I want to buy a plane by year-end but they're not making it easy.

C Kingsbury wrote:

Big snip


In real big-ticket items like cars or real estate, it's not unusual that you
really don't even see the smart and or wealthy buyer face-to-face until the
deal is closed. If they're buying a car they do it by faxing or calling the
sales manager directly, and if they're buying property, they often do so
through a buyer's agent. The biggest money is often the quietest.

-cwk.


One day, while working in the yard in his old Navy boondockers, an old
tee shirt, and old ripped blue jeans, my younger brother decided it was
time to buy the Mercedes that he had always wanted. So, without
changing clothes, he stuck his check book in his hip pocket, jumped on
his motorcycle, and drove 30 miles to the nearest dealer.

As he walked in the dealership, he saw exactly the car he wanted- all
the options and even the right color. So he stood around with his
checkbook in hand trying to look like a customer. The salesmen, all
playing gin rummy at the counter, studiously ignored him. Finally,
after about ten minutes, one of them decided that this guy was not going
to leave until somebody talked to him. So the salesman walked over to
my brother and asked if he could help him.

My brother said, "Yes. I want to buy this automobile. How much is it?"

The salesman replied, "It is really expensive, and the upkeep is quite
high, too. But we have some really clean one owner used car out on the
lot. I would be happy to show them to you."

My brother said, "No. I want to buy this car. How much is it?"

The salesman again went through the nice clean used car bit.

My brother, now barely in control of his temper, coldly looked the
salesman in the eye and said, "I don't want a used car. I want to buy
this car. HOW MUCH IS IT?"

When the salesman started with the used car bit again, my brother left.
On the way back, he became more and more angry, so he stopped by our
father's house to tell him the story.

After hearing the whole story, my father said, "If you still want the
car, go home, put on a suit, and drive back down there in your
Rolls-Royce. I am sure that they will sell a car to anybody driving a
Rolls."

Postscript 1: He bought a BMW.

Postscript 2: Several years later, my brother was the lead CPA on the
staff doing the annual audit of guess what large automobile dealership.
After the closing conference, the owner asked if my brother had any
observations he might like to pass along, even beyond financial matters,
to help the owner in his business. My brother related this story. The
owner asked if he could still identify the salesman. My brother pointed
to a salesman visible through the office window. The owner sighed, and
then said, "It figures. He is my son-in-law."

Hank
Comanche N5903P

Henry A. Spellman wrote:

Postscript 2: Several years later, my brother was the lead CPA on the
staff doing the annual audit of guess what large automobile dealership.
After the closing conference, the owner asked if my brother had any
observations he might like to pass along, even beyond financial matters,
to help the owner in his business. My brother related this story. The
owner asked if he could still identify the salesman. My brother pointed
to a salesman visible through the office window. The owner sighed, and
then said, "It figures. He is my son-in-law."

Kinda like that guy in the FedEx commercial, he's stuck.

You know, the one where the boss has this conversation with the slacker
office worker who his throwing pencils at the ceiling while he's talking:

"Did that package get there on time?"

"Ummm no"

"Did you send it fedex like I told you?"

"ummm, no"

"Remind me why I keep you around here"

"Ummmm, you're my dad"

"Oh, right"

"Henry A. Spellman" wrote in message
news:tySrd.181922$HA.23121@attbi_s01...

Big snip

My brother said, "Yes. I want to buy this automobile. How much is it?"

The salesman replied, "It is really expensive, and the upkeep is quite
high, too. But we have some really clean one owner used car out on the
lot. I would be happy to show them to you."


Most of the fastest sales I've ever closed are the ones where the first
question the prospect asks is, "how much?"

"Henry A. Spellman" wrote:

My brother said, "Yes. I want to buy this automobile. How much is it?"

The salesman replied, "It is really expensive, and the upkeep is quite
high, too. But we have some really clean one owner used car out on the
lot. I would be happy to show them to you."

