What would it take to get you in one of these today?

I feel dirty. Filthy. I have a real issue with people being condescending, and the one place where I always feel condescended to is a Car Dealership. (((shudder))) Yuck Yuck Yuck.

I buy the vehicles in this family, and take care of all of the maintenance, etc. I negotiate the loans, sign the papers, get them registered, the whole deal. It's all me. Sometimes I'll ask Sam what color he wants, but usually he is relieved to not have to deal with any of it, and is happy with whatever I bring home.

Last week we discussed trading in the wagon for a MINI Cooper.
squeeeeee !!!!!!!

Oh, man. The things I could do in a MINI. The things I have DONE in a MINI - but that was long ago, on a small island in Ireland bumping along narrow dirt roads with a lovely young man named Ronan, in his sunny yellow MINI called Bertha.

ANYHOOOO.
The dealership where the wagon is serviced is, conveniently, the MINI dealership. SO I asked one of the salesguys for some assistance. First they appraised the wagon, and offered a super low-ball trade - about $4,000 below the Kelly Blue Book recommended trade in, and about $7,000 below the KBB private party sale value. SO of course, I politely said "No thank you" and decided to list it for sale. In order to sell it, I needed to get something fixed - so I brought it in to the dealership to get serviced. (Are you following this ? The same dealership.)

SO, I drop it off, and the salesman calls and says "I see your car is here on the lot - I have someone who might be interested, can I show it to him?"

How Convenient.



Since I am at home without the car, of course I say yes.

He then shows the car, and sends me an email telling me what is wrong with it, and why I need to reduce my price, and that I should accept something less. Much less. And then he said "Personally, if you can get (names a price) for it, I would do it in this climate."

Conveniently, an hour later, I received a phone call from the guy who had seen it earlier, offering that EXACT PRICE.

Isn't that special.