Did I mention that we bought a new car?

We actually bought it about a month ago. But the experience was so soul sucking that I’m just feeling recovered from it now.

All I remember about buying our last car eleven years ago was how long it took. And now I remember why. Every person we were put in front of was not the decision maker, so each time we asked a question there was a lot of running back and forth to ask a manager. I’m sure this is a psychological sales tactic. I know from reading Robert B. Cialdini’s book, Influence, that car dealerships purposely try tacking on lots of extras after the price of the car is negotiated. After spending so much money on a car, these extras seem like nothing compared to the cost of the car. But after spending so much time buying the car, this tactic had the opposite effect on me. I just wanted to decline everything so we could finally get up and leave.

By the end of four hours we still did not have the keys to our car and had to find the original sales person and ask for them. He took the opportunity to ask us to make sure we filled out his survey with all 10s when it comes. This was the third time he mentioned it.

We had driven to the dealership right after school drop off and if we didn’t leave right then, we would miss school pick up.

When Adam and I left, I was too numb to enjoy the car. My stomach was growling and I felt like a had been in a time warp. We were in too much of a rush to fiddle with all the new features, so the first drive was confusing. As the days passed, we thawed a bit. We figured out the new systems. We appreciated the new acoustic glass, which made for a much quieter ride. We enjoyed the heated seats and heated steering wheel. We started to love the car.

A few weeks later we were driving Adam to work when he turned to me and said with sadness, “I’m so old I probably will only buy another two or three cars in my lifetime.”

I answered back, “Is that such a bad thing?”

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