Grumpy man rant

[94touring]

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode about holding car reservations.

[BruceK]

Reminds me of the Seinfeld episode about holding car reservations.

EXACTLY!!

[BruceK]

New game: Quick! find the elevator call button!

[MiniDave]

Black one with the red circle?

Yea, maybe you use your phone?   ;D

[Brit_in_TX]

Is it just me or do new car salesmen never seem to actually want you sell you a car?

My wife is wanting a new car, and she likes the Acura MDX.  At Cars and Coffee in SA on Saturday, the local Acura dealership was there with an MDX and I stopped by ask them about availability the current pricing etc etc.  The guy could not have been less interested in talking to me, he just kept saying words to the effect of "the model is exclusive and we are selling above MSRP right now, so have you factored that in?" and then added something about "our finance team have strict requirements".  Not once did he ask me what we were looking for in a car, why we like the MDX, what would be the best trim level for us etc.

I thought the BMW dealership were a-holes, but this guy was worse!

[MiniDave]

They're under immense pressure these days, they have nothing to sell and have been forced by the ownership to maximize every penny - which means "additional dealer markup", all sorts of added on things like Truecoat, undercoat, special floor mats, vinv etching and who knows what plus they almost insist that you finance thru them so they can get the back end too. Trying to pay cash right now is difficult to impossible.....if they have the no penalties for early payoff you can always arrange your own financing, then just go pay it off after the deal is closed.

I would NOT want to be a car salesman right now (I did it for almost 30 years) nor would I want to be in the market for something new. The prices are over the moon and no sign that they'll be coming back down anytime soon. No one has any inventory.....it makes for a very unpleasant way to buy something this expensive......it used to be the highlight of people's lives when they got a new car and proudly parked it in the driveway, now buying one is more like going to war, and you almost feel guilty for being able to buy one in this climate....

This is absolutely no comment on your situation, simply my read on the market right now and why salesmen are in such dire straights. If you wanted a Volvo I can hook you up with a guy in Dallas (Plano?) who will treat you right and be pleasant to talk to .

[Brit_in_TX]

I understood some of those pressures, but thanks for your insight.

What annoyed me is that he just talked about "exclusive", "expensive" and then said their finance team would have strict requirements.  We did not even talk about the car!  If he wants to up sell, he needs to get me to that point, not just dismiss me out of hand. 

[BruceK]

More rental car gripes.  I'm a Hertz Gold Member (sounds like an Austin Powers movie :) ) which means I can make a reservation online, completely skip the rental car counter, and just head out to the rental car parking lot and climb into any vehicle within a certain parking area and drive out the gate. So... what is waiting in that Gold Member area?  Why the unwanted toys nobody likes.  Electric cars.  Nothing but Chevrolet Bolts, Polestars, Kia Niros, Kia EV5 models. As I walk down the rental parking aisle, every fricken car is an EV.  Who the hell wants to rent an EV try and figure out how that particular car brand's damn thing works?  And then where to get it charged during my trip? And finally how to get it charged so it can returned "full"!?

It is enough of a hassle just to get an unfamiliar gas-powered car and try and figure out all the quirks and features and idiosyncrasies of driving it (I.e. the climate control can only be changed by accessing six menus deep) Who the hell wants to multiply that by adding EV into the mixture?

Finally at the end of one row, I spotted the only reasonable choice still left: one single white rental-grade Chevrolet Malibu. I've never been so happy to have a totally boring rental car before.

[94touring]

That would royally annoy me as well

[Jims5543]

We just finished booking flights car hotel etc.. in January we will be heading to Breckenridge to meet up with our friends who have a timeshare booked there.

We are flying in a day early and have a room booked in Denver for the evening so we can check out Denver a little before heading up to the Mountains.

I wanted a SUV with AWD, I looked on Hertz and was hard pressed to find one, the funny part is the EV's are much cheaper to rent, I am not interested, after owning one for 5 years, I am over them and not interested in all the BS associated with them. They are perfect if you want an in town commuter car, on a vacation?  Nope! I do not want to be bothered trying to find somewhere to charge it, dealing with the rental company and charge fees etx.. This is one of those moments where I want simplicity.  So we paid extra for a Mid size AWD SUV. Like $40 a day extra.

[Jims5543]

Fall in FloRida is different than most places, instead of the leaves changing the license plates do.

3 weeks ago it was delightful here, the roads were quiet, people are mostly polite on the road.

2 Weeks ago it started.  The license plates started changing, this past week?  Bedlam!

Our quite little area is now a madhouse, most of the drivers on the road are raging assholes who will go out of their way to fuck with you.

2 incidents today alone, probably over a dozen actually but these 2 were gems.

A person in a Tesla, doing exactly the speed limit, no problem I was fine with that it is the speed limit after all.

The problem was when the road went from a no passing 2 way road and opened up to a divided 4 lane road, suddenly the Tesla, which had about 6 cars piled up behind it, could do 10-15 over the speed limit fucking with everyone behind it trying to get around it. The speed limit was the same the Tesla just decided it would take off once you could pass it.

The second was this old man with a handicap placard on his mirror in a Mini van, I was behind him at a red light ready to turn left. The light goes green he is asleep, I do not honk, I just wait for him to wake up, then he proceeds to take off very very slowly, to the point the light is now turning red. I move over a lane on the next road to go around him.... a large puff of black smoke explodes from his exhaust, he had floored it in order for me not to pass him.  Why?

I have an in car cam that I need to put a memory card back in. I am going to start video compilations I think of these assholes.

I should also add, I start to hesitate to take the nice cars out this time of year especially the E30 and the Mini.  These old people also bounce off of each other all the time on the roads here.  It seems we get the absolute worst drivers from all over North America this time of year. This lasts until April too.