Written by Joey G
Wednesday, February 17th, 2010
I have probably purchased about 10 automobiles in my life, and have usually enjoyed the whole process. I love looking in the newspaper, making calls, and talking the seller down when I finally find that one that I like (actually I usually just don’t have enough money to pay full price). Today, on the other hand, was not a pleasant day for car shopping at all.
Me and my old lady (she never reads my articles) got up early today and went to a Police Impound Auction, where they auction off cars that have been abandoned or forfeited to the Police Department. Of course I expected some of the vehicles to be wrecked and damaged, but I thought that we might be able to find something dependable for a reasonable price. So, after paying a $240 deposit just for us two to enter the lot, we began looking at the cars. While we were standing there freezing, we asked the auctioneer if we could start the vehicles or at least get some information on them. He then replied that we can’t, and that they don’t even know anything about the cars except for the mayors car, which was the only one that was allowed to be started. That and the fact that we were asked to leave because we brought our son with us (it said on the flyer children were allowed with a parent or a guardian) made us hope that the rest of the day would not go the same.
After we got our deposit back and left, we decided to check out a few car lots around town. As we arrived at our first car lot, we noticed a nice Buick Century with only 70,000 miles that appeared to be something we would be interested in. For some reason the place was closed with a sign saying they would be back in about an hr and a half. Are you starting to see a trend here?
After checking out a few more places, and making calls with no answer, I decided to put my search on hold for a while and take care of some other things. Then, I received a call from a salesman I met earlier who said that he had a 2001 Alero with 88,000 miles for $2,500. So I went back home, got the old lady (I hope she doesn’t read these) and our pride and joy, and met up with this fine gentlemen that was so kindly helping us with our automotive needs. Well, come to find out the 88,000 miles turned into 2002,000 and another car that actually did have 88,000 miles was $5,000. Then, another car that supposedly had 80,000 miles ended up having 166,000. What a waste of time!
Am I mad? No. But I definitely remember why out of all the 10 or so cars I have purchased in my life, I have never bought one from a dealership. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bashing car salesmen or saying that you shouldn’t buy cars from dealerships, I’m just saying that I have not had good luck going that route.
All this trouble, and the car isn’t even for me. God I hope they start making flying cars soon!
