I hate to admit this, but we have turned into one of "those" people who are always getting a different car every time you turn around, sometimes new, sometimes not. I guess it runs in the family, (my husband's family that is) because my in-laws go through cars more often than they go through air filters (3-4 per year!).
With that being said, I have dealt with a lot of dealerships and a fair number of salesmen. If you smile at the thought of buying a car, and cringe thinking about the process.. well, maybe I will be able to help you. Let me begin by telling you my story with these two dealerships in somewhat of a chronological order: (there were other dealerships in between but I have kept them out due to the relevancy of this article)
Frank Kent Honda:
I bought my first Honda when I turned 18 and got accepted into TCU. I was one of those "independent" teenagers and went to the dealership alone. The salesman was very nice, and even offered to drive me home in my "future" new car so my mom could see it. I did not get the best deal on the car, and truth to be told, should have taken an adult with me. However, I do own up to my own mistakes and cannot place blame on someone else for my own stupidity. I loved my brand new Honda Civic and hated it a year later when they changed them to the "cool" curvy body style. What can you do... but overall, I had told myself I would go back and purchase from them again.
MORITZ:
I had personally dealt with Moritz when they were still "Troy Aikman" and had a horrible experience. However, my husband and I decided to go back and see what deals we could get on a Jeep Cherokee. We were extremely pleased with our salesman (sorry, I don't remember their names anymore) for he did everything he could to get us to where we needed to be when it came down to payments and our trade in value. We were very pleased with them.
Frank Kent Honda
We dealt with FK again when it was time to sell our Jeep Cherokee due to the outrageous increasingly gas prices (remember that?!). I was commuting 3 hours to work every day, and we were seeing our money wasted on a liquid that you couldn't even eat. It was cheaper to fill my car with gallons of milk than with gas. Well, at first, they offered us a sorry number as a trade-in value, and we haggled a little. We were looking at a brand new Honda Insight that we had seen at a car show at the Fort Worth Mayfest. We saw that they started at 18K and the gas mileage was unbelievable. Our salesman was named VITO and let me just say that we LOVED HIM. We explained our situation and what we needed, and he fought for us. I even had a few words with the manager to try to convince him (one of my many talents.. I must confess). Vito didn't try to sell us the car, instead, he told us everything about it, even the things I didn't want to know.. and he didn't mind going back and forth every time I said: "go ask your manager if he can make this happen". We walked away with a brand new Honda insight and we were so happy.
Then we found out we had another bun in the oven..
We kept the Insight for about 1 year and a half. Two kids later and now with only one working parent, it was time to do what I dreaded the most about "staying at home", which was to downsize to one car. I have never not had a car, ever.. so this was quiet a change for me. We went to the dealership and I felt as if I was going to a funeral.
In the summer of 2011 we went to Frank Kent, of course, since we had such a great experience with Vito, but unfortunately, he was over "new car" sales and we were trading two cars for another "pre-owned" vehicle.
I wasn't sure about our salesman. You know when you just get a funny vibe? Well, this guy did this to me, but I was too consumed on my won self pity to really pay attention to it. I had decided that my husband was gonna have to "handle" this situation this time. I say the salesman didn't strike me like a very honest man because we found a 04' Honda Accord that my husband really liked, leather seats, heated, it was very nice, but when I got in the car I smelled what I call the "No mom, I wasn't smoking in the car" smell, which is a stench of cigarettes+cologne+air freshener +clean car smell. See, the thing is that I have always been allergic to cigarettes so when I smell them.. believe me.. I smell them. When I asked him if this was a smoking vehicle, he said "No, I don't smell anything" and I remember thinking: "Really? Is he that bad of a liar?"
But, we ended up getting the car anyway, I had the air filters changed and we walked away happy.
UNTIL...
Not even 30 days later.. the car started to break down. Every month after that it was something new, tires, breaks, sensors, computer going crazy, the car accelerating by itself, alignment.. belts.. it was a mess! This was not supposed to be happening to a HONDA! The car was in the shop every month, and we spent quiet some green on it so we decided to get rid of it and get a new car. So, we went back to talk to Vito.
