We received phone calls regularly, trying to get us to trade again! Excuse me? Once burned, twice shy! We told them over and over that it would be a cold day in hell before ever stepping foot in the showroom again. You gotta give then E for effort; they kept calling!
In the meantime, we decided it was time to figure a way to take our car with us without one person driving it and the other driving the Motorhome. We decide to rent a dolly from Uhaul. The salesperson showed us several that he said would meet our needs.
I needed to make sure I could lift it up and put it on the motorhome ball. The attendant lifted it up, without any problem, and moved it around. I thought, “If he can do it, so can I.” I couldn’t lift it off the ground! My husband lifting it was not an option, and by this time, he had double-vision (we think a small stroke) and couldn’t or shouldn’t drive.
I happened to see an advertisement for a Demke Dolly located in Northern Arizona. We were heading to a workamper job in South Dakota and really needed that Dolly! Driving the car behind Shirl driving the Motorhome was a nightmare! Fortunately, his double vision was horizontal. We tried to hook it into the shaft, and it wasn’t fitting. The guys were ready to give up. I couldn’t allow Shirl to drive either vehicle! It had to fit! I would be nuts by the time we got to the job. I suggested if the seller drilled another hole in the shaft, it might work. He thought about it for a few minutes and decided to try it! If it worked, he got a sale, and I kept my sanity! After breaking two drill bits, he got the hole in the shaft. It worked like a charm. We paid him full price, hooked up, and headed for South Dakota.
After our job in South Dakota, we returned to Arizona for the winter. In a weak moment, we decided to trade up again. Why not? We would get a keyless entry, manual and a jack! We looked at the used cars available and fell in love with a white Honda Fit with more bells and whistles than our Red Rover. We checked carefully, and our Sir Fit, the White Knight, had all the things that were missing the first time and Cruise control! The glove compartment had a manual, not the 8 x 5 sheets of paper they tried to pass on us the last time. We agreed on a price and
not a penny out of our pockets. AND we were to be in and out in two hours, or we would walk.
Everything went as planned until we were ready to sign The Papers! The salesperson came back and said, “Sorry, I missed this on the quote; we need $780.00 more to close the deal”. Since we were such a push over the last time, they thought we would roll over and play dead.
Not this time! We said, “Sorry, we told you not a dime out of our pockets, so thank you very much for all your help, but we are going to pass.” We walked out and drove home, laughing all the way.
About 10 minutes later, the phone rang, and the salesperson said, “Come back, we will do it.
So back we went, and said, “That is good, but remember you have to get this done in two hours of we will walk out.” This time they did get it done.
Just so you think that we were pretty smart consumers? The kicker is on the way.
Much later, we discovered how they were able to kick in the money!
Wait for it! You are gonna love this!
We were towing the car on the Dolly on the way to a new job in California. We stopped to do some shopping and checking the straps on the Dolly. I noticed a screw in the rear tire of the car, and it was slack. It just happened that we were next to a tire shop, and it was still open. We took the car off the Dolly, and the guy informed us that ALL of the tires were not legal; they were worn so much. He further informed us he shouldn’t patch it. We promised him we would only drive far enough to get hew tires. He agreed to plug it to stay inflated for a short time, but we paid to put it on the front, which would be on the Dolly. It was done at $40.00. And we were able to safely get to Seattle, WA. We went to Discount Tire and bought 4 new tires at over $400.00.
Unbeknownst to us, we had driven for nearly a year on bald tires!
The dealership didn’t give a damn if we blew a tire wrapped around a tree or
worse!! A sale was made, and we were screwed again. I know what you are
thinking! We should have checked.
The mileage on the car at the time of the purchase was 13,000 miles. Have you ever heard of tires wearing out that fast?
Do you think that we will EVER talk to the dealership again? Nope! We drive across Phoenix for service at another Honda garage.