superflea

So yesterday I get up bright and early and take my friend up on his generous offer to cart me off - yet again - to the Mazda dealership.

I bring a pay stub, my chequebook, and all the paperwork pertaining to the deal. I'm feeling pretty well-equipped to sit down and buy my first car.

I'm not a haggler. I don't care for bickering or for trying to get a better price than the next guy. I'd rather things have a fixed cost that reflect their quality and value, and not my skills as a negotiator. So the Mazda guys were pretty hip and pretty low key. I got a couple of discounts hooked up, and all told, everything was gonna cost about a thousand bucks over dealer cost, according to a report I purchased. I figured that was a fair price and a fair markup.

What left me most pleased about the deal was that I dealt with two sales guys, and both of them assured me that the price on the sheet I carried with my like a security blanket was the absolute bottom line. No extra costs. No hidden services. No nothing. That made me happy.

So you can imagine my utter delight when I got handed off to the credit harpy who started asking me about supplemental warranties, undercoating, paint and fabric protection, etc., etc., etc.

I like to research everything, particularly when it comes to a major purchase. I'm the kind of guy that polarizes sales folk, because I walk in knowing at least as much about the product, by and large, as they do. They either love or hate that. In this case, I had to make a bunch of snap decisions on some rather expensive options, because I wanted to protect my car and my investment, but also because we were so close to being finished.

If it were at any other stage of the negotiations, I would have stormed out. I'd have told them to go fuck themselves and give a good hard look at definitions of things like "bottom line" and "no extra costs". It's not like I was planning a fucking budget or anything, you know?

But I wanted my car.

I passed on the extended warranty, because my research has suggested to my satisfaction that the Mazdas are well-built enough to typically not require them. The advice of a family friend was to put the price of the extended warranty in a savings account and pay for any subsequent repairs out of that. I think it's sound advice.

I decided to take the protection package, which I didn't have explained to my satisfaction, but again, I was one question away from car ownership, you know? I think I just basically paid for a $400 can of fucking Scotchguard... but whatever. My thought process was basically 'how much extra will it cost me per month to just not have to think about this shit?', and it turns out the answer is about thirteen bucks. Whatever. The important thing is that I get my car on Tuesday.

There was an article on one of the salesmen's desks decrying the Lemon-Aid Car Guide and the gentleman behind it for portraying a negative stereotype of car dealers as being con-men eager to milk buyers out of every possible dime rather than arrive at a fair and consistent price. At first, I found it ironic because it was precisely because of that book that I ultimately decided on the Proteg 5 (even the newest edition stresses that while they typically don't recommend purchasing a new car that is no longer in production, they are making an exception for these babies because they're such great cars).

Now I find it ironic because it wasn't that book that gave me the impression of them being con men at all. It was them lying to me and taking an underhanded opportunity to get me over a barrel. Good luck changing that perspective, guys.

I'm not a confrontational person. I like to enter into any arrangement with optimism and good faith. It works for me most of the time. So this stings a little bit, and I'm not happy about it. I think it will probably dissolve when I put my keys in my ignition for the first time and drive my car off the lot.

We watched Vanilla Sky today and it blew my mind. I thought it was awesome. I hope you're all having a nifty weekend.