My path to the Pathfinder.

How to make a really long story short. Cut it in half? Nah...still too long. Tell part of it? Maybe but all of it feels important. Bullets and segments? Let's give it a try.

Early March.

• Wednesday. Long day, results in a long car cruise in Salem.
• Drive by car lot, spots a good deal on a car I like.
• Priscilla to car sales man "why such a deal?" Car sales man "we like to move things around here."

Yep half of you already know where this story is going.

• Tell Adam and Step dad about good deal.
• They head down to the car lot. Under the hood looks good. Test drive went well.
• We had went down as a family. But I went home with the kids-a car lot is zero fun for kids.
• Lets make a deal. Offer accepted. Car lot takes cash only (which is what we offered but debit wasn't good enough). Car dealer wants a cash deposit until tomorrow when back re-opens. Husband phone calls the wife...
• Wife says no cash deposits...bad idea. Car dealer tells husband to lie to wife. Car dealer wants $ now.
• Car dealer now calls wife, I still say no cash deposit we'll wait until tomorrow! Car dealer tells husband, lies and says I say it's ok to do the cash deposit. Adam knows how uneasily I change my mind and calls me.
• No, no, no.
• Adam makes a hand shake deal to come back in the morning. No cash deposit. Later that night. We talk, we want the car but wish the dealer wasn't so darn sketchy!
• Thursday morning. Feeling bad for it so I'm trying hard not to focus on this man's creepiness. He didn't look nice on the outside, I was hoping that didn't mean he wasn't nice on the inside...but he had lied so easily!!!
• We go down to buy our car.

Are ideas pouring into your head? Do you have a good assumption as to where this is going yet?

• The car is too good of a deal...but maybe the economy is that bad? I try to bargain down the price to save us money just in case something minor ends up being wrong with the car, no bueno the car dealer gets offended and caught-me-off-guard snappy :(
• This guy is creeping me out big time. I try to shake it off and inquire about his family, his children and...it didn't really help much.
• As Adam signs papers we listen as he assures us this is such a good deal... Blah, blah, blah!
• We drive off in our sparkling clean "good running" 2002 Saturn Vue with 90,000 for only 4,500 (plus he was paying for tags and title transfer).

Here's the super-huge-pit-in-my-stomach sad part...

• Approx 3 hours later...the transmission goes completely wild.
• Adam's furious, I try to remain cool headed. Knowing we just paid cash and Adam signed an as is warranty.
• I call the car lot. I know some how this is not only unethical, but very bad business.
• The dealer had no idea-"WOW"-and asks us to bring it back, he will have a mechanic there to meet us and look at it.
• It was a slooow gentle car ride back, we basically coasted. 
• The whole time I racked my brain, "What does that 3 day consumer law thing pertain to exactly?" "Is that lemon law still in effect? What are defines a "lemon" exactly" "Real estate has laws against such bad business, laws that protect buyers and sellers, there has to be laws against this, right?"
• I share all my thoughts with Adam. I thought up a some-what intimidating argument, not knowing what exactly I should be hoping for.
• I knew a cash refund just wasn't gonna happen today, Adam wanted a solution today. No car dealer was gonna trade 4,500 for a completely non-serviceable vehicle, no matter what.
• Adam and I both agreed he was too mad and I sounded smart, and therefor I would do the talking.
• Barely made it to the car lot. The dealer "had no idea" he is shocked. "He had test drove it with several other people car never showed any signs of trouble." I half way believed him, until later a co-worker contradicted that statement.
• I play Mrs. Nice Guy. Car dealer tells me flat out, no money back...so predictable!-I had to try!
• Mechanic looks under the hood. Mechanic makes a lot of discouraging grumbles. He makes a call, on his end "No ones gonna like that news"..."Non serviceable ay."
• Mechanic and car dealer talk. I know they'd preferred privacy but I stood in close anyway. The machanic was nice and genuine. At this point the engine won't even turn.
• Me and the dealer begin to debate, he says he'll split the cost of repairs. Um "Non-serviceable, the repairs cost more than the car...NO", I was not dumping half of 6,000 into that Vue, had we wanted to spend $7,500 on a car it would not have been this one in particular.
• We debate some more, I keep my cool, I speak kindly. I bring up my idea of good business dealing and ethics. He gets out-of-no-where-mad. This catches me off guard. I excuse myself and apologize for offending him I asked for his understanding of my situation. I tried to understand his. He cools a little.
• We talk I refuse anything less than a refund or full value exchange. He says heck no. "I'll pay half the repairs only and that itself is a favor." He is mad again.
• I don't even care anymore. I say I'll have friends who ask about this car sitting in my drive way and I'll have to share my story of a bad business deal.
• He gets furious starts yelling in my face, pulls out cash and says "take this $10, no this $20 and buy signs for all I care." And continues barking at me.
• I'm totally caught off guard, I start shaking, heart pounding, I could feel the heat in my face. And as this guy is being completely irrational, I'm speechless, I just listen in total shock.
• Adam sees I need space. Decides to try cooling this guy down by stepping in to play "good cop".

