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It's time to buy a new car. I don't know when I made up my mind for sure, but over the last few months it's become more important somehow. My car is six years old this week and it seems like the right time. I want something a bit bigger with better engine performance and a little more luxury (cloth seats ain't happening — I'm tired of getting shocked regularly over a four month period of each year).
Back in January, I'd squirreled away a link to Jamie's advice on buying a car (don't?!) which links to an Edmunds series called Confessions of a Car Salesman. People whined (jwz's readers demand new stuff now) that it was old (six months, ooohhh!) so I didn't bother posting it here, but now its relevent. The whole story is a great read, but if you want to digest version, read the last part: Buying Tips.
A very good friend has suggested leasing, which I'm going to look into (I've never done it before). We're going to talk about it on Monday but I need 15,000 miles per year and won't be comfortable until I have 16,000 which seems to screw up the deal. I also tried to reach some old friends today without luck... at one point my friends husband was running a car brokerage and I wanted to solicit some advice on that side of the road. I'd never heard of this before... the AAA Endorsed Auto Buying Program but it doesn't seem to be available here in California.
After lunch today, Stephen and I headed out on a whim to a couple dealerships and I was actually surprised at how hands off the folks were on the lot. I haven't yet gotten to the "let's drive one" point, where things could get ugly, but I did spend a lot of time crawling around a couple different cars, making inane comments and asking a bunch of stupid questions. They also left us to browse in peace, which is so very different from how it's been every other time I've ever been to a dealership.
I wonder if the fact that so many people are using the Internet as a research mechanism before showing up at the dealership is causing some sort of behavioral change? We probably just managed to hit things at the right time and appear casual enough about the whole process to ward off the demons. As I get more serious about picking a car, that might change (car sales people seem to trust customers less than we trust them).
Posted by Dave at April 24, 2004 09:15 PMYou didn't even mention our adventures through TO and Simi?
Fine then... I will...
For lunch, dad thought of having sushi. Good idea! So we drove to Minato Sushi, only to find out it's not open today for lunch. Grrr... On to Akio's in the Janss Marketplace... not open... GRRRRRRR. So we ended up going out to a Sushi Bar in Simi which dad used to frequent quite a lot(up to twice a week, he says), and he saw Janet, and I forgot how she's related to the restaraunt. Good food, I tried Unagi for the first time(very good, I might add), their Volcano was AWESOME, and I made a HUGE mess(bigger than dad's, which doesn't happen too often. :P). It was fun.
Posted by: Steve on April 24, 2004 10:29 PM commLinkWe went to Light & Fresh in Simi, a place owned a Korean gent who lives locally.
Janet is a very nice lady who has treated me very well over a number of years of patronage. I met her through her husband Richard, a talented and creative sushi chef who I met originally at "Light & Fresh" and followed around for a while (along with some some other fellows who wandered through the place). It's been at least a couple years since I stopped in there and while I was struggling to remember her 'english' name (I did eventually but her Korean name was on my mind immediately, I just don't know how to spell it), she remembered me immediately, along with the things I really liked. As always, she was hovering and every time we needed something, it was there.
A combination of friendly chefs and staff were the reasons I kept going to "Light & Fresh" but the owner is rather mercurial, and staff turn over was inevitable. At one point I used to get preferential treatment, by virtue of a simple request. Hamachi Kama (yellowtail shoulder) wasn't a standard menu item, but one fellow knew I'd be in once a week to ask for it, so he made sure it was available. He also did a lot of customization around that simple idea which I was quite open to. Eventually, he left along with all the other chefs I knew well, so I stopped going...
