[HardDrive]

I'll just tell my tale and let you draw your own conclusions.

Part I
I was interested in the Ford Escape Hybrid, so I hit the dealer, Bill Pierce Ford in Seattle. I start checking out the cars, and notice every car has a sticker that says they are charging $5995 over MSRP.

A nice sales guy (kid really) walks over, and immediately I point out how absurd this is. The Ford website shows all current promotions if you price out a car, and their website showed a price that was nearly $10k less! He kind of smiles and says, "Yeah, it makes it hard on us when people look at the internet." The internet? You mean the F*CKING FORD MOTORS WEBSITE? THAT internet? *SIGH*.

We test drive the car (nice vehicle, btw, but underpowered). We wrap it up, and he wants me to come inside the dealer so his manager can 'get me a price'. My morbid curiosity gets the best of me and I agree. We sit down in some dank wood paneled room, and after 10 minutes of making me wait with Michael Bolton playing (is this some kind of Abu Graib technique their trying?), in comes the sales manger. Big, surly, slicked back hair a55hole. I point out the pricing issue immediately. He looks at me and says, " Well we've gotta eat, ya know. We got costs to cover, but we can talk. When you are ready to move on this, give us a call." And plops a piece of paper in front of me reflecting an offer, WITH the $5995 markup. I leave, never to return.

Part II

I go to Toyota of Seattle. I had contacted them about the new FJ. As soon as one was on the lot, a sales man contacted me. I go and the car is sold (it was sold before it made it off the truck). I go in the dealership, nothing fancy, but nice clean modern showroom. I ask the salesman about prices on any car. " We sell them for the sticker price." I ask about him about promotions or cash back offers. "Hey, if you see a cash back offer, we will honor that. In fact, lets check the system to see if there are cash back offers right now."

And that FJ that everyone is scouring the earth for? They sell them at the stick price with no markup.

Did I mentiong the 2007 Camry looks AWESOME. $31k loaded. Oh yeah....NAVIGATION IS AVAILABLE.




*sigh*