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Kheldarson and I spent some time last week looking for a new car for her at used car lots, and it eventually came down to a choice between an Intrepid or a Camry. I favored the former, but it was dealing with the salesman for the Camry that really sealed the deal for me.
First, he never left our side. We couldn't talk about the car in private at all. There was a fair bit of cosmetic damage, including a front fender broken in two and tied together with a shoestring. But nothing major came out until the test drive.
The test drive was issue number two. He rode with us, and directed us where to go and how to drive constantly. "Okay, go to the left here. Slow down through here. You'll want to make a right at this sign. You can speed up here if you want. Okay, slow down here, you're turning right again." The whole time, I'm getting the feeling that we aren't going to be able to point out any complaints about the car while he's there without him arguing with us.
I noticed the power windows were hard to operate, and there was a constant squeaking from the engine, which sounded just like my old Escort did when it was cold. And this being Tampa, if it got worse in the cold like mine, I wouldn't want to hear it back up in North Carolina/West Virginia. More importantly, every time she hit the brakes, they screeched. I mean loud, like a truck or bus stopping. Also... the ride felt off. Not just that the driver was unfamiliar, but just like the handling was a bit funny or something. Had me nervous the whole time.
Finally we get out, and I'm asked what I thought. Now, I'm no mechanic, but my uncle, cousin, and two of my friends are. Plus I've had a couple really awful cars, so I've had some experience with questionable noises. So I told them what I thought about it, and immediately the salesman interrupted with "Oh, no, you are mistaken. There are no problems with this car, no problems at all. It runs perfectly."
...uh-huh. I might trust you, very slightly, if you even acknowledged that some things about it might cause concern. But you're trying to pass this thing off as practically brand-new, and utterly flawless. So we told him we'd think about it, and soon headed back to the other lot, where we'd seen the Intrepid.
When asked about problems with that car, the salesman there replied roughly:
"Well, we've inspected it and have a list up here. You can see it's got a lot of leaks and bad seals. There used to be a constant puddle of oil under it, but it doesn't look like there's one anymore, so hopefully that's not as bad as it seemed. Plus the sun has cracked the vinyl inside. Oh, and take it somewhere else to get those fixed up, we'll probably charge you twice what it's worth for that."
...okay, that's a little more honest.
First, he never left our side. We couldn't talk about the car in private at all. There was a fair bit of cosmetic damage, including a front fender broken in two and tied together with a shoestring. But nothing major came out until the test drive.
The test drive was issue number two. He rode with us, and directed us where to go and how to drive constantly. "Okay, go to the left here. Slow down through here. You'll want to make a right at this sign. You can speed up here if you want. Okay, slow down here, you're turning right again." The whole time, I'm getting the feeling that we aren't going to be able to point out any complaints about the car while he's there without him arguing with us.
I noticed the power windows were hard to operate, and there was a constant squeaking from the engine, which sounded just like my old Escort did when it was cold. And this being Tampa, if it got worse in the cold like mine, I wouldn't want to hear it back up in North Carolina/West Virginia. More importantly, every time she hit the brakes, they screeched. I mean loud, like a truck or bus stopping. Also... the ride felt off. Not just that the driver was unfamiliar, but just like the handling was a bit funny or something. Had me nervous the whole time.
Finally we get out, and I'm asked what I thought. Now, I'm no mechanic, but my uncle, cousin, and two of my friends are. Plus I've had a couple really awful cars, so I've had some experience with questionable noises. So I told them what I thought about it, and immediately the salesman interrupted with "Oh, no, you are mistaken. There are no problems with this car, no problems at all. It runs perfectly."
...uh-huh. I might trust you, very slightly, if you even acknowledged that some things about it might cause concern. But you're trying to pass this thing off as practically brand-new, and utterly flawless. So we told him we'd think about it, and soon headed back to the other lot, where we'd seen the Intrepid.
When asked about problems with that car, the salesman there replied roughly:
"Well, we've inspected it and have a list up here. You can see it's got a lot of leaks and bad seals. There used to be a constant puddle of oil under it, but it doesn't look like there's one anymore, so hopefully that's not as bad as it seemed. Plus the sun has cracked the vinyl inside. Oh, and take it somewhere else to get those fixed up, we'll probably charge you twice what it's worth for that."
...okay, that's a little more honest.
. We were charged a little extra, but my brother got a nice car indeed.
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