Saville Gray

And sometimes - four wheels are ok. First time for everything - Rebecca and I bought a new car this weekend! It was a good deal. Volvo c30 - this after many months of looking, and our old car felt like it was just about to kick the bucket. The process of car shopping was painful, we walked out of several dealerships and had a couple deals not materialize. This one, which went down Saturday afternoon, was casebook dealer manipulation - they tried EVERYTHING. From telling us our certified capitol one bank check wasn't usable (they wanted us to finance through them, or lease), to telling us they had faxed forms to verify payment, only to find out they hadn't faxed anything. I was on the phone to Capitol One three times, and without that happening I think they would have let the deal die, and then pressured us to go with them (the dealership, for leasing or financing). They wanted us to be stuck there without our car, without an approved way to pay, and then push us into a lease or their terms which would mean more cash for them. The bullshit thing is, when we called Capitol One, the loan we had from them was instantly cashable at any franchise dealer, so they (the dealer) were lying to us. Which we verified through Capitol One and eventually handed the phone to them to make it stick.

They also tried to get us to sign over our car before we had finalized the Capitol One situation. Didn't work, but SO shady! The lies kept coming, they kept us there 4 hours, and I am still amazed we truly got the deal we went in expecting (we had negotiated Friday night after work and then come back Saturday). They basically wanted to take that deal and then twist it by adding incredible fees for either processing our check or to make us go with their lender. They seemed very unhappy about the deal when we left.

God bless the internet though. For the hell of it, when things were going badly, I threw out the following. "Do you really want me to spend the next few months on Volvo sites and all car sites calling out your dealership, and mentioning you by name, as awful, manipulative, and as responsible for a terrible buying experience? I will be on Dealerrater, Yahoo Autos, C30world.com and more posting about you personally." Anyway, it did take a turn then, and surprisingly it went a bit for the better. I felt like a dork for saying it - 'I will sic the internet on you!' But it changed their tone - from semi yelling, to being (or feigning being) nice. The most problematic guy became docile and actually offered a 20% discount on accessories when we were leaving.

Btw, saville gray is the color of the car.