*If you need anything done in the Service Department at FK, make sure you talk to Manny Martinez, he is a great guy and will definitely take care of you!*
DECEMBER 2011
We went to FK to look at the Honda Pilot. We had decided that we needed a bigger car due to my Brazilian family coming often to visit. We needed a third row. However, we were very worried about our payments and the negative equity we may be rolling into the new car, either way, I would feel much better when I talked to Vito about it.
BIG DISAPPOINTMENT:
Vito got promoted, great for him, not so good for me.
Our new salesman was named Kelli (Kelly) not sure about the spelling. I explained to him everything that we needed and where we needed to be at in order to take the car home. He tried talking to the manager, and to be really honest, I don't how much communication gets lost between your chair and the manager's office, but the manager wasn't very willing to gives us a good deal on our trade-in. We bought the car 6 months ago for 10K, put a lot of money into it fixing it (at their dealership!) and he offered me 7K as a trade in value for it. Really?! Do I look like an idiot to you? It was almost an insult. After seeing my face 6-7 times in the past 6 months, you would think they would offer me some respect. Apparently, I was wrong. The manager even came to talk to me, like, he was doing everything he could, but see, when it comes to numbers, I am a very good cruncher. So, I did what I needed to do and walked away.
Kelly and I kept in touch over text message about the 4X4 Dream Honda Pilot I wanted, and how towards the end of the day he said that someone had just taken it for a drive and asked me if I had made my decision. There was no decision to be made, I told him. I can't make money.. wish I could.. but I am not that gifted.
The next Day 12/31/11:
MORITZ
After doing a lot of research online for a new car, my husband really wanted to go back to Moritz to see if they would give us a good deal on a new Dodge Durango. I had one and I loved it so much and would love to have another one again. I talked on the phone with Lyn Sheppard, who had just sold my brother and sister in law a new car last week, and they LOVED HER. However, Lyn was a little busy so she took us to meet Shane Sickles.
Let me tell you a little bit about Shane: well, he doesn't say much. And you know what?! I really liked that. He was another Vito. I believe Shane is one of those people that would agree with the philosophy that "If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything at all". He told me facts, he told me statistics, he wasn't trying to sell me anything, he informed me, he showed me my options and he let me think. It is so much nicer when you can think in peace. So, I definitely recommend Shane Sickles.. if you are looking to buy a new car, GO GET HIM! But hurry, good guys like him get promoted fast! (I would know..)
**Meanwhile, I was getting text messages from Kelly who said that if I came back they would make me the best deal on my Honda Pilot, and that the 4x4 that they had sold yesterday (the one it was supposed to be mine) had come back to the lot because the deal fell through and they had worked out the numbers to exactly what my payments needed to be. Now, I knew they could, they just were not willing yesterday. I told him I was looking at the Dodge and he informed me that I should do research on Dodges before basing my buying decision on my monthly payments, that KBB rates Honda at the top and Dodge is dead last on resell value. **
My husband said that it was probably true to some extent, however, the last Honda we had was awful and that it was the first car I had ever seen depreciate 3K in 6 months. He reminded how much we loved the Durangos and how Dodge has re-designed them to be pretty awesome. He didn't like the Pilot, said it was too boxy looking and we had to look at it every day.
Shane took us around the lot, showed us many cars that were in the price range we wanted, and we finally went back into his office.
After crunching numbers in my head and on paper with Shane, and after him going back and forth to his manager several times, he finally said to me: "Okay, if we can do this, I need you to sign right here that you agree with this deal", that is the moment when your heart stops and you know that this is it. This is the moment where there is no more haggling, you either have it, or you don't. And, we did! He gave us an amazing deal on our Trade in, shame on you FK, and our payments were amazing!
But wait, it gets better:
Shane took the car to get washed and filled up on gas. Meanwhile we go to the Finance Department and my brother and sister in law told us to ask for LUCIANO, but he was busy, so we talked to RON, who was very awesome. I am sure Luciano is great too, but I can only speak about Ron since we dealt with him. Ron was also one of those people who didn't fill your head with noise, you know, the kind of people who talk because they think that silence is awkward? He wasn't like that at all. He was great! He got us 90 days payout, so our first payment is not until 90 days, he got us full extended warranty by lowering the interest rate in order to add it to the price so our monthly payment wouldn't change.. I mean.. that car has better insurance/warranty than I do! So, when you go to Finance, ask for Ron, tell him you helped the Savvy Lady! He will remember!
(They will look similar to this when on… so cute and cozy!)
