do car dealerships provide ANY benefit? beyond the obvious vile parasitic cancerous treacherous bull**** that is their day-to-day evil?

[TradeTheBeal!]

Definitely take your car to shady little grease monkey operations.  That way they can sublet the work to us (cause we know how to do it and have the tools) and we don’t have to deal with you.

[China]

6 hours ago, mcsluggo said:

 i literally laughed out loud picturing my 5'11 daughter trying to squeeze into that "third row" for a drive to in-laws in kentucky.     

 

 

Maybe if you took out the car seat she'd fit better.  

[Ball Security]

8 hours ago, mcsluggo said:

i love minivans.    I also looked at the Toyota highlander-hybrid  which is supposed to be the 3 row SUV equivalent... i literally laughed out loud picturing my 5'11 daughter trying to squeeze into that "third row" for a drive to in-laws in kentucky.     

 

Does your daughter hoop or play volleyball?

[Forehead]

Pretty much the same general opinion.  Two cars ago, I did all the research and spent hours arguing with the dealer.  Even pulled my phone up to various websites that explained the fees and why most of them were bull****.  And this was over a new car (but previous year's model) to they were trying to get rid of.

 

Last car, my wife and I drove out to West Virginia and bought a car from Capt. Kaos (rip) which was much more pleasant, since we were friends, they had a car we wanted, and he basically told the finance lady to just get the papers signed and not waste our time trying to sell us nitrogen tires and other ****.  Much more pleasant.

 

We'll probably wind up doing the CarMax route or maybe look into the Costco auto program next time.  We might pay extra but the lack of aggravation has to be worth something.

Edited February 29 by Forehead

[mcsluggo]

13 hours ago, Ball Security said:

Does your daughter hoop or play volleyball?

sadly...nope. 

[mcsluggo]

10 hours ago, Forehead said:

Pretty much the same general opinion.  Two cars ago, I did all the research and spent hours arguing with the dealer.  Even pulled my phone up to various websites that explained the fees and why most of them were bull****.  And this was over a new car (but precious year's model) to they were trying to get rid of.

 

Last car, my wife and I drove out to West Virginia and bought a car from Capt. Kaos (rip) which was much more pleasant, since we were friends, they had a car we wanted, and he basically told the finance lady to just get the papers signed and not waste our time trying to sell us nitrogen tires and other ****.  Much more pleasant.

 

We'll probably wind up doing the CarMax route or maybe look into the Costco auto program next time.  We might pay extra but the lack of aggravation has to be worth something.

 

has anyone tried the Costco or Consumer Reports buying system?

 

I would love to hear how they have worked out?

 

they both require you to give out your phone number, and i've been wondering whether it is worth my time to buy a burner cell phone just to stay off the permanent caller list of every car lot within 100 miles of my house?

[TradeTheBeal!]

Oh yeah, crafting an alternate identity and hiring a surrogate buyer’s service is definitely the path to a satisfying purchase.  

 

We have reached the highly comedic “Why are men afraid to ask for driving directions?” Stage of the self-flaggellation.  Meanwhile, 400000+ confident and courteous men and women everyday find the inner fortitude to purchase a new car in the United States and then move on with their lives.

[gbear]

I have gone the dealer route twice since 2006.  First time, my wife had a honda civic with 50k miles, but it was always in the shop.  I had a civic with 218k,  Which car to replace?  My answer was both.  I wrote 4 dealers offering to buy a minivan and commuter car in cash.  I made an offer and said when a dealer needs to make a quota to give me a call.  At the end of the month, we bought a corolla and sienna for what I had written, but we defintiely lost money on the trade ins because I didn;t want to deal and hadn't done my home work.. 

 

Then in 2018, we wanted a new car as our corolla had 228k miles on it.  We got a honda accord hybrid,  We did the same thing but wen the car max route to trade in.  I will do the same next time.  Write one email to multiple dealerships where they can all see the offer.  It seems to work.