Yesterday I went mini van shopping... by myself!
I did some research online (Andy helped too) and headed out to a dealership in the suburbs. So far so good. I was feeling confident and things were going well. I test drove a few vehicles and picked out the model I liked best. Still good. I was ready to buy.
Then the salesman who was working with me slipped on the ice and broke his arm. (I was sitting in the warm dealership... did I mention the zero degree weather?) He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
For whatever reason, things were moving slowly. I had been at the dealership for four or five hours already (next time I shop for cars I will bring a book to read). The sales staff were bringing around trays of Christmas cookies every hour or so... for survival. I ate far too many... but it was all I had.
Another salesman was deployed to assist me. I decided to purchase the van, but I needed to get a cashier's check from the bank. No problem, the nice salesman would drive me to the bank. The bank was about two miles away, and the salesman not only took the long route, but he got totally lost and I ended up taking over as navigator giving him turn-by-turn instructions using a poorly printed tiny map from the internet. The van was also on E... no gas.
We finally made it to the bank...half and hour later. Mr. Salesman dropped me off and went to find a gas station. I went inside to the customer service agent... and discovered that I did not have my ID. You can't get a cashier's check without identification, and I had none. The first salesman took my license to copy it when I first test drove vans... hours ago. I called the dealership. They could not locate the ID. They suspected it was in the pocket of the first salesman who was at a hospital. They did not know which hospital the ambulance took him to, and he was not yet admitted, so the hospitals they called could not tell if he was even there. Closing time at the bank was quickly approaching.
(This was like an episode of Seinfield or something... without the laugh track.)
I helped myself to a cup of hot chocolate at the bank. I was stranded.
The second salesman came back to the bank to pick me up. He couldn't find a gas station. The van was running on fumes.
He did not know his way back. I navigated again.
We had to stop for gas, the van was starting to gasp for gas. Luckily a gas station was nearby.
Back at the dealership finally, I sat and waited forever for whatever. I had been positive and humorous for eight hours... and I had reached my limit. Because I couldn't get the check, they wanted me to finance the car (which we didn't want to do). It was all getting to be too much, so I said, "I just want to go home." They thought this sale was in the bag, so they had transferred the plates from our car to the van... and the van was at the gas station getting topped off. So I waited some more.
Mr. Salesman sheepishly brought me two mugs... as souvenirs or whatever. Thanks so much.
I was starving at this point. I had been surviving all day on cookies, pretzels, and water... not enough for a fully pregnant mama!
The plates came back to the dealership with the van, I had them switched back to our car, and I drove home via heavy traffic on the highway.
My license is still at the dealership... so I guess we have to go back.
I did some research online (Andy helped too) and headed out to a dealership in the suburbs. So far so good. I was feeling confident and things were going well. I test drove a few vehicles and picked out the model I liked best. Still good. I was ready to buy.
Then the salesman who was working with me slipped on the ice and broke his arm. (I was sitting in the warm dealership... did I mention the zero degree weather?) He had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance.
For whatever reason, things were moving slowly. I had been at the dealership for four or five hours already (next time I shop for cars I will bring a book to read). The sales staff were bringing around trays of Christmas cookies every hour or so... for survival. I ate far too many... but it was all I had.
Another salesman was deployed to assist me. I decided to purchase the van, but I needed to get a cashier's check from the bank. No problem, the nice salesman would drive me to the bank. The bank was about two miles away, and the salesman not only took the long route, but he got totally lost and I ended up taking over as navigator giving him turn-by-turn instructions using a poorly printed tiny map from the internet. The van was also on E... no gas.
We finally made it to the bank...half and hour later. Mr. Salesman dropped me off and went to find a gas station. I went inside to the customer service agent... and discovered that I did not have my ID. You can't get a cashier's check without identification, and I had none. The first salesman took my license to copy it when I first test drove vans... hours ago. I called the dealership. They could not locate the ID. They suspected it was in the pocket of the first salesman who was at a hospital. They did not know which hospital the ambulance took him to, and he was not yet admitted, so the hospitals they called could not tell if he was even there. Closing time at the bank was quickly approaching.
(This was like an episode of Seinfield or something... without the laugh track.)
I helped myself to a cup of hot chocolate at the bank. I was stranded.
The second salesman came back to the bank to pick me up. He couldn't find a gas station. The van was running on fumes.
He did not know his way back. I navigated again.
We had to stop for gas, the van was starting to gasp for gas. Luckily a gas station was nearby.
Back at the dealership finally, I sat and waited forever for whatever. I had been positive and humorous for eight hours... and I had reached my limit. Because I couldn't get the check, they wanted me to finance the car (which we didn't want to do). It was all getting to be too much, so I said, "I just want to go home." They thought this sale was in the bag, so they had transferred the plates from our car to the van... and the van was at the gas station getting topped off. So I waited some more.
Mr. Salesman sheepishly brought me two mugs... as souvenirs or whatever. Thanks so much.
I was starving at this point. I had been surviving all day on cookies, pretzels, and water... not enough for a fully pregnant mama!
The plates came back to the dealership with the van, I had them switched back to our car, and I drove home via heavy traffic on the highway.
My license is still at the dealership... so I guess we have to go back.
1 comments:
That sounds EXACTLY like an episode of Seinfeld.
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