The Old School Lunch

You know car-shopping does not get off on the right foot when, after you sit down with the car salesperson, you’re kicked out of your seat/table you were sitting at because some other high-ranking salesperson had some large family with kids who also needed to use the table.

But anyways, the co-worker friend who was doing the car buying was pretty set on what car he wanted and how much he was going to pay (in cash) so I thought this was going to actually be not that bad.

At the first stop, we encountered Booger who at first we thought was a mechanic or a detail person. Turns out he also sells (sort of) and so he got us straight to the model of car my friend was looking for. One wrong color later, we’re driving to the other Toyota lot a block down the street to where we encounter the right car (though used, but certified) at which point Booger goes out of his way to point out some of the more complicated features of the automobile (”here’s the stereo. Good sound, huh? Here’s the defrost control, the emergency light button, the CD player…”). After a cramped ride int he back, the pointless haggling begins. Well, turns out Booger doesn’t even call the shots so at 2 minute intervals, he had to run over to some sour looking middle-aged turd who kept saying “No” and then “NO!” and even at one point throwing in “Alright, you’re not interested in buying a car today. Goodbye.” And of course, during about 3 points when we were walking away from the table Boog (with some direction by his boss, I imagine) comes running after us trying to negotiate (”I don’t like to lose a deal! Don’t worry about my boss. I don’t like him, nobody like him!”). Booger shows us around to almost everything else in the lot and strangely tells us about how he doesn’t want to sell us a new car because they wont make any commission on it (”i’ll get about $40 bucks! That’s crazy!”) whereas with a used car, he rakes in $1000. We then go back to the original (nicer) lot with Booger and while I munch on some Chili Cheese Fritos, he hands off my friend to the new Salesman and they go to the “Scion station” and get down to business. Now this guy knew how to sell cars because, shock of the cenutry, he actually was diplomatic and articulate and came off completely unconcerned about moving products or making a commission (he even sympathized with our experience with the Asshole and said “that’s why he’s exiled to that car lot,” ha!). Long story short, friend makes a deal for the new Scion tC which ends up being cheaper with much less mileage than the certified used at the other lot which came with 33,000 already on it.

The lesson learned: The Scion xB actually looks a lot better in person.