The art of a deal

I love making a deal (and no, I’m not talking about the old TV game show). I love to call and research, iron out details, get the best deal possible, and basically direct projects from start to finish.

A prime example of this would be cars. I absolutely love shopping for vehicles. There is nothing more exhilarating to me than doing all of my research on a particular vehicle, walking into a dealership, narrowing down the search with a chosen salesperson, getting them to give me their “best price”, and then walking away when then can’t come up with something better. I’ll know what their bottom line is. I’ll know how much they paid for the car. And I get a rush because they think that they can get me to spend upwards of $4000-$8000 dollars more than that. It makes me laugh. Don’t get me wrong, I know that they need to make money on the car. So, if I can get the vehicle I want, for about $800 more than what they paid, then I’ve considered the deal a success. Most people will never know the thrill I get going through this process.

How did I get our yellow kayak? Well, the dealership had already offered me a pretty good deal on my first new car, (2001 VW Jetta) but I tested to water, so to speak. I happened to see a yellow kayak on the roof racks of a Chevy blazer, and even though I was ready to sign the deal anyway, I said, “I’ll sign this contract right now if you throw in that kayak over there, and roof racks to go with it.” Well… after the sales person and the manager had a closed door back office session, they come back and wham. I’m getting a new car, roof racks and a brand new wilderness systems kayak. It felt wonderful. The thrill! And that was with a new car. That thrill is even better with a used car. Can’t you imagine the deal I received on the Pathfinder? Yeah. It’s like that.

My friend Lil thinks that I should go into business buying cars for people and charging them half the difference of what I save them. This way I wouldn’t be tempted to buy a new car every other year, get to have that exhilaration of the hunt, and make some money in the progress.

So, anyone out there looking for a new car?