#MicroblogMonday: Sleep On It

This weekend, we decided to start shopping around for a new truck. We were in the city and just wanted to look around and get an idea of what we wanted and the cost, but we knew we wouldn't be coming home with a new truck that day.

We drove to one dealership, but literally couldn't find any parking. Josh got mad and said we weren't staying if they couldn't make a parking spot for potential customers. (Over the years, he has gotten very picky about how he expects a business to treat their customers.)

We did a Google search and ended up at a different dealership. I guess I'm just used to my small town because I thought we would walk around the lot and if something caught our eye, we'd go inside and ask about it. We weren't 10 steps away from our car before a salesman came sprinting across the lot to greet us.

I knew we were in for a long day, but I don't think Josh had any idea how a car salesman can be. Its probably because I used to sell real estate and I've never forgotten how pushy my boss could be. We told the guy what we were looking for. He then tried to talk Josh out of what he wanted and into something else. (Big mistake, don't ever try to change Josh's mind.)

We did agree to go inside and let him check the online inventory and see if he could find something for us. While we waited, another salesman came over and again tried to talk Josh out of what he wanted, which is a standard transmission vs. automatic.

In our small town, when we test drive a car, they let us take it home for the night. But when we test drove one at this dealership, we made a small loop down the freeway, with the salesman in the back seat telling us exactly where to go. If we had bought that truck, it would have been the ONLY time it drove on the freeway. Josh would much rather drive on terrain he knows he'll use it in, like dirt roads.

Then we went back to the dealership. Again, Josh stated he wanted a standard transmission. I think they could tell we were about to leave, so they checked with their other lots and found a few. But they were out of our price range. I told them we would have to go home and sleep on it before we could decide. They asked me what it would take to get us out the door, that day, with a new truck. I told them, nothing, we always sleep on big decisions like this.

I have decided that is the one phrase a salesperson does NOT want to hear. They could not take no for an answer. Finally, I threw a number at them that was half the cost on the paper. I knew it was unrealistic, but I needed them to understand that for me to not sleep on it was also unrealistic.

Did it work? No. They brought in a 3rd salesman. His job was to talk us into a lease, even though we had already said we weren't interested in a lease.

Finally, at last we thought we were through. We told them we would go home and sleep on it and decide in a day or two. We got out to our car and were deciding where to go eat lunch when we noticed a FOURTH salesman had followed us to our car! That was the last straw. We were polite, but we will not be going back.

Honestly, I was surprised at how long Josh stayed there. But in the end, he didn't realize that we had been there for hours. I figured since it was his truck, I would follow his lead. I only jumped in when it got down to finances and they couldn't accept our need to think on it for a few days.

But Josh must really want a new truck because we stopped at another place on the way home. But he was more upfront with that salesman. He told him exactly what he wanted and they did have one. We told that salesman the same thing, that we needed to sleep on it. He did ask us once if there was anyway to make a deal that day. We told him no and he accepted that answer. So we'll defiantly keep them in mind.

I guess it boggles my mind that so many people can jump into a decision like that so quickly. We never make a big purchase until we think about it for a few days. Normally, I would have crunched some numbers before hand, but Josh took me by surprise when he said he wanted to look at trucks. I had a ball park figure in my head, but I knew I couldn't commit to something until I really looked at our budget. We haven't had a car loan for over a year now, so I've been using the extra money for tuition. It's going to be hard to give that up.

You can find more of this weeks #MicroblogMondays posts HERE.