So, we headed to the Stevens Creek area where we had been told there were tons of dealerships... and that was true!
In our country if you want to buy a car (or any other thing) you go to the dealership (or any other store), ask for the price and if the price is right you go ahead and buy it.
Well, here we thought it worked this way... and usually it does except when you are buying a car.
If you plan to buy a car give yourself plenty of time as you are going to spend between one and two hours in any dealership you want to visit.
Our first visit was Ford, we used to own a Ford Focus which we loved, so we went there, the salesman kindly welcomed us and when we said we were thinking of getting a Focus he immidiately asked us for the driving license and said we had to test it. Ok, well, we only want to know the price... no, they don't tell you the price unless you test it. So we tested it, now give us the price... no, they need to run your credit score, well we don't have any we just got here 2 weeks ago... they need to do it anyway... after that he writes some numbers in a paper napkin and gives it to us, there there is the price if we buy it and also if we lease it, and he asks my husband to sign the paper napkin to prove he gave us the price. The moment my husband signs the paper napkin, the salesman stands up and shakes my husband hand saying "Congratulations, you just bought a car". Whaaaattt? We just signed a paper napkin, it's the first car we have seen and we are not sure we even want to buy it. So I tried to argue with the man and I go like, "no, it's impossible, this napkin is not an official document... you are telling me that I just bought this car?" So the man gets very angry and goes to reach his boss, who comes very politely and tells us that it's ok, that the paper napkin doesn't mean we bought the car, and ask if there is a problem with the price and that he can give us a 500 dolar discount. The heart attack we were having just weakened and we left the place super astonished of the agressivity of the salesman.
The second dealership was Honda, and the experience was similar. We wanted the Honda Civic, and of course he didn't give us the price, we had to test it again which we did, and after testing it we sat with him, ran the credit check, gave us a price and told us to wait for his boss who was with other customers. We hadn't said anything about wanting to buy it, and after about half an hour of wainting, it was late and our 2 year old was hungry and tired we asked him what were we wainting for, and he answer that we were waiting for his boss to sign the purchase papers... so again we were like, well, we are not sure we want to buy it, we have to think about it. He insists about the very good deal he was offering and of course the deal had an expiration date of guess what... today! Well we left the place and said we'll think about it.
Next day we went to Mazda and there is where we bought our car, the salesman was less agressive, he gave us time to think and didn't press us, of course we had to test the car before getting a price, but once tested and the credit check run he did not expect us buying the car the second after.
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| Our new car, straight from the oven! :) |
One recommendation, once they have given you the price, if you are sure you want to get this car, don't accept this first price, try to bargain. In the United States they expect so and you'll probably will get a much better price or some kind of upgrade in the car.
One thing that was really weird to us, is that when you leave the dealership with your brand new car, you don't have license plates!! They arrive to your address by mail! When we realise we were driving without license plates, we went back to the store, we thought they had forgotten, and the seller looked at us with a poker face! :P
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