mresseguie
Senior Member
My wife and I plunked coin down to buy a new pickup yesterday, which I drove home last night. [This post isn't exactly being typed to announce our new TV, but as long as I'm mentioning it....We bought a new 2024 RAM 1500 5.7L 5'7" Limited last night!!!]
This post is more to ask others what your new vehicle buying experience was like when you bought your last new car/pickup/TV. Last night's buying experience was mostly very smooth. It was when we walked into the finance manager's office that that happy go lucky feeling slipped away to be replaced by a nagging feeling that the friendly appearing manager was actually a vampire ready to pounce on my jugular vein the second I let my guard down.
It's the finance manager's job to persuade <con!> me into buying expensive addons that I either do not need (nor want) or can get for much less money elsewhere. Up for grabs were the extended mechanical & electrical coverage for $5750.00; the Perma Plate interior & exterior protection $1299.00; lifetime oil changes $1299, and Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) $995.00. The vampire began with the small addons in order to warm me up for the expensive M&E coverage. I declined the smaller addons even though he tried to change my mind 3 or 4 times with each addon. By the time he got to the expensive M&E coverage, both my wife and I could see he wasn't especially happy with the way things were going. [Perhaps he isn't accustomed to running into brick walls?] Anyway, he spent a solid 8 minutes trying everything in the book to get me to crack and sign up for the very expensive coverage.
Finally, in desperation, he offered me the 'employee discount of $2775.00' that no one can refuse! I hadn't been expecting the discount, so I felt a tug of temptation to take him up on the 'special' discount. He must have seen the momentary weakness in my eyes because he fired salvo after salvo of 'what ifs' and 'whys' at me to get me to capitulate. That's when I pulled out my trump card and looked over at my silent wife to complain to her <in Mandarin Chinese!> how irritating this vampire was, and that I wished he'd just take "NO!" for an answer. She answered back with a very supportive reply that proved she was with me 100%. And that's all it took...He couldn't understand nor compete with our private conversation. He knew he had lost the battle, so he moved on to the signing of documents with only a hint of exasperation in his voice.
I hated that experience. I know I squirmed in my seat during part of the process. I also know it's the finance manager's job to browbeat/con/coerce suckers like me to pay for very lucrative addons, and I know he's good at that, and that he doesn't lose very often. If he lost all the time, he'd be replaced.
So...What vampire experiences have you put up with in the finance manager's office? I'm genuinely interested to learn from others now that I survived unscathed.
Michael
This post is more to ask others what your new vehicle buying experience was like when you bought your last new car/pickup/TV. Last night's buying experience was mostly very smooth. It was when we walked into the finance manager's office that that happy go lucky feeling slipped away to be replaced by a nagging feeling that the friendly appearing manager was actually a vampire ready to pounce on my jugular vein the second I let my guard down.
It's the finance manager's job to persuade <con!> me into buying expensive addons that I either do not need (nor want) or can get for much less money elsewhere. Up for grabs were the extended mechanical & electrical coverage for $5750.00; the Perma Plate interior & exterior protection $1299.00; lifetime oil changes $1299, and Guaranteed Asset Protection (GAP) $995.00. The vampire began with the small addons in order to warm me up for the expensive M&E coverage. I declined the smaller addons even though he tried to change my mind 3 or 4 times with each addon. By the time he got to the expensive M&E coverage, both my wife and I could see he wasn't especially happy with the way things were going. [Perhaps he isn't accustomed to running into brick walls?] Anyway, he spent a solid 8 minutes trying everything in the book to get me to crack and sign up for the very expensive coverage.
Finally, in desperation, he offered me the 'employee discount of $2775.00' that no one can refuse! I hadn't been expecting the discount, so I felt a tug of temptation to take him up on the 'special' discount. He must have seen the momentary weakness in my eyes because he fired salvo after salvo of 'what ifs' and 'whys' at me to get me to capitulate. That's when I pulled out my trump card and looked over at my silent wife to complain to her <in Mandarin Chinese!> how irritating this vampire was, and that I wished he'd just take "NO!" for an answer. She answered back with a very supportive reply that proved she was with me 100%. And that's all it took...He couldn't understand nor compete with our private conversation. He knew he had lost the battle, so he moved on to the signing of documents with only a hint of exasperation in his voice.
I hated that experience. I know I squirmed in my seat during part of the process. I also know it's the finance manager's job to browbeat/con/coerce suckers like me to pay for very lucrative addons, and I know he's good at that, and that he doesn't lose very often. If he lost all the time, he'd be replaced.
So...What vampire experiences have you put up with in the finance manager's office? I'm genuinely interested to learn from others now that I survived unscathed.
Michael
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While I do fee bad, I can't blame myself too much. How often do I buy a car? Once every 6 to 12+ years. I simply don't pay much attention to yearly sales gimmicks. 
). When we started the process with Costco, they informed us there was not a single Toyota dealer in the greater Albuquerque/Santa Fe area that was participating in the Costco sales program. I would have to go to Roswell, NM. Ya, no thanks.
