Am I Crazy?  My Adventure in Car Shopping Utopia

The car I’ve been driving, a 1992 Chysler LeBaron sedan has treated me quite nicely over the years… that is, up until this semester. I’ve thrown $400 into repairing and it making drivable in the last three months alone. Now it’s doin’ something funky. My parents think it just needs a tune-up, so hopefully that’ll clear it up, but if it doesn’t, then I’m going to need more repairs…

So today, out of curiosity, my parents and I hit up Toyota of Grapevine, because they were having this big price slashing mega-sale thing going on.

They didn’t have anything in my price range ($0. Perfect Trade-In). They didn’t even have anything in the I can finance range (up to $4k). But the used car salesman was very insistent (go figure) that I take a look at a 2001 Saturn. I can’t remember the model number now, but based on pictures I’ve found, it was either an SL1 or SL2. The sticker price, however, was $8990. THAT WAS OUT OF MY RANGE.

I kept letting the salesman know I wanted something MUCH cheaper, but he insisted we could work with the numbers if I liked the car.

I did like the car. I liked the car very much.

Then I test drove it.

The driver’s seat was the most uncomfortable car chair I’ve ever sat in. It was like it was made for someone half my width. For a half hour after test driving, I could feel pain where the pressure points were at on that chair.

Other than that chair, though, I LOVED the car. It was a VERY nice car. I figured it didn’t matter how much it cost, though, ‘cause I couldn’t afford $8990, regardless. But the salesman urged me (go figure) to go to his office to crunch some numbers and not to worry about the car seat.

So we go in, and he crunches some numbers. His first offer was just ridiculously out of my range, as I expected. They’d give me a $500 credit from the trade in on my car (Figured as much… even though I love it, the car is old and falling apart) and would finance me at $360 a month for 48 months with a $2000 down payment. There was no way I could afford either payment. Just no way. I was about to walk away.

So then the bargaining began…

First the down payment was eliminated.

Then the monthly payments were reduced to $200 something.

Even with the reductions, I just couldn’t pay it. Don’t have the funds. The salesman kept asking what it would take for me to agree to buy the car. I told him there was no way I could afford more than $100 a month. I was there to see what my options were when it came to cars. I didn’t tell him the car I was gonna sell them stunk now. Ultimately, I only NEED a car for one more year. After that, I’m probably moving to New York and therefore wouldn’t really need a car, so an investment isn’t really worth it right now for me.

Things get hazy for me about this point. I made up my mind I didn’t want the car. Here’s what I do remember.

The salesman brought his manager in to do even more haggling, since the manager was in a position to make the real offers. Somehow, through my resistence to buy the car, the offer came down to this:

1.) They’d buy my almost dead 1992 LeBaron for $1000
2.) They’d get new seats for the car at no extra cost
3.) No down payment
4.) $75 monthly payment for 48 months.

Do the math there… The $8990 car was offered to me at $4600. Final cost to me would have been $3600 plus tax, title & license.

SEVENTY-FIVE DOLLARS A MONTH FOR A 2001 SATURN!!!!

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and I walked away. That chair was darn uncomfortable.

The final time I said “No thanks” and stood up to shake the manager’s hand, the salesman, who was sitting there the whole time, looked at us absolutely stunned. “You should have taken that offer!” he said.

Am I crazy?