My brother said, "No. I want to buy this car. How much is it?"

The salesman again went through the nice clean used car bit.

Back about 1979, Dodge came out with a pint-sized pickup truck. I used to pass
one of the dealerships on my way home every day, so one day I stopped in. There
was no price sticker in the window -- I found out later that these were not
required on trucks at the time.

So I found a salesman who was heading across the lot and asked him how much it
was.

He said "That all depends on what you trade in."

I said "I'm not going to trade anything in. How much is it?"

He said "That depends on what you trade in."

After another iteration of that, I gave up. It was nearly 25 years before I set
foot in a Dodge dealership again. The next time I did, I was treated to a
lecture on why I would never find a truck for sale with a standard transmission.

I don't see any reason to set foot in another Dodge dealership again.

Ya know, I never saw one of those little pickups on the road. I wonder why?

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...

Back about 1979, Dodge came out with a pint-sized pickup truck. I used to
pass
one of the dealerships on my way home every day, so one day I stopped in.
There
was no price sticker in the window -- I found out later that these were
not
required on trucks at the time.

So I found a salesman who was heading across the lot and asked him how
much it
was.

He said "That all depends on what you trade in."

I said "I'm not going to trade anything in. How much is it?"

He said "That depends on what you trade in."

After another iteration of that, I gave up. It was nearly 25 years before
I set
foot in a Dodge dealership again. The next time I did, I was treated to a
lecture on why I would never find a truck for sale with a standard
transmission.

I don't see any reason to set foot in another Dodge dealership again.


You need THAT EXPERIENCE to avoid Dodge dealerships?

Matt
---------------------
Matthew W. Barrow
Site-Fill Homes, LLC.
Montrose, CO

"G.R. Patterson III" wrote in message
...

Back about 1979, Dodge came out with a pint-sized pickup truck. I used to
pass
one of the dealerships on my way home every day, so one day I stopped in.
There
was no price sticker in the window -- I found out later that these were
not
required on trucks at the time.


The older guys still call them a "Monroney," after the congressman who
sponsored the bill requiring them. Now that grandmothers who know nothing
about cars can look up invoice prices on the internet they mean even less
than they did 20 years ago.


He said "That all depends on what you trade in."


This is still largely how the game works. About a year ago I was toying with
the idea of buying one of those new Saab convertibles. I went to one dealer,
went for the test drive, etc. Then we sat down to talk price. I told him I
wanted two prices, one to buy the car straight and another to buy it with my
Jeep as a trade-in. He wouldn't do it. I ended up dickering with him for an
hour before he finally settled on one price with my Jeep as a trade-in. In
the end though the final price he offered was excellent. You don't sell a
lot of expensive convertibles in February in New England when there's a s--t
job market and a foot of snow on the ground.

-cwk.

C Kingsbury wrote:

This is still largely how the game works. About a year ago I was toying with
the idea of buying one of those new Saab convertibles. I went to one dealer,
went for the test drive, etc. Then we sat down to talk price. I told him I
wanted two prices, one to buy the car straight and another to buy it with my
Jeep as a trade-in. He wouldn't do it.

Well, if a dealer will not give me a price for a straight purchase, he won't
sell me a vehicle. So far, I've bought only two new vehicles, and I have never
traded another one in.

George Patterson
If a man gets into a fight 3,000 miles away from home, he *had* to have
been looking for it.

Well, if a dealer will not give me a price for a straight purchase, he
won't
sell me a vehicle. So far, I've bought only two new vehicles, and I have
never
traded another one in.

This past June Mary and I decided we needed a "knock around" car, mostly
because she was sick of driving "The Mighty Grape" around town. (It's our
ugly purple pickup truck that hauls 55 gallons of gas to the plane, and
only seats two people...I love it!)

Over the course of a few days this idea slowly transformed from "Let's buy a
beater" to "Let's buy a sports car!" (Don't ask me how -- it just did.)

