Let's Talk About Car Buying
So, my sister needed to get a car for her new job down at the Air Force base.
I figured she could get approved on a new buyer program, so we looked at cars online, and she found an 08 Avenger that she really liked, with pretty low mileage. We headed to the dealership.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Day 1: "Of COURSE we can get you in the Avenger!" Well, first rule of car buying is that you're probably not going to get your first, second, or third choice unless you have a bazillion dollars down and spotless credit, but this is her first rodeo, so let's go, right?
Day 2: "Oh, nope, can't get the Avenger. But! We can get you into a Mazda 2 with our new buyer program and the incentives we get from Mazda." She test drove the Mazda 2 and liked it.
"Oh, well ... you don't have enough on the job time to qualify for that. But! We can get you in through our dealership's in-house program, go take a look at these cars under $7500."
She picked out a PT Cruiser. Not bad looking, decent miles, not the most amazing car ever but seriously who has an amazing car for their first car? So she goes with that. Signs everything, etc, and takes the car home.
Day 4: "Well, we're having a hard time getting you financed because you're a new buyer with no money down and you haven't started your job yet. Can you get a co-signer so we can get you a better rate? Until that's set, we need you to bring the car back."
So she brought the car back and talked to our grandma, who said she'd co-sign.
By this point, my sister is (somewhat unreasonably) frustrated at EVERYTHING. Yeah, it sucks, and yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but car buying - especially the first time! - is rarely easy.
Day 5: She and my grandma went to a DIFFERENT dealership, and my grandma bought a 2002 Nissan Maxima on wholesale. This, IMO, was fucking dumb ... a feeling borne out by the fact that I put $300 in tires on it yesterday, and it's going to cost over $100 to get inspected and registered, and she had to get an oil change today, and by then, you've already spent more money than you saved by not having them inspect the fucking thing, where THEY would have had to change the oil and replace the tires and fix the brakes, because the mechanic said she's going to need her brakes done within 6 months, AWESOME. Seriously, they got fucked on this deal.
Shaunna realized she still had the keys for the PT Cruiser in her purse; we went to return them. She apparently now loathes the Mazda people, so I went in to return the keys.
I found out that they couldn't NOT finance her - which is what Shaunna told me - she just wouldn't get the best rate signing on her own. Thus she had 3 options - take the PT Cruiser, pick out another car that fits the new buyer program, or take a repo at 19.
Basically, she completely misunderstood what was going on with this car at the Mazda place, refused to talk to them to find out what was going on, and ended up on the hook for a car. We were at the dealership for two hours talking with the sales manager, and finally decided that the best solution for everyone was that Will and I would choose a car (the PT Cruiser was 19 kinds of shitty on gas mileage), shaunna would sign for it, and we'd pay for it. She gets basically free credit improvement, we get a second car that we can afford, and the dealership doesn't have to deal with a repo, so win/win right?
Oh no. Shaunna freaked the fuck out and just didn't want to deal with it. She started crying on the phone when I called her about the solution we'd come up with. She was pissed when we got home. She was pissy and rude to everyone at the dealership today, because she "didn't want to be there". I heard "can I just leave?" like six times in the course of an hour and a half.
You know what? I get that it sucks. I get that the car buying experience hasn't been the most fun, but seriously, snapping at everyone who's trying to help you because you misunderstood what's going on and how it works when you buy a car just really made me want to say "you know what, just take the repo and deal with the fact that your credit is going to be ruined for at least seven years".
So, supposedly Monday I'll have a car. Maybe. We'll have to see. XD
I figured she could get approved on a new buyer program, so we looked at cars online, and she found an 08 Avenger that she really liked, with pretty low mileage. We headed to the dealership.
Pretty straightforward, right?
Day 1: "Of COURSE we can get you in the Avenger!" Well, first rule of car buying is that you're probably not going to get your first, second, or third choice unless you have a bazillion dollars down and spotless credit, but this is her first rodeo, so let's go, right?
Day 2: "Oh, nope, can't get the Avenger. But! We can get you into a Mazda 2 with our new buyer program and the incentives we get from Mazda." She test drove the Mazda 2 and liked it.
"Oh, well ... you don't have enough on the job time to qualify for that. But! We can get you in through our dealership's in-house program, go take a look at these cars under $7500."
She picked out a PT Cruiser. Not bad looking, decent miles, not the most amazing car ever but seriously who has an amazing car for their first car? So she goes with that. Signs everything, etc, and takes the car home.
Day 4: "Well, we're having a hard time getting you financed because you're a new buyer with no money down and you haven't started your job yet. Can you get a co-signer so we can get you a better rate? Until that's set, we need you to bring the car back."
So she brought the car back and talked to our grandma, who said she'd co-sign.
By this point, my sister is (somewhat unreasonably) frustrated at EVERYTHING. Yeah, it sucks, and yeah, it's a pain in the ass, but car buying - especially the first time! - is rarely easy.
Day 5: She and my grandma went to a DIFFERENT dealership, and my grandma bought a 2002 Nissan Maxima on wholesale. This, IMO, was fucking dumb ... a feeling borne out by the fact that I put $300 in tires on it yesterday, and it's going to cost over $100 to get inspected and registered, and she had to get an oil change today, and by then, you've already spent more money than you saved by not having them inspect the fucking thing, where THEY would have had to change the oil and replace the tires and fix the brakes, because the mechanic said she's going to need her brakes done within 6 months, AWESOME. Seriously, they got fucked on this deal.
Shaunna realized she still had the keys for the PT Cruiser in her purse; we went to return them. She apparently now loathes the Mazda people, so I went in to return the keys.
I found out that they couldn't NOT finance her - which is what Shaunna told me - she just wouldn't get the best rate signing on her own. Thus she had 3 options - take the PT Cruiser, pick out another car that fits the new buyer program, or take a repo at 19.
Basically, she completely misunderstood what was going on with this car at the Mazda place, refused to talk to them to find out what was going on, and ended up on the hook for a car. We were at the dealership for two hours talking with the sales manager, and finally decided that the best solution for everyone was that Will and I would choose a car (the PT Cruiser was 19 kinds of shitty on gas mileage), shaunna would sign for it, and we'd pay for it. She gets basically free credit improvement, we get a second car that we can afford, and the dealership doesn't have to deal with a repo, so win/win right?
Oh no. Shaunna freaked the fuck out and just didn't want to deal with it. She started crying on the phone when I called her about the solution we'd come up with. She was pissed when we got home. She was pissy and rude to everyone at the dealership today, because she "didn't want to be there". I heard "can I just leave?" like six times in the course of an hour and a half.
You know what? I get that it sucks. I get that the car buying experience hasn't been the most fun, but seriously, snapping at everyone who's trying to help you because you misunderstood what's going on and how it works when you buy a car just really made me want to say "you know what, just take the repo and deal with the fact that your credit is going to be ruined for at least seven years".
So, supposedly Monday I'll have a car. Maybe. We'll have to see. XD