Sales Weasels

We recently entertained the thought of trading in the Smootmobile for a new model, since our car is less than two years old and I've already managed to put over 60,000 miles on it (I've driven it through 46 states since buying it on 7/7/07).

I stopped by the dealership one morning to get a sense of whether it would be feasible to trade it in while it was still in very good condition. You'll be surprised to learn that the people at the dealership thought it was a wonderful idea -- of course it was feasible! Much more feasible in their eyes than mine as we ultimately decided, but certainly feasible!

This was one of those experiences that helped me remember how much I just love dealing with sales weasels. These guys will say pretty much anything they can think of that might help close the deal.

I made it extremely clear when I got there that I was just exploring the feasibility of a trade, and the SW (Sales Weasel) was repeatedly trying to jump ahead to the part where I sign a bunch of papers and drive the car off the lot:

ME: I am just interested in seeing the difference in payments if we were to trade my car in for a new model.

SW: What color car are you thinking of?

ME: I'm not thinking of a color; I am thinking about comparing the difference in the payments.

SW: What would I need to do to get you to drive this baby off the lot today?

ME: I'm not considering buying a car today; I am simply trying to find out how much more it would cost to trade to a new one.

SW: How about red? I have a couple red ones in stock!

ME: I'd just like to know whether it's worth looking into a new car, or if we should keep the old one.

SW: Do you want the extended warranty with this one? How about leather seats? This one has bluetooth! Just sign this, this, this and this!

ME: (KABOOOOM! -- That's the sound of my head exploding all over his carpet.)

SW: I'll talk to the manager and see if he can dream up some random numbers.

So needless to say, we have opted to stick with the Smootmobile, possibly until eternity.