Saturday, May 10, 2008

How NOT to sell a car

Darlene and I decided we wanted to take a Smart Car out for a test drive today. We've been curious as to how we would fit into such a car (as a second car for everyday running around town).

We got to a dealer that sells the Smart and had to wait patiently for a good 20 minutes just to speak to a Smart representative. When it was our turn, we asked to take one for a drive. They made it clear we could not have the vehicle to ourselves.

You really need to think about this for a moment. A 2 seater car that we both have to be comfortable in - and we can't take it out for a quick test drive together. The salesperson said it had to do with the fact that the Mercedes dealership (which sells Smart in Canada) treats the $20,000-ish car with the same degree of paranoia err respect as the $100,000+ Mercedes models. Something about insurance blah blah young kids can't be trusted blah blah (our combined ages are greater than 95). I said that I couldn't very well buy a car without knowing how we fit in it together. They wouldn't budge.

So we walked. Needless to say, the likelihood of us buying a Smart car now is less than the chances of a Liberal landslide in the next Canadian election.

3 comments:

  1. I certainly hope if someone 'googles' smart car in Calgary, your post comes up.

    They insult your integrity at that dealership.

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  2. Anonymous1:12 PM

    I'm thinking that you could actually see if it FIT in the show room, bounce on the seats, rubber neck around each other, etc, they each test drive with ubermensch salesman. G-wan give it another try, you know you wanna. (evil smile) R

    ReplyDelete
  3. [waving hand in a Jedi mind-trick motion]
    "There is no Smart car."

    No? OK, how about:
    [holding hand up in a 'talk to the hand' gesture]
    "You're nothing to me now"

    ReplyDelete