Buying a new car

I have just bought a new car.  It's a very nice new car.  It's a brand new car and I will be getting it on 1st march 2017.  I am not going to rant about my new car.  As I say, my new car is very nice.  I am going to rant about the process of buying a new car.

Sooooo, I phone the car salesroom and it takes absolutely ages for anyone to answer the phone.  (When I worked as a receptionist I had to answer the phone within 3 rings - otherwise I probably would have been sacked!)  Then I have to wait for ages while I'm being transferred to the sales department.....................

.................The conversation goes a bit like this.

Me:  'I'd like to buy a new car (and I state the make and model I want).  Just wondered what the best deal is that you have for that?'

Salesperson - 'You want a brand new car?'

Me - 'Yes, Can I come in and discuss the cost and perhaps have a test drive?'

Salesperson - 'If you give me your phone number, I'll call you back in 5 mins.  I just have to go and check that we have one in stock for you to test drive.'

5 mins later salesperson phones back...........................

Salesperson:  'We haven't got the model you want in our showroom but if you want to pop in we can run through some price plans.'

Me - 'OK, what's the starting price of a new model?'  (I have a vague idea of how much a new car is going to cost.)

Salesperson - 'When would you like to come in?'

Me - 'About 2-ish tomorrow afternoon.'

Salesperson - 'Yes, that will be fine.'

So at the appointed time I show up at the salesroom and tell the young receptionist (who looks very presentable in her up-to-the-date fashionable clothes and overly made up face) that I have an appointment to see 'D'.  I'm told he's with a customer and I should go and sit in the waiting area and grab myself a free coffee.  So I grab myself a free coffee and I wait and I wait and I wait.  And I think, I've got better things to be doing than this and may be I should just buy another make of car.  And also; why does everyone think that 'grabbing a coffee' is going to solve the problem of an appointment being delayed?  I would have rather the salesman had met me at the appointed time.  I didn't actually need to grab myself a coffee, I didn't actually want a coffee, and I only grabbed a free coffee because I had nothing better to do.  Oh and I also connected to their free wifi.  But did I need to connect to their free wifi?  I did not.  I would rather have had the salesperson meet me at the appointed time.

Anyway after half an hour, salesperson appeared.  Conversation below ensured:

Salesperson: 'Hi I'm D.  D looks about 12 years old.  You want to buy a new car?'

Me: 'Yes'

Salesperson:  'A brand new car, straight from the factory?'

Me: 'Yes'.

Salesperson: 'OK, if you just wait here a minute I've just got to check on something.'

5 mins pass and by now I've finished my coffee, finished looking at every imaginable thing I can think of to look at on my phone with my free wifi and am just thinking about calling it a day and leaving when '12 year old' reappears.

Salesperson: - 'I'm going to leave you in the capable hands of M because I've never, ever done a sale straight from the factory.'

Me: 'OK'

New salesperson is about my age.  Thank goodness I think.  Unfortunately new salesperson is not very computer savy.  I tell him what I want to know........................ which is basically just how much is the make and model of the new car?  He frantically taps stuff into a computer which doesn't give him the information he needs so he constantly leaves me sitting there like a lemon while he goes off to 'check things'.  This process goes on for more than an hour.  And this is what I need to rant about.  Why does a salesperson not know how much a car costs?  It's a brand new car.  It must come out of the factory at X amount of money and then surely you just pay a bit extra for whatever 'extras' you're adding to it.

Apparently not - There wasn't a box on the computer data base to key in the make and model I wanted.  'Why not' I asked................  The answer was it was a new model and because it won't be registered until the 1st March it won't be on the computer till then.  I'm not sure I believe that but hey ho.

Anyway after about an hour and a half we eventually decide on a price but salesperson said he could only give me £2000 as a trade in price.  I ask if that is the most he can give me and after he's left me sitting alone AGAIN he eventually returns and says that is the best price he can do.  I say I'm off home to think about it and will call him the following afternoon......................  Well you have to keep these salespeople waiting don't you?

About a minute after 12 noon the following day, salesperson phones me.  I'm annoyed because I had said that I would phone him so I tell him I'm still thinking about it and ask him a lot of stupid questions about optional extras and cover and other such stuff that I've already made up my mind that I don't want.  Then I ask him if the £2000 trade in price is still the best he can do for me...................  And miraculously it is upped to £2300???

Seriously annoyed about this.  Well, obviously I'm not annoyed that I'm going to be £300 richer. Why is everything such a fight?  If he'd agreed to this the day before, I might have signed on the dotted line straight away.

Everything these days just seems such a struggle.  There's no incentive for anyone to be loyal to any one particular company or business. 

And then, even when I popped down to the salesroom and said that I wanted to go ahead, it still took more than an hour to pay a deposit.  The deposit was supposed to be £300 and then all of a sudden when I agreed that I wanted to buy the car,  the deposit jumped to £1000???  So that involved salesperson going off and leaving me alone AGAIN to check more things???

.......................I'm getting a bit fed up of ranting now.........................

End result - I've paid a £300 deposit, I've got a reasonable trade in price for my old car, and on the 1st March 2017, I'll be getting a brand new shiny car.  Yay!!!