Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Car Wreck

So, we got the word that as a result of the car accident, our car was totaled. That means that we're now officially in the market for a new (or new-to-us) car. I've spent time researching cars and inventory and dealers on the Internet and girded my loins for dealing with those evil car salesmen.

First, I have to say that car dealers should be ashamed of some of the features that they choose to list for their cars on their websites. Among my favorites:

Remote hood/fuel-filler door & pwr trunk releases
I think the fuel-filler door remote and the power trunk release are good features, but I have to say that the appeal of a remote hood release is lost on me. I mean, not only do I find it unlikely that there have been many cars manufactured in the last 30 years that don't have this feature, but 99 times out of a hundred, once you pop the hood, you have to get outside anyway, so it's not as if the remote release really saves any time. And if I their wants to get under the hood of your car, I'm sure the remote release isn't really preventing much.

Tachometer, coolant temp & fuel gauges

That's right: I can buy a car with a fuel gauge. No more stopping and using my homemade gas tank dip stick to check the fluid level.

Pwr windows w/driver-side auto-up/down & auto-reverse

I have to admit to being a little curious about this one. I understand the auto-up/down part, but what's auto reverse? I would think that would mean going up or down--the opposite of the way it was going, but it just seems odd.

Other items actually highlighted as features include a clock and an AM/FM radio. Enough said.

We called one dealership to ask about a car we saw online. We played it cool and didn't tell the salesperson that we'd seen the price online. "How much is that car?" we asked. The salesperson quoted a price that was almost $2,000 more than what we'd seen online.

"That's interesting," I said. "The price on your website is lower than the price you just quoted me."

"Well," he said. "The website guys are sometimes late with their updates to the site." Which means, apparently, that when they make updates, they're increasing the prices.

The more cars I look at and the more salespeople I deal with, the more I grow to dislike the woman who destroyed our car.

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