and our old one kicks the bucket.

Looking for a car is a draining process. You've got to talk to so many people who are just dying to get your comission, and I feel like a piece of meat. We've come across many stupid people since we started looking. Here are two of them:

Stupid guy #1: Lee the Honda salesman

I don't even know where to start. He couldn't sell his way out of a paper bag. When we asked him what the selling features of the civic were, he would give us the features listed on the pamphlet. "Power windows" he told us eighteen times. Yah, so, every car has that....who cares?

We told him we had test driven a Jetta, and without hesitating, he went on and on about how crapy volkswagon is and how their cars are put together in Mexico by incompetent people. I felt like telling him I was Mexican. Umm, I came here to find out about Hondas, not VW.

Also, he complimented us a million times about how good we are at driving manuals. We told him we preferred them, and he went on and on about how "That's because you really know how to drive a standard. Not a lot of people do, but you do!" Gag.

Overall, he said nothing. There was a lot of talking with nothing of relevance said. Other salesman took us to the cars, pointed out what features were distinct to their cars, and how they improved the car. They knew what they were talking about. We tried to get away from Lee, but by some crazy coincidence, he was the first guy over to us every time we went.

Stupid guy #2: Toyota closer

We loved our Toyota salesman, Les. He was fabulous. So friendly and a no nonsense person, just like me. There was no crap. He got straight to the point, but not in an abrupt way. I highly recommend him. He is however a Detroit Redwings fan. His only fault.

When we told him we wanted to buy, he sent us to another guy who had to get our financial information. We were in his office for one hour. Fifteen minutes to go over finances, 45 minutes of painful listening to salespitches about extended warranties, added features like rust and upholstery protection, and his own personal testimony about each of these things. I wanted to lean my head on his desk and close my eyes until he was done, but I thought it would be rude.

At one point, he talked about how the car would start to rust from the inside out in only a few months without rust protection. He showed us samples of cars with and without. I said to him, "Maybe we shouldn't buy a Toyota if it's so crappy". Gary thought it was pretty funny.

Tracie, "I've said it before and I'll say it again. I hate stupid people"