The Car Search!

We have learned two main things so far during the search for the new vehicle.  One, don't go looking on Memorial Day Weekend!  Secondly, American brands are not at all willing to make a good deal with you. 

We went out yesterday to shop around.  I had 3 vehicles in mind I wanted to test drive all were American brands.  First stop was Ford.  I wanted to test drive not one but two different Ford models. Oh my, oh my, oh my!  I've never seen a dealership so packed before.  I had heard on the radio before going to the dealership that they were having a "construction" sale as the dealership is stuck in an area of town where they are expanding the freeway.  When we arrived at Ford we looked around for ourselves sure that a salesperson would soon find us.  No salesperson did. We soon went inside to find a salesperson.  People were all over the place inside.  Like I said I've never seen a dealership so packed.  We soon decided to leave and maybe go back later. 

On down the road we went to GMC-Buick.  They were not busy like Ford was.  We test drove a GMC Terrain.  A pretty red one, might I add!  It was very nice.  I wanted the top of the line Denali edition of the Terrain but I was willing to settle for the one under the top of the line Denali edition. I don't mean to sound like I want only the fanciest but it's been a long time since I've had a new car and we certainly plan on keeping it a long while so why not go as close to top of the line as we can get within that model. When we sat down to crunch out the numbers it was clear early on they were not willing to work with us much.  When we were taken back by their ridiculous offer for the Terrain the guy looked at me and told me GMC is just barely below a Cadillac.  I did all I could do not to laugh!  Just my opinion folks...there's Cadillac and there's GMC they are not that closely related as far as luxury.  GMC's are nice yes, but not Cadillac nice, not Mercedes-Benz nice!  When Brad and I were alone while the sales guys tried to "find us a car", I quickly told my husband I would be happy with any car, I wanted to make sure he knew I did not want the GMC Terrain so badly that I was willing to let the dealership take advantage of us.  Soon the sales people at GMC tried to get us into a different type of a Terrain instead of the one we wanted because they were not willing to budge on the price of the fancy Terrain.  They were even going to bring it in from another dealership for us.  The whole thing was laughable!  Their tricks and tactics likely work on numerous people day after day.  But not us!  If they aren't willing to negotiate with us on the vehicle we want we'll go down the street.  Simple as that!  I will be happy with whatever we decide on I don't absolutely have to have any specific brand of car. 

We then made our way back to Ford.  Once again they were still packed.  We waited around a bit only to once again leave before talking to a salesperson or taking a test drive.  At this point we're unsure if we care enough about having a Ford to return a third time to their dealership.

Now what?  Not sure!  I think the decision is going to be Nissan!  Last night I did a search again for all Dallas area dealerships hoping an Xterra would pop up. I squealed with delight when my online search found an Xterra.  The type of Xterra I found is exactly the edition, color, and interior I wanted.  So the decision is most likely Nissan but which Nissan model is still up in the air.  We'll see!  We're going to think on it a bit more and wait until Memorial Day is over.  Despite what the ads say the dealerships are not willing to work with you as much when they have so many people standing around waiting to test drive.  Seeing us walk out the door when they have 30-some people standing around is nothing to them this weekend.  You have to go on a day when they haven't had much luck selling a car.  When we went on a Friday a few weeks back it was much better than yesterday.

Before I close this post I must reiterate my surprise concerning the American brands. From what I can tell they are truly taking advantage of people that simply want to drive American.  I wanted to drive American this time around.  But I'm not willing to pay thousands extra just to do so.  I can't believe the cost of the American brands, more than other brands aside from the exclusive luxury brands of course. What makes it even worse is the dealerships are hoping you'll be so set on giving your money to an American brand you'll look passed the fact that they are unwilling to budge on the price much.  At GMC they were giving us a whopping $750 off the MSRP price.  Yes, folks only $750 off.  That is laughable! We are not stupid! When we left GMC Brad said to me that we must look young and dumb if that's the offer they came across with.  For those of you that don't know that's a terrible offer, $750 off on a multi-thousand dollar purchase is nothing! It's equivalent to an XBOX game being sold on sale for $48.99 when it's original price is $50.00.