Buying a car does not have to be stressful: Kay’s adventure in car buying
#BeavertonCarGuy
Let me tell you about my new friend, Kay, who has been a widow for 12 years. Kay was driving a 2007 Chrysler Pacifica and had just had the transmission replaced for the second time in only 138k miles. At 83 years old, Kay needed a more reliable car and tried to find one on her own.
After going to several dealerships and listening salespeople offering cars she wasn’t interested in (and for mark ups between $5k-$10k!), she felt quite exhausted. And to add to the stress, they would only offer $2k for her current vehicle as trade in. Needless to say, she became discouraged and walked away.
A week later, Kay went to get her hair done at a local Salon where she has been going for many years. There, she picked up a copy of the Beaverton Resource Guide and saw my article. Kay called me and after relaying her unfortunate car shopping story, I gave her an easy solution that she was bound to be happy with: let’s do this together.
I explained that we actually do not have to trade in her car and that I think I can find exactly the car she wanted. Of course, she agreed and even though she was not in a hurry, this probably being her last car to own, she wanted one of two colors if possible: a super bright blue or ruby red. Having a couple of color choices sure makes my job easier!
The next day, I found a bright blue car that she really wanted to see. I offered to pick her up in my sports car and when I arrived, she got so excited that it was a convertible, she said ‘keep the top down’ to which I happily complied.
After putting her cane in the back seat, we made our way to the dealership and test drove the car (just the two of us). It was a 20-minute test where we got to check out the car up and down without a salesperson looking over our shoulder. Halfway through the test drive, she decided to buy it so I made a call to the dealership. Kay called it magic but when we returned from our test drive, the manager had everything ready for Kay to sign and purchased the vehicle. We even transferred her old plates to the new car. All in all, she saved $12k. What happened to her old car that she wanted to trade in? I sold it to a private party for $7k.
It was truly a pleasure to make Kay’s car buying adventure less challenging and much more fun!
The Moral of the story: hire a broker and relax!
If anyone wants to buy or sell a car and does not want to deal with it, let me know. We can be reached at fergusonautobrokers@gmail.com