Now here you might think, this car lot guy couldn't have been that mean cause Adam didn't react in defense. Here's the deal. This guy crushed me big time. Adam didn't step in to save the day b/c he fully knows that I don't like to be "defended", I just don't. It comes from instinct, a battle I haven't fully won b/c I hardly ever have to fight it these days. It's been a long while since some one's been up in my face like that. So truly Adam did me and himself a favor.

• While Adam and creeper worked on chatting up a deal. I sat back and for the first time since maybe my dad died I wept, big time, I was so frustrated, and truly I had forgotten how ill minded some people are, and the idea of having lost so much money-yikes. My throat gets all chocked up thinking about it.
• A man and his daughter came to the car lot, I saw this and simply said "I just bought this car and 3 hours later the transmission blew, it won't even start now". The dad asked what the dealer was doing about it. I said "We're either out a few more grand of we're taking a significant loss". I had wanted to say so much more but respectfully I held back. Car dealer dude didn't look to happy when the dad and daughter walked quickly off the lot. I wondered then if I should ask for that $20 for those signs he suggested.
• Adam and car dealer man keep talking...any time I over heard anything about an exchange for half the value I shouted "NOPE", anytime I heard half the repairs paid I again shouted "NOPE". Absolutely not without first talking to a lawyer.
• The whole time they talked which actually wasn't that long, I cried and cried I couldn't stop. I couldn't handle the thought of such a financial loss, not b/c I'm so attached to money but b/c since I've seen friends lose jobs and homes, and I'm deeply thankful for every penny I have. I didn't even care if it was a $25 loss it's still $25!
• I knew something was deeply wrong with this picture. All I wanted to do was go home and look up some law in favor of our situation. 
• About 25 minutes after my little break down. Adam and the car dealer walked back over to me, Adam could barely stand seeing me sob-this sobbing thing doesn't come so naturally to me, Adam knows this. Car dealer man I think even knows this, I sensed some remorse in his eyes.
• Car dealer guy says "I feel bad now b/c your crying", I could of cared less about him feeling bad, I thought he should of felt that way the instant he found out about the no transmission, non serviceable car he sold us.
• Car dealer says "Do you like that Pathfinder over there?" I look with tear vision and said "I don't know". He said "It's yours! I have it on the lot for 4,995 I promise that one is worth every penny." I shrugged.
• Adam's excited, he wants it. I said "I'd still rather go home and look up our states lemon law", I didn't want to spend $4,500 on a 1995 Nissan Pathfinder, for that price or that year I would have shopped, or saved up more $ for something better. Plus I didn't want to do another deal with this guy.
• The guy "It's the best that I can do", He asks again "Do you like it", I say "I don't really know what I like right now", he's moderately frustrated now. But I didn't care my head was pounding, vision blurred, spirit crushed all I wanted was to go home and sleep, to sleep and wake up to Thursday morning all over again.
• Finally knowing if the lemon law hadn't changed, he'd either have to a) fix our car-which we already had a mechanic willing to testify that the vehicle wasn't serviceable, b) exchange for a car of equal value or c) give us a refund. You could bet he'd do an exchange before a refund, and who knows how long all this filing, and lawyering, and paper work would take.
• So finally I said..."Yeah, whatever". We test drove it. Adam liked it. I could tolerate it.
• Adam drops us off at home during the test drive. Keep in mind P and Ash were with us this entire time, crazy bored, super tired, and frustrated with the limited attention.
• Adam goes back to do the exchange.

Now, are you ready for the jaw dropper!? 

• Car dealer says..."Hey man, I'm gonna need difference", grrrr! Adam just wants to get a running, decent car, he doesn't know for sure if there's a law, he is a see it to believe it kind of guy. Adam wants something for our money he doesn't want to wait for this guy to change his mind and go back to one of his pitiful offers...Adam agrees to pay the difference, huge gasp, I know.
• Guess what that same day they had the vue up for sale again sticker read "Valued" at $7,500!" Who knows what they were asking for it tho, we didn't care to stop and ask.

This is an event I wish to erase from memory. I would prefer it never took up another moment of my time. But I honestly can't bare the thought of anyone else ever having such an experience. There are risks associated with buying a used car, but no one should ever buy a car and have it not work 3 hours later. There IS a lemon law that protects you and most lawyers will take on your case with out any out of pocket expenses to you if they know they will win. So call a lawyer, then you'll know how to negotiate and when to settle.


Had I set out to publicly humiliate this man, I would have named him and then fully disclosed all his insults and every lie we caught him in. I really haven't dealt with someone so irrational since years really. But that's not what this post is about. I can't even bring myself to name the car lot at least not in my blog. (I did share the car lot name on my facebook page).

Just be aware...it doesn't always work out this way but more often if it seems to good to be true it's just is.

Check in tomorrow for the prologue!