You've Got the Wrong Fish!

My Prius, which I've had since 2008, made a funny noise last week.  That's all it took to make me decide I needed a new car.  Well, that and it had 75,000 miles on it, and my kids like the idea of my keeping a newer car.

I have enjoyed my Prius very much--felt very smug getting that fantastic gas mileage.  So I headed for the local Prius dealership which shall remain nameless.  (Starts with a "V".)  I wanted to begin by just getting an idea how much a new vehicle would cost, how much mine was worth as a trade-in, and how much a lease might be.  Ridiculous idea.  That doesn't happen in a reasonable time.  You've got to go through all this foolishness first.

I can't remember how in the world this older salesman killed 2 hours, but he did.  For instance, he couldn't just look on his computer to see if they had the vehicle I wanted.  We had to go drive around the back lot and look.  They didn't have what I wanted, so I just picked out the closest thing and asked for some figures.  Then he was gone forever having my car appraised.  Really?  At the dealership where it has always been serviced?

Now what he didn't know is that Ken Mitchell is my faithful car consultant.  He traded his Prius (same model as mine) in this year, and he told me how much his trade figure was.  So...this little lady would recognize a fair ballpark figure--or an unfair one as it turns out.

After my reaching the point of complete exasperation, Mr. Salesman finally came back with some figures.  The sales price to me for a car with fewer features than Ken's was $13,500 more than Ken's!  I was completely flabbergasted and said, "Does that include some kind of financing, or did you not take into account my trade-in?"  He stuttered around a bit and then said no, that it was kind of like fishing--you just throw out the bait and see if it will be taken.

So...this fish does have a new car.  It is a shiny black Infiniti G25.  It has everything I required, that being: Number 1--keyless ignition so I don't have to dig in my purse for my key.  And at Number 2-- a back up camera because nothing behind me is safe when I'm in reverse.  Let's not talk about gas mileage, o.k.?

I'll show you a picture of it tomorrow.

I like the back.......

I like the front.......

I love the clock.....