So, Mary, the kids and I were up in Cedar Rapids on our days off, when we
decided to drive around and look at car lots. Driving aimlessly, we
stumbled across a pristine red-orange Mustang Cobra convertible sitting on
the lot of a used car dealership that specializes in selling only cherry
sports cars.

I didn't look twice at it, because the Mustangs we had already test driven
didn't have enough rear seat headroom for the kids. Mary, however,
instantly fell in love with the looks of the thing, so I stopped to take a
look...

It was ten minutes before closing when we walked in looking like something
straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. I hadn't shaved in two days, and
was wearing a baseball cap and torn up jeans. Mary didn't look much better,
and the kids were cranky and hungry. The salesman took one look at me,
looked at his watch, and reluctantly agreed to let us take the car for a
test drive. He kept exchanging knowing glances with his office manager, and
you could just tell that they were really, REALLY ****ed about being late
for supper.

Well, we test drove the car, and instantly fell for it. Being a
convertible, the back seat headroom (with the top up, natch) was
dramatically better than in the hard-top -- so the kids actually fit back
there comfortably -- and the thing handled like a danged Formula 1 race car.
Besides that, it felt great to have the wind blowing in my (rapidly
diminishing) hair!

We drove back to the lot, and painfully extricated ourselves from the little
car. The salesman didn't even meet us at the car, instead waiting inside
for us to come in, completely convinced that we would be shortly on our way.
Imagine his look of utter incredulity when I asked him "How much?" This
look of surprise was only topped by the look of disbelief when I told him
that, no, we didn't want to trade anything in -- and that we were ready to
pay cash on the barrel-head for the car!

After a few minutes of dickering we wrote him a check, he gave us the keys,
and we had our car.

That guy is probably STILL shaking his head...
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Jay Honeck wrote:

Well, if a dealer will not give me a price for a straight purchase, he
won't
sell me a vehicle. So far, I've bought only two new vehicles, and I have
never
traded another one in.


This past June Mary and I decided we needed a "knock around" car, mostly
because she was sick of driving "The Mighty Grape" around town. (It's our
ugly purple pickup truck that hauls 55 gallons of gas to the plane, and
only seats two people...I love it!)

Over the course of a few days this idea slowly transformed from "Let's buy a
beater" to "Let's buy a sports car!" (Don't ask me how -- it just did.)

So, Mary, the kids and I were up in Cedar Rapids on our days off, when we
decided to drive around and look at car lots. Driving aimlessly, we
stumbled across a pristine red-orange Mustang Cobra convertible sitting on
the lot of a used car dealership that specializes in selling only cherry
sports cars.

I didn't look twice at it, because the Mustangs we had already test driven
didn't have enough rear seat headroom for the kids. Mary, however,
instantly fell in love with the looks of the thing, so I stopped to take a
look...

It was ten minutes before closing when we walked in looking like something
straight out of the Beverly Hillbillies. I hadn't shaved in two days, and
was wearing a baseball cap and torn up jeans. Mary didn't look much better,
and the kids were cranky and hungry. The salesman took one look at me,
looked at his watch, and reluctantly agreed to let us take the car for a
test drive. He kept exchanging knowing glances with his office manager, and
you could just tell that they were really, REALLY ****ed about being late
for supper.

Well, we test drove the car, and instantly fell for it. Being a
convertible, the back seat headroom (with the top up, natch) was
dramatically better than in the hard-top -- so the kids actually fit back
there comfortably -- and the thing handled like a danged Formula 1 race car.

Jay, I can safely say then that you have never driven a Formula 1 car. :-)

Mustangs don't even handle like BMWs, let alone Formula cars of any genre!

Matt

Mustangs don't even handle like BMWs, let alone Formula cars of any genre!

Is it safe to say that you haven't driven a Mustang with the Cobra
suspension?

It's quite different from a stock Mustang.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"