The Grand Car Parade Part 4

Wheew! As you can tell from the previous posts, this whole car thing is getting pretty wearing. Not only is there the sorrow of losing the RX-7 and being rejected for the car loan, but I also have to put up with Slimy (note the capital "S") used car salesmen. The problem of getting a new car was just not resolving itself as quickly as I'd expected. Then, on yet another Saturday morning M and I set out to look at cars.

Our first stop was a dealership in the Northgate area of Seattle. Northgate is not my most favorite part of town, but this dealership had three different cars that looked like good candidates. The favorite was another '03 Toyota Matrix with only 39k, power everything, and a sunroof. When we arrived the car seemed just as nice as it seemed in the ad, but the dealership itself made the whole thing suspect. I have never seen anything like it.

The name of the business was painted in ten foot letters on the side of another building, but you could barely read it because of the pealing and cracking of the paint. The lot was fenced in a conglomeration of chains, airline cables, and plastic rope, and the asphalt had certainly seen better days. The most impressive part, however, was definitely the office. The door was made of plywood and was stained and warped to the point that it needed a shove just to open. The carpet inside looked like it came from a crime scene, and there were piles of junk all over the place. The best (or worst) part was the salesman himself. He was there by himself and trying to make three deals at once. He quickly unlocked the Matrix, but when I told him I wanted an inspection in Bellevue he just refused completely on the grounds that it was too far away. He said he just didn't have time to deal with us then, and could we come back another time? We left as quickly as possible.

Finally, after a few more false starts, M and I went back to Michael's Toyota where we'd driven a Matrix several weeks before. Our first salesman, Jo Jo (I'm not making that up) was not available, so a middle-aged lady in a brilliantly purple coat took charge of us. Their stock of Matrixes (?) were priced out of my range, but they did have several other cars for me to look at. The two strongest contenders were an '00 Honda Civic and an '02 Toyota Corolla. More on this experience tomorrow.