Car Shopping - not fun!

My least favorite thing to do in the world is to shop for a car! But you will do absolutely anything for your child!

The weekend began with the return of my daughter's leased vehicle - a Jeep Commander - very large, very expensive, filled with every bell-and-whistle and getting 12 miles per gallon. Don't get me wrong, the Jeep got her through several terrible snow storms this year and last, but it would be an expensive vehicle to keep both in gas and upkeep, so she turned it in.

This time she would purchase car. The pain and suffering of that purchase looks alot like this ...

• Our salesman started out like a caricature of every car sales man you have ever seen on TV. My daughter and I had an appointment to meet with a salesman and the moment we walked into the show room he greets us with "And there is the lovely Kristin and her sister." I stopped him short with a withering look and he did improve a bit after he dropped the car salesmen charade.
• Nailing down the cost of the car always feels like the shell game at a sleazy carnival. There is the cost of the car listed in inventory, and then there is the cost posted on the car, (hopefully the same, but ... ) and then there is the cost less the factory allowance and then there is the cost with dealer profit and then there is the fantasy that negotiation is even possible. Why do you never feel like you got a "good deal".
• And there is always the "unseen" manager who the salesman consults with in between conversations with the perspective customer. Is that a real person or just a blow up doll staged behind a desk somewhere?
• And there is the talk with the customer service person to describe all the extra things you can get to protect, to enhance, to improve your car so that you prevent all sorts of terrible situations that might/can/will happen if you don't purchase these extras to the tune of up to $2,000 beyond the agreed upon price.
• And then there is the talk with the finance person who tries to sell you their financing and takes a second shot at you to include the "protection, enhancements, and improvements" in the cost of financing - "See this will raise your payment only $$ per month, and this other thing will also add on $$ much per month more and then ....." ).

Well we survived and when all was said and done, our experience went fairly smoothly - it only took 3 hours from start to finish and it resulted in this car.

A 2011 Subaru Legacy - in Pearl White.

And a smile on my daughter's face.

The Milo inspection.