Thumper
12-10-2022, 08:43 PM
… I again fell hook, line and sinker for that intoxicating new car smell.
I took our ‘18 Highlander (Limited) in for an oil change on Black Friday. HUGE mistake! My salesman happened to be standing in the service drive when I pulled in and we started bullshitting. Next thing I knew, I was driving home in a frigging $50,000 Toyota! Kind of a lateral move actually, as I bought a 2023 Highlander Limited … fully loaded of course. This thing does everything but give me a bj.
I will say I was bribed. We’ll, sort’a. They had Santa on the showroom floor and he was giving out 50” smart TV’s to anybody who bought a car that day. Whoopie-ding … we’re taking it to Lynn’s mom for Christmas. They also gave out a full set of the top of the line, Weather Tech floor mats. Once we started getting serious, I told my salesman I wasn’t going to play that back and forth b/s game of “offer/counter-offer” between him and the Sales Manager. I told him to go upstairs and get Rob (the General Manager) then told him the only three people at the table would be him, the GM and myself. We’d bang out a deal between us with no frigging games.
Wow! The GM came down and we got to work. They balked a couple of times, but I kept reminding them I just came in for an oil change and my car should be ready at any minute. I ended up with the deal I wanted. They printed up the paperwork and it was time to go see the F&I dude. I told them to inform F&I that I would NOT be buying any extended warranty or any other crap they wanted to pad in, just get the papers ready for me to sign. They even threw in the platinum service contract, free oil/filter changes, tire rotations, towing, rental car, roadside service and who knows what all else, for … not two years, but SIX years! I was feeling kind of badass by this time and as I perused the paperwork I said, “Hey, this car has no towing package! How am I going to drag my utility trailer to the dump when I need to get rid of something?”
The GM told me they could order the parts and the installed price would be around $900.00! WTF? You told me this thing is loaded to the max! Throw in the hitch and it’s a deal. The GM said they’d take care of it. Then I got a little cocky and told them not to even think of subletting the car to U-Haul or some silliness like that and I was assured it would be nothing but Toyota factory parts and installed in house. Well, the Parts Dept. called me this morning to let me know the parts are in and to let them know when I want to have the towing package installed so they can have a loaner car waiting for me. ;)
But ya’ know what? EVERY TIME I buy a car and think I got a good deal, I always feel like I got screwed anyway! Even though my salesman was wide-eyed through most of the final negotiations, he told me if I wanted, he’d show me the paperwork on every sale he’s made in the last 6-months, and prove he’s NEVER seen a deal like that go out the door.
I STILL figure I probably got screwed somehow. I HATE buying new cars. I wish it were like Walmart, you go in, the price is on the car and that’s what you pay at the register. :(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221211/a6d516f3df6daa29a74b3aa20a04a90b.jpg
I took our ‘18 Highlander (Limited) in for an oil change on Black Friday. HUGE mistake! My salesman happened to be standing in the service drive when I pulled in and we started bullshitting. Next thing I knew, I was driving home in a frigging $50,000 Toyota! Kind of a lateral move actually, as I bought a 2023 Highlander Limited … fully loaded of course. This thing does everything but give me a bj.
I will say I was bribed. We’ll, sort’a. They had Santa on the showroom floor and he was giving out 50” smart TV’s to anybody who bought a car that day. Whoopie-ding … we’re taking it to Lynn’s mom for Christmas. They also gave out a full set of the top of the line, Weather Tech floor mats. Once we started getting serious, I told my salesman I wasn’t going to play that back and forth b/s game of “offer/counter-offer” between him and the Sales Manager. I told him to go upstairs and get Rob (the General Manager) then told him the only three people at the table would be him, the GM and myself. We’d bang out a deal between us with no frigging games.
Wow! The GM came down and we got to work. They balked a couple of times, but I kept reminding them I just came in for an oil change and my car should be ready at any minute. I ended up with the deal I wanted. They printed up the paperwork and it was time to go see the F&I dude. I told them to inform F&I that I would NOT be buying any extended warranty or any other crap they wanted to pad in, just get the papers ready for me to sign. They even threw in the platinum service contract, free oil/filter changes, tire rotations, towing, rental car, roadside service and who knows what all else, for … not two years, but SIX years! I was feeling kind of badass by this time and as I perused the paperwork I said, “Hey, this car has no towing package! How am I going to drag my utility trailer to the dump when I need to get rid of something?”
The GM told me they could order the parts and the installed price would be around $900.00! WTF? You told me this thing is loaded to the max! Throw in the hitch and it’s a deal. The GM said they’d take care of it. Then I got a little cocky and told them not to even think of subletting the car to U-Haul or some silliness like that and I was assured it would be nothing but Toyota factory parts and installed in house. Well, the Parts Dept. called me this morning to let me know the parts are in and to let them know when I want to have the towing package installed so they can have a loaner car waiting for me. ;)
But ya’ know what? EVERY TIME I buy a car and think I got a good deal, I always feel like I got screwed anyway! Even though my salesman was wide-eyed through most of the final negotiations, he told me if I wanted, he’d show me the paperwork on every sale he’s made in the last 6-months, and prove he’s NEVER seen a deal like that go out the door.
I STILL figure I probably got screwed somehow. I HATE buying new cars. I wish it were like Walmart, you go in, the price is on the car and that’s what you pay at the register. :(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20221211/a6d516f3df6daa29a74b3aa20a04a90b.jpg