Burgundy Not Red

  

 

 

Burgundy Not Red!

    

   Judi, my daughter and I went car shopping.  Her eleven-year old car had given up.  It was time for a change.  Buying a car has always seemed harder than finding the right bathing suit.  I remember sitting through lengthy time consuming sessions with salesmen, in Ohio, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and New York, it was always the same.  Erv and I wandered around a showroom or a lot and picked the car we loved at first sight, took the car for a test drive. Then I believe the salesman rubbed his hands together (behind our backs) and invited us into his office.  The show began! The last car my beloved and I bought was the Camry in 2005.  It was a lengthy ordeal then, things have not changed a bit.

     This used car salesman plied Judi and I with cold drinks, or hot, bits of chocolate, dark chocolate I could not resist, and finally the itinerary to the rest room.  I remembered my husband’s tried and true technique.  “I do not have that kind of money”, I smiled sweetly, “consider this figure please”.   He retorted, “We would lose money, this is how much the car cost us, impossible! You can finance the car”.  I replied,  “I don’t want to…isn’t there a person you can discuss this with, over there?”  I pointed to the front of the showroom.  “Oh, oh yes, pardon me a moment, would you like another piece of chocolate?”  We were happy to nibble, it was past dinnertime.

     He came back and with a wide smile, “He will split the difference with you!”  A small victory, I was prepared to walk out, Judi was with me, then I felt her sense of disappointment, I told myself not to quibble anymore.  I recalled the feeling when Erv and I shopped cars. I hated the ordeal and wanted that car now!  I made the deal.

     But we were not finished; the paper work was long and tedious, another hour. It would have been easier if we had financed the car. The dealer preferred it that way.  When we were sent to the bookkeeper-closer we ran into more trouble.  He offered a warranty below what the salesman had promised.  We could not let our defenses down for a moment.  The sales force and we had different agendas, to put it politely.  We insisted that he check out our differences, he came back with apologies and a long story about having worked for a different company with different guidelines. My patience disappeared,  “I am not interested in that company let’s wind this up.”  He behaved.  Judi has her beautiful burgundy car. Please do not call it red. The process had taken three hours; I did not ride in the car until we took it home.  Judi had driven it earlier.   The joy on her face when she settled into the driver’s seat was worth the extra dollars.