Did you really ask me that?!!?!?

Okay, if you have been reading our blog for a while, then you know that we are in search of a new baby-mobile for me to use to haul BG and all his/her stuff in. My dear little Mazda has seen better days and next week, it will find a temporary home in Jason's parents' yard while we try to sell it. But I digress.

Jason and I have been doing all our car shopping together. We have all heard jokes about women car shopping alone, and if you haven't seen the badger commercial on YouTube, then you really must. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvoaztR140Q

But I thought SURELY that wouldn't happen to me. I mean, I am definitely an informed buyer. I have done my homework, so when I pulled into the Volvo dealership today, I expected to be treated as though I were a serious car buyer. I should have gotten back in my car and driven away when the first question the salesman asked me was, "What color would you like?" WHAT?!? But I really wanted to test drive the station wagon AND the SUV (XC90), so ignored my better judgment. I told him that didn't matter and I wanted to know what kind of engine the cars had. I proceeded to then ask him several other questions. But then we left on a test drive, and I wasn't even driving the car!?!?! How can you test drive the car if you don't drive it? He said it was for liability purposes, but as I pulled back into the dealership after the test drive, I commented that it was weird that I couldn't drive OFF the lot but I could drive ON the lot. He didn't respond. Oh, and while on the test drive, when I finally got to drive, he asked me how it was handling. I replied, "I don't know. You keep telling me where to go and it has all been straight roads so I can't really tell." Again, should have walked away.

But then, in my quest to find a bathroom when we got back to the dealership, I ended up taking a tour of the service department, and meeting with the SALES MANAGER! When he 'worked me up a deal', he came back and started trying to make me buy the darn car. I told him for the 5th time, "I am not buying a car today and no, I'm not telling you how much I plan to put down." He asked me what my time line for getting a car was, and told him that it was somewhere in the next few months, probably before the baby came. To this he replied, "Oh I didn't even know you were pregnant." WHAT??? Have you looked at me lately? Gracious, I hope I am pregnant. If not, we have a serious problem with overeating and some weird alien has taken over my stomach and is kicking all the time. Then, after repeating myself a few more times that I was NOT buying a car today, he said, "Hand me the phone and let me call my boss and tell him you don't want to make a deal today (sigh)". I finally had it, and the gloves came off. I told him that this is the 10th dealership I have been to, and the first one that I went to without my husband. We had NEVER gotten this far (hadn't even given our phone number out at any others!) because we didn't want to, and I thought that the reason I was in this position was that I was alone without my husband, and if he were with me, they would have let me leave the first time I tried to. At that, I left.

So I have learned two lessons. 1) Do not go to a car dealership without Jason because car salesmen (sorry Dad) are sexist and try to take advantage of females and 2) Don't be afraid to be rude when they are rude to you first.