Why Is Car Buying So Hard in America?

I am exhausted, enraged, ashamed, frustrated, and angry.

Why do car dealers try and cheat people? Is it because they can? Why does this business attract the least savory characters - people (mostly men) I would never want to be in the same room with? Why do they immediately try to confound and confuse and bewilder potential customers? Why do they lie and use so much double-speak?

And I was only trying for a $3500 car loan.

It shouldn't be this way. This kind of behavior shouldn't be rewarded. Yet, it is.

They use phrases like "I can put you in a ..." - to psychologically manipulate the buyer into seeing themselves in a particular vehicle, so backing out of the deal is less desirable. Then, they won't give you a straight answer when you ask a price. They counter with "How much can you afford a month?" and then they change the terms of the loan between the handshake and the signature. They wear you down until you can fight no longer and just want to get the hell out of there.

Their oily smiles and the way they refer to a woman as "Miss _______" (insert first name here) sicken me. The damnable service warranty. The "GAP insurance" and so many other add-ons  that increase the original price by thousands and thousands. Awful.

And, oh yes, when you have marginal credit and don't have utility bills and use a PO box, they SLAP A GPS UNIT TO YOUR TRUCK SO THAT YOU CAN BE TRACKED IN CASE YOU SKIP OUT ON YOUR LOAN AND THEY CAN REMOTELY SHUT YOUR TRUCK DOWN. Yes, I had to agree to that, in order to get my Goddamned $3500 and a loan that was 9 months longer than I agreed to.

AND, I lost my most favorite CD, Gino's Yonder Tree, in the loaner car's sound system.

It was an exhausting 2 days - but I have my truck.

yay