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Julie needed a car pretty badly - the old one was about to fall apart any day. For the last 5 days I had been traveling between some 12 dealerships all of whom promised me prices on cars on the phone and ended up coming up with a significantly higher price by the time we were done talking. Today we walked in with a truecar.com certificate hoping to make matters simple. Turned out the dealer didn't accept those. Using that as a starting point, we negotiated and agreed upon a price that was fair (not great). We shook hands on it, Julie signed the appropriate papers and then we waited 4 hours to speak with the finance people. This was Julie while we waited. We walk in the door to the finance lady's office and she is the happy funny person making jokes left and right. Then she tried to pull fast ones on me saying that I didn't understand the math (lol) and was making simple errors none of which she could explain. The price that was on the computer was $3800 higher than what we signed. I politely said that no way in hell was I paying more than the sticker price for the car. On top of that they were charging a 5.69% interest for the financing of the car even though Julie qualified for 0%. We were told that we could either get the 0% interest or we could get the price discounted. Again, I was told that the arithmetic was over my head and that I didn't understand financial math. This was Julie when the lady left the room to go grab her boss because I refused to continue talking to her. PS. The boss "restructured" the deal as a favor to us and ended up with a price that was $500 more than what was agreed upon, forced me to sign it saying that there were 5 other customers waiting to pay for their cars. I calmly got up and said, "you are more than welcome to take them. I am sorry to have taken your time. I will think about your offer and get back to you in a few days." He circled the number we had agreed upon, wrote down 0% next to it and smashed the pen into my hand. I signed it. Julie walked out with keys to a brand new fully equipped 2016 Toyota Corolla LE. Once we got out of the dealership This was the first time in her life she was driving a brand new car and she more than deserves it.

This With these people

Tasty undeconstructed Pliny bites

I highly recommend the BMW via European Delivery, I would just wait until spring. M235i on some twisty alpine roads sounds like a lot of fun If not an option, I would drive all the cars in that class/your price range to see which fit you best. They are all going to be good cars. Let me know if you need help, it's only a couple hours down there.

Too bad you don't have the Canadian advantage of your front step being a freezer at this time of year.

^mind the allergic reactions! Meanwhile ... Halfway hamburgers

Wild boar ribs Oregon pork shank apple brandy &hazelnuts

The rain seems to have followed us, so what could be better than a warming (bread) bowl of clam chowder?

I'll just come down and beat them up to give you a good deal. What are we going to buy?

My hints are so hot, they land before the request for them! The big key is knowing exactly what you want (which car, and which options) and how much (realistically) you should have to pay for it. Having your own finance in place beforehand is always good, too.

Have bought our last two cars sight unseen, by email. One was in Aberdeen and the other in Birmingham. Reasonable offer (with promise of immediate payment by bank wire), quick acceptance, electronic document exchange, funds transfer, car dropped off in driveway a few days later. Super low friction.

http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/fss_papers/1540/

Glad things worked out CJ, congrats to you and Julie. I don't have the patience to deal with asshats like that. I have walked out as well and received better deals elsewhere (and made sure the manager of place # 1 knew that).

Aphex Twin - ...I Care Because You Do

Installed a 30+ sensors and got our new home security system installed. Very slick once it worked. Also discovered that the dumbass people who installed our garage door forgot a nut and to tighten some bolts. No more thunk it opens. 3rd thing they did wrong on the installation that I have fixed.

vegan chili

Chicken and waffles

I always preferred her other famous Helmut Newton shoot.

Indeed. inspired by an interview on NPR, and one google search led to another ... The image url does rather give it away, don't you think? uh-huh