When my trusty 1999 Nissan Pathfinder's transmission crapped out a couple of months ago (with 146K miles on it!), I knew I had waited just a bit too long to buy a new car. After spending over 2 grand to get it fixed, I ramped up my search before something else went wrong. (Are the brakes going? Is that awful noise coming from the rear shocks? Is that gasoline I smell?) But what exactly did I want to buy? I had no idea. I'm not a gearhead, so I wasn't looking for anything flashy. I like my 4x4 (the higher driving position, interior space, adverse weather handling), but I didn't want a huge hulking behemoth with low gas mileage. And I'm not a millionaire, so I needed something affordable and reliable. Most of all, I had to fit in the driver's seat comfortably (not a gimmie when you're 6'4"). So what would give me biggest bang for my buck?
I first thought about getting another Nissan, but I just don't like their current offerings; the new Pathfinder is way too big for me and the XTerra is not good on gas. I couldn't in my right mind plunk down my hard-earned cash on a Ford or Chevy, I'm not impressed with Hyundai, Jeep or Mazda's SUVs, and Saturn doesn't really sell anything I like. Honda seemed to be a logical choice, and the redesigned '07 CRV is nice, and even the boxy Element had grown on me. I was all set to test drive the two and eventually planned on purchasing the one I liked more. How I ended up with a 2007 Toyota RAV4 is anyone's guess.
I've never even considered buying a Toyota before; I've never even walked into one of their showrooms. Their salespeople have a reputation of being "uppity", with less haggle room and more pressure to make you buy a car with unnecessary options. And quite frankly most of their cars just don't excite me (TTAC would call them "bland"), and their SUVs just screamed "soccer mom". But I found that I really liked the new RAV4. First of all, they expanded it in every direction in 2006 to make it more roomy (but still smaller than my Pathfinder). Second of all, they offer a V6 engine that also gets great gas mileage. So I walked in there one day for a test drive, and realized that this was a car I really liked.
I loathe the whole car buying process, and can't wait for car salesmen to go the way of the Yugo. My experience with Fockland Toyota (name changed to protect the idiots) made all of my fears a reality. I don't know what's happened since I bought my last car 7 years ago, whether my bullshit threshold has decreased or salespeople have become more devious, but I've never had to put up with as much drama and frustration as I did with these salespeople. Right off the bat, they do their best to overstate the MSRP and undercut your trade-in, just to see if you did your math homework. Fortunately for me (and unfortunately for them) I arrived armed with a fistful of printouts and a target price in mind, so I wasn't falling for it. Though I was considering walking out about 14 times during the ordeal, I figured it was going to be the same no matter where I went. As is their custom, they make you wait, they talk with you about options, you refuse, they make you wait some more, and then they send the manager out to talk with you; it's all a big dumb game. But this general manager was an interesting character: he was as tall as me and built like a truck (Tacoma?), about 300 pounds with a bald head and a no-nonsense attitude. Basically, he was pretty intimidating, but I had to stick to my guns. After our haggling hit a minor impasse, I made them wait for a while I got a cup of coffee (it's only fair). I eventually came back got a deal somewhere between the invoice and sticker prices that I was happy with, and they gave me a more reasonable trade-in price. Afterwards the manager said, "You got a good deal", and when I retorted with, "Come on, you still made plenty of money off of me", he said "Yeah, but not as much as I had hoped to." Ha ha, all in a half an hour's work for this guy.
They began to search other local dealers for the car I wanted, which is harder than it sounds since apparently there aren't that many Base V6 4x4s with minimal options, and they use some byzantine process to "swap" cars between dealerships. In the end, they produced a car in the color I liked (Nautical Blue Metallic--hello, sailor!) and I arranged to pick it up on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, the whole car buying drama was far from over. My preapproved auto loan from CapitalOne came with a "Blank Check", which I'm supposed to make out to the dealer for the amount I wish to finance ("The dealer gets their money in 24 hours! It's like having cash in hand!"). Naturally they refused to accept it, saying that they needed a certified check. They brought in the cavalry to deal with this, but no one would even talk to CapitalOne to confirm my loan status, nor would they wait a week for the check to clear. I assumed that all this nonsense was just a way to force me to finance it through them. I was furious, and without another alternative I put on my jacket and started to leave. The enormous manager reciprocated by blowing up and telling the lady preparing the paperwork to not sell me the car. Since I didn't tell them what rate I was preapproved at (6.35%/48 mo), I figured this was my one bargaining chip; I convinced them that I had a 5.99% rate, and ended up financing through Toyota. In the end I saved myself a couple of bucks a month, but not without a headache.
The bottom line is that I got a good deal, I love the car and I'm happy with my purchase. But I would avoid dealing with Fockland Toyota, if you don't have to. Hopefully (knock on wood) I won't have to go through this nonsense for a long, long time.