Car Buying: Know When to Walk Away

I think my friendly local Toyota salesman and I were trying to wait each other out. He sent me an email on Friday that said he had someone else interested in the truck and I should come down and see him.

I suppose that was designed to kick start me and make me pony up an extra $1100 for the “spare tires” that he lied to me about. The ones he said “No problem, we can swap the tires out for a small upgrade” and then proceeded to quote me full retail price and suggested that the other tires I specifically ordered the vehicle without, should be considered an “extra set”.

So we went down and after he realized I wasn’t caving he got incredibly whiny. He then made a bit of a mistake and said they only build the Access Cab Off Road Package with another brand of tires….. which says (obviously) that it’s NOT impossible to build me a Tacoma from the factory without Dunlop tires. It’s not swapping out parts, it’s putting a different set of tires on it before shipping.

When I said that he could let this truck go to his other buyers and I would wait for the one I ordered and is due in November, his shoulders visibly sagged. I’m no lie detector, but that body language told me that either “he” doesn’t actually have another buyer… or that one of his colleagues does. Either way, it read that he had lost a relatively easy and immediate sale. It also meant he would have to do some further work to make the sale with us. I did leave the deposit in place to make sure he does know that I am serious about buying one, but only if it meets the tire issue. We also let him know in no uncertain terms that I was in no way desperate to have a vehicle this instant and that there “are” other dealerships in Vancouver.

That was Saturday. I imagine we will hear from him in the next day or two.

In the meantime… I am going to (possibly) test drive, and who knows…maybe even buy, a different vehicle today. One that I probably won’t get a ton of use out of between now and Spring, but I don’t care…I like it and it’s a sensible little thing for getting around the North Shore and downtown without using too much fuel and creating a lot of emissions. I’m going to look at a scooter!

I’ve been toying with the idea since about 2000 when we rented them in Hawaii and I discovered that I actually found them incredibly fun. Both trips to Greece involved scooter rentals and they are simply a wonderful way to get around in the city. Yes, the rains have arrived, and yes, I am a fair weather scooter-er… so if I do get one it will likely be a bit lonely for a few months. But there are nice sunny dry fall days that it would see the light.

I have always thought Vespas were cute, and then I discovered that Peugeot has brought their scooters to Canada, and then when I was poking around online at two local dealerships I found one that had a higher speed rating (it’s all about power!) and forwarded it to Kirk. He said he was giggling all day because apparently I have, in my complete ignorance of motorcycle manufacturers) chosen the Ferrari of scooters. Apparently, Aprilia (which I can never quite manage to remember because it sounds too much like Aspergillus plus sasparilla …. yes, if I get this scooter I will be thinking of it as a root beer flavoured bread mould) is a famous brand for racing bikes.

And it’s red, therefore it’s faster!