Oh the joys of a capitalist society . . .

We bought a new minivan last week. You know, they didn't even have minivans when I was learning to drive and was picturing the dream rod I would have when I finally became old enough to get a real job and drive a real car. So it should come as no surprise that how weird I think it is to see me as a member of the minivan set. Nevertheless, I am going to forego any semblance of pride and masculinity and admit that I don't really mind driving a minivan that much.

Anyhoo, the main crux of my post today centers around the latest trend in car sales these days. It goes by different names: "Nice Price", "No-dicker sticker", etc. but the truth is that dealerships are tired of people who do their research and are better at negotiating really good prices for their cars than the salesmen they hire. So . . . they come up with a marketing idea that they think actually fools us. "We've saved you time and effort by refusing to negotiate the price of your vehicle." They make it sound like they're actually doing us the favor. What a bunch of hooey. Its like the time manufacturers introduced the "new" concentrated dish and laundry soaps and charged us more for it. The difference? the "concentrated" formula has less fillers. Meaning--"we've been watering our product down for years and charging you for it, but since the price of water is going up, we'll just get rid of it and pass the savings on to ourselves. "

We bought a new minivan at a local dealer. (the no-dicker sticker kind) the asking price was 8900. we agreed and paid 1000 down and we were set to make payments of 250 a month. We got into the "sign the stuff" room and somehow got talked into a comprehensive warranty and maintenance plan that ended up costing 4000 more. The confusing thing is that we actually lowered our payments to about 240 a month and lowered the interest rate by like 6 points, but turned our 8900 dollar van into a 1300o dollar what-the-heck-did-we-just-do. As long as I live, I don't think I'll ever get the spine to just buy a freaking car. I was so frustrated that I went home and washed the dishes with our concentrated dish soap.

More to follow . . .