It’s almost time; it has been 8 years.  My car has almost 190,000 miles on it, the A/C has decided that it no longer wants to allow my car to run while it is on, and the paint is starting to chip.  I don’t care much about cars or what I’m driving, so I drive them until they are dying or dead.  The last time I bought a car, I had my old car towed a block away from the dealership, then drove it on to the lot because it was no longer able to make the entire 10 mile journey. I don’t want to be in that position again so I’ve come to the conclusion that this is far enough for my current car.

This is a horrible process. Since I don’t care about cars, it was really hard to narrow it down to the one I want. My original list was many, many cars long. My only real stipulation was that I wanted a hatch back…do you know how many cars come with a hatchback? I went for a test drive at one dealership and the salesman asked me what other cars I was looking at. When I gave him my list, he looked really puzzled and asked “What do these have in common?”  This same salesman thought he was going to sell me on the awesome back-up camera. He told me to back the car between two others and look only at the screen.  What the heck do those lines mean?  Am I about to hit the car behind me?  I hate going in reverse and avoid it at all costs.  I would rather parallel park on a busy city street than go in reverse for 5 feet.  Needless to say, this did nothing to sell me on the car and nearly caused a panic attack.

This is what I have been encountering over and over; salesmen who don’t listen.  I thought that just maybe in the past 8 years it had gotten better with all the women-friendly dealers and such, but I was mistaken. There was also the guy who told me there was no way I wanted the model that I was asking about because I would miss all the “creature comforts” of the next level up.  “No, everything I want comes standard,” I told him. He proceeded to insist that he knew that I wanted the heated seat warmers and power seats. I haven’t adjusted my seat in years, so why would I care if it is power?  He told me he was sorry and that he just didn’t have anything that basic on the lot (for context I am talking about a car with a base price above $20,000 – not a basic car to begin with). “Well then, I can just order it,” to which he replied: “but you won’t get as good a deal.” My final words: “Then I can just order it through the dealership that will give me as good a deal.”

I know sales is an art or whatever, but I’m starting to get so frustrated I may just keep driving my old car. 

Has anyone recently had a good experience buying a car that can recommend a great place in St. Louis for me to check out?

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Melissa Jensen

Melissa is a native of the Greater St. Louis region. She is addicted to anything Google, and cannot understand why motion activated paper towel dispensers never see her hands.

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