This past weekend I did
a bit more shopping for a mini-van and ended up at a Honda dealer in
Chico. The first salesman who came out to greet us really turned me off particularly after I asked him what the advantage of going through the dealer was vs. using a broker. When he mentioned "warranty issues" my father-in-law chimed in and needless to say the salesman had the where-with-all to pass us off to another "member of the team" who proceeded to become fast friends with the two of us. I didn't beat around the bush and when I told him exactly what I wanted he asked me it I'd buy it if he gave me a "screaming deal"? I replied "show me the number" so he ran off and printed a piece of paper with the "screaming deal" and slid it across the desk. I looked at it, told him I wanted to run it by my wife and stood up to walk out when he replied that I couldn't take the paper because the dealer was "regulated by the DMV" and it was against the law for me to take it although he wrote the final number on his business card and handed that to me. I wonder what he'd have done had I whipped out my cell phone and snapped a photo?
At any rate, my wife had already contacted a local broker who quoted her a price $750 below the Chico dealer. Of course, now I know why he called it a "screaming deal". I'm beginning to think I should blog this whole car buying experience including quoted prices and all. Man, I hate car shopping.