The past few days have been exhausting. We currently are a one car family and that one car is a Mustang. We had a trying time finding a car seat that would fit into the back of that car, but we did it. The main issue would be the difficulty of getting the seat in and out (infant bucket). I had resolved that we made a mistake buying that car and we would have to live with it. Michael, on the other hand, hadn't made that resolution yet. Like many other people, I'm sure, we are upside down on our vehicle.
One Wednesday, Michael and I went to the local Toyota dealership to check out what good deals were going on. We got to the dealership about 10:30ish. We had the nicest salesperson. She sounded like she was from West Texas. We drove a car and liked it. It's really a matter of "it had 4 doors and resale on Toyotas is very good." We told her what we could do as far as a down payment, monthly payments, etc. She got both our SSN and we filled out a credit app.
Sounds good, so far...
At this point, I am hungry and we needed to get the checkbook from the house for the down payment so we leave the dealership about 12:30. We were under the impression that all we had to do was come back with the down payment and sign some papers.
WRONG!! We get back to the dealership at 2:00 and wait. They didn't even submit the credit app until 2:45. Then after waiting for another 45 minutes they take us back to the finance office (I think it's because we, and when I say we, I really mean me, was getting CRANKY!!) and we wait some more. Finally, they come back with a counter offer and we ask what it is. The guy has the nerve to say "You wouldn't understand it. I have to plug in some numbers." Did he not look at the credit app and see that Michael worked at a car finance company for 8 years and sure as hell would understand what he was looking at!!!!
At this point, both Michael and I are CRANKY! The guy comes back and says they want lots more down, and the payments would be nearly $100.00 more than they first stated. OH HELL NO! Of course, this is where we realize that they hadn't submitted the credit app before giving us the first numbers. I don't mess around with these guys. I demand to be treated with respect if they want my business. I get up and say "We're done, Good bye," and I leave. This guy is still trying to talk to Michael saying he has a friend that works for the bank and maybe they can work a deal, yadda yadda yadda.
Michael is very lucky that I love him, because I was so mad, I could have left him at the dealership just because he wasn't walking fast enough! So at this point, it is around 4:00. We had been at the dealership for about 5 hours not counting the lunch break. My feet are swollen, I'm tired and not just cranky anymore, REALLY CRANKY!
Fast forward to Thursday. I let Michael know that I am done trying to buy a car for the next 20 years. We'll just have to cart our family around in the Mustang, even if we have 3 kiddos :) He has the idea to try one more time at the Ford dealership. Maybe brand loyalty will play a part. I really didn't want a domestic car because of depreciation issues. That's the whole reason we were looking at Toyota and recently, Honda. He calls the dealership and explains the situation- being upside down, down payment, monthly payment, not wanting to waste time at the dealership all day and what vehicle we're interested in.
We fill out a credit app online and we wait. But here's the best part: we wait at home! I can check my Mafia Wars when I need to, clean the house, get to working on my birth announcements, take care of the dogs, whatever my little heart desires! A few hours later the salesperson calls back and tells us the vehicle we want we can't get because of our upside down and credit issues. But we could get possibly get into a cheaper vehicle with some rebates and incentives. We had never driven that vehicle so we went up to the dealership to test drive. We test drove 2 different cars and again, it has 4 doors was really the only criteria. We liked what we saw, told the salesperson and left.
We haven't heard back from the finance department yet (they were shutting down for the night when we test drove). Hopefully, around noon today. But the fact that this dealership and salesperson were not jacking us around is wonderful. Even if we don't get this vehicle, we know where to start when our situation looks better.
On a side note, our salesperson from Toyota called and said we would be getting a call from the General Manager (didn't happen) and then the customer service department called to see how we would rate our experience... At this point, they would have to give me the car, free and clear, for me to take it. I wouldn't even have a dealership to get it serviced at because I am NEVER going back to that one for any reason!
So if anyone is looking to get into a new Ford vehicle soon, contact me and I will give you a recommendation!
