Car Shopping.... Sigh...

I guess the title says it all.... We're car shopping. I'm not completely ecstatic about it. We knew my car was going to start costing money to keep running and planned to replace it.... NEXT year. Two weeks ago we had my car in the shop to replace an O2 sensor. Once fixed, they did an oil change and rotated my tires. While my tires were off they discovered a few other items that should be repaired SOON. Not optional... not down the road.... needs to be repaired SOON. Like lots of money SOON. We decided to start looking early.

Since I knew we weren't planning on car shopping for another year at the least, I was in shock trying to figure out what to look at. Do I want a crossover... wagon.... same sized car as I have now.... a little bigger.... a Hummer (JUST KIDDING)..... What was our price range? Where can we get the best loan rate??? And..............OH MY GOD WE'RE GONNA HAVE ANOTHER CAR PAYMENT!!! The first week of this realization was quite stressful. I called my mom almost every day that week after work to talk out whatever realization or idea I had that day.

We decided to test drive a Mazda3 last Friday because they were surprisingly in our price range. It was a NICE car. So far its top on my list of what I want. I got the name of the sales guy from my friend who had used him to buy her Mazda6 a year or so ago. He was so laid back, nice, informative and not pushy at all. He totally listened to us when we said we were at the beginning of our search and that we weren't planning on buying for another month because we wanted to research all options. Even though its been a week, he's only emailed and called twice to see if he could help us in anyway. So far.... he's awesome in my book.


Monday.... oh Monday.... Monday we wanted to go LOOK at the Chevy Cruze. I wasn't sold on me even liking it enough to test drive it. We decided we would go LOOK at it and then test drive it if I liked it enough. I had a name of a sales guy to ask for if we wanted to move beyond looking at it. My dad had given us a name of his sales guy that he's used for the last 8 vehicles him and my step mother have bought over the years.

We got to the car lot and parked. The showroom was dark. We wandered around the side and found a bunch of employees hanging around outside smoking and talking. Apparently the showroom was under construction. We said we wanted to LOOK at a Chevy Cruze. They pointed us in the direction of where the cars were. As we walked away.... a guy jumped on us. Well not literally... but his energy just said... YOU'RE MINE. You could tell he was new, nervous and fresh. Thankfully he gave us privacy to look at the cars. BUT as soon as I said, "I'd test drive this" he came running up to get my license. He was gone for 20min getting the key and tags. We would have left but he had my license!!!

We test drove it....it was nice. Not as nice as the Mazda3 but if it came down to budget later I could drive it. During the drive we told him the same thing we told the guy from Mazda. We're not buying now... in a month.... we're doing research. When we got back he offered us a brochure. I felt like we were in a Hansel and Gretel story. FOLLOW ME..... THIS WAY.... To the trailer.... I'll get you a brochure..... We followed him into the trap.

Once inside he introduced us to his Sales Manager, then sat us down at a desk and offered water. In my head I had all sorts of RED FLAGS going off. He left to get a brochure and the Sales Manager sat down. He asked us how long our time frame was, WHY and all sort of "none of your business" questions. His energy was pushy and I did not like him one bit. He then offered to get us price on the car we drove. Kevin said, "We are not buying tonight". The Sales Manager offered again saying, "It may help speed up your decision". Kevin said, "We are not buying tonight". AND THEN he offered a third time being even more pushy. Thankfully the guy had come back with the brochure. We took it and walked out. We WON'T be going back and the Cruze has been crossed off the list.

When we walked out of there we felt violated. It felt like we were on a first date and they were trying to go all the way after we had said NO several times. They didn't care about what we wanted, he wasn't trying to help us make a decision.... they were only out to satisfy themselves.

So that's where we are right now.... going to test drive two other vehicles this weekend and then come up with a plan... My mood over the whole thing is growing from shocked to excited. Stay tuned....