How to Waste Time......

........ as I promised yesterday, here is a lesson about how to waste half a day!

Go to a garage and try to buy a new car.

I don't need a new car. Mine is less than 2 years old, with a mileage of 5500. BUT I wanted a new car. Actually I wanted this particular new car;

I already have a Honda Civic hybrid, and this is the Insight hybrid. I had A figure in my mind, as the maximum I would pay so, yesterday morning, off I went to the Honda dealer. Luckily, I had put dinner in the Slow Cooker before I went.

When I got there, they had 2 available. One was a very top of the range demonstrator, and the other was a brand new almost bottom of the range one. I wanted the model that was one step down from the top. So now begins the pantomime.

Salesman pops up and finds out what I was looking for. He knew my current car - well he should, he sold it to me 18 months ago! But, we still have to go through it. I tell him what I'm looking for. He shows me what he has. I don't listen - I know what I'm looking for. In the end, I know that really either of the cars he had might be OK, so I ask him for a PX valuation. That's when it really starts. Up till now we've just been playing. He goes off to look at my car. I sit in showroom and wait. He comes back and returns keys and goes off to work out figures. I sit and wait. He comes back with figures, having added in all sorts of things I didn't want, like extended warranty, internal and external "scotchguarding", etc. I don't like the figures. He goes off to talk to his manager. I sit and wait. He comes back with his manager and slightly revised figures. I don't like them. Manager and salesman go off to try and do better. You know what I'm doing. They come back. I still don't like their numbers. I tell Manager in words of one syllable exactly what I am prepared to pay, and that if we can't get to that I'm walking. Manager goes off to phone his area manager. I.. well I'm still sitting. He comes back, having got close to my figure, but still not there, so I walked. That all took three and a half hours.

Why, I ask, can't we cut out almost all of the silliness, they tell me their "well-it's-worth-a-try-someone-might-go-for-it" price, I say no, they tell me their real price and that's it. It makes me so mad.

I think the garage were surprised when I left without buying! Ha, don't mess with me! This afternoon I had a phone call from the salesman to see if I'd changed my mind. I told him I hadn't, especially as neither of their cars were actually the model I really wanted. He's going to talk to his manager tomorrow and see if they can find anything else within their group. I told him which of their group did have what I wanted and suggested they follow that up.

I WILL NOT BE BEATEN BY A CAR SALESMAN!