today marks a milestone in my life. after twelve years driving the same faithful toyota camry, i now have a new car registered to my name. a toyota corolla - very practical, but very new.
i'm not sure what possessed me to look at the new cars at toyota. curiosity, i suppose. when my mom heard that i had been looking at cars by myself she reprimanded me, ay no. you need to go with a man!
though i felt her comments sexist, i also felt unprepared to negotiate the purchase of a car by myself. i therefore enlisted the help of my dad, who boasts more than two decades experience in sales. not car sales, but sales nonetheless.
our toyota salesman, dustin, a UCLA graduate in sociology, was about the same age as my younger brother, maybe 23 years old. he assured us that he wanted us to get the best deal possible, ran a credit check on me, and proposed a price for the model i chose. my dad promptly offered him $2000 less. dustin looked at once worried and distressed, doubtful that he could make that price work for us, but nonetheless went to see the manager.
the manager, a tall man with thinning hair and an english accent, accompanied dustin back to where my dad and i were sitting. he also appeared worried and distressed, showed us the list price of the car and beseeching us to understand that he needed to make a profit. they couldn't just give their cars away for free! they had to keep the lights on in the dealership, the air conditioning running on these hot bakersfield summer days. my dad, having noticed the plasma TV screens on the walls and the new construction in the building, told the manager he knew that dealerships received kickbacks for a number of vehicles sold, etc.
they went back and forth a bit. there were counteroffers, dramatic pauses, retreats for discussion on both of our parts. dustin peppered his sales pitch with phrases like, this is one of the most honest dealership i've worked for... you're going to get a good deal here... come on. let me make at least fifty dollars on this car... you're beating me up.
all of these phrases would have elicited sympathy from me. i didn't want to be unreasonable and all the haggling - which lasted HOURS - left me with a dull headache and elevated blood pressure. fortunately, seeing through the theatrical aspects of the sales process, my dad was all business. in the end, my dad negotiated an acceptable deal and a i drove off into the sunset, well, onto northbound 99 anyway, in my brand spankin' new car.
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