Car Shopping

I've been looking at Hondas and Toyotas because I've heard they're really reliable and good on gas mileage. But I've been told (by a dealership) Foreign Models are harder to get fixed in a town w/o a foreign model dealer and parts are more expensive.

I've learned car salesman are extremely annoying - almost like mosquitoes. I went car shopping a couple weekends ago with my parents and the moment we drove in the lot, the perimeter around our car was swarming with salesman. I just want to look at the cars in peace. Then when you tell them what you want they immediately cross those off their list and begin showing you all the cars they think you'd want instead. I came here with a list of what I'm looking for, SO SHOW IT TO ME! If you don't have it, I'm off to the next lot.

When you tell them you're window shopping and have no money, they close their ears and assume you said, 'I'm ready to buy a car, let's do this thing.' When you tell how much you're willing to pay like myself - $10,000 or less. Preferably OR LESS. They show you all the cars that are over $10,000 that they might be able to get down to $10,500. Are you sure you don't want to consider this $12,000 one, it's a really really really freakin' awesome vehicle?

I walked Mugsy over to one of the local dealerships in town hoping they wouldn't bug me - who'd want a girl to test drive a car with her dog (getting slobber and hair all over everything? You slobber on it - you buy it, at that rate I would have been forced to buy several cars in the lot) Nope the moment I walked on the lot they were all over me.

I just want a newer car w/o all the annoying sales people.

I wanted to test drive a Ford Focus to get the feel for em. The moment I laid eyes on one in a dealership I should have known better (and ran far far away) - it had obviously not been well cared for. It was plastered with rust spots. My 16 yr old doesn't have that much rust. The paint was all scratched up. I got inside and felt like I was sitting in a shoebox. Give it a chance, try it out, I told myself. Everything I touched inside basically fell apart. The salesman handed me a key. I put it in but nothing happened. I turned the key around. That didn't work either. 'Wow am I just really stupid and don't know how to turn this car on?" I thought. The salesman tried as well - nothing. The battery was dead. He tried to jump it but that didn't work. Has me wondering if there's something else wrong with it. What a winner!

Another thing that worries me is how well these cars are looked at by the dealer. I was told by one dealer they wouldn't dare sell a car until they had carefully inspected it and made sure everything was in good shape. And yet my parents saw someone test driving a vehicle and noticed it was badly leaking fluid!! :-(

sigh.....