My Little Rant

In all the years I've been doing this -- over 11 -- I've never actually done this. I've never actually just done a rant. A personal complaint. I mean, look, I don't have a LOT of readers and it's not like my complaints will be heard, and, in all honesty, I'm mostly a fairly satisfied guy, so it's just not something I do. Having said that, I'm frustrated and thought I'd vent. At least a few might see it. Normally I try to write something helpful; not today. This will just be sort of therapeutic for me.

I have driven Hyundais for years now. I have found them to be safe, reliable, reasonably priced, and good gas mileage. If an American car company would do that, I'd go with them. They don't. One key element is size. I want practicality and such, so I aim for smaller vehicles with low cost of maintenance and good mileage, but I'm long in the legs and need what no American automaker gives -- leg room. Odd that the Korean car would do it, but they do. So, I drive Hyundais.

My current one was 10 years old and had over 200,000 miles on it and things were starting to give out, so I thought I'd trade it in and get a "new" one. Used, actually. No need for a brand new one. So I went online to my local Hyundai dealer and looked at their listings for used cars. I sorted for low-to-high prices and looked for gas mileage and price. And they had a beauty. Now, I'm not much for "gadgets"; I don't need all the bells and whistles. But this one had it all. It had what I needed -- leg room, good mileage, low miles, and less than $13,000 for a 2016 model. Really good. But it also had the extras. The website listed all sorts of goodies. There was a navigation system, a bluetooth-to-link-your-phone-to system, heated seats, leather seats, dual temperature zones, automatic temperature control, keyless entry, keyless ignition, backup camera, alarm system ... the works. Sounded wonderful. And it was in a color I liked (as if that mattered much). To top it all off, I wasn't interested in a large monthly payment or a long-term loan and this one said I could get 3.15% interest for 72 months and pay $172 a month to drive it home. That's what it claimed.

Well, I printed out the promise and the info on the car and went on down. Nice sales-kid. (Sorry, at my age most people are "kids".) He did a fine job of talking it up and showing it off. No razzle-dazzle. No, "Sorry, that car isn't available, but maybe you'd like ..." He didn't recommend a double-the-price new car instead. Just let us see what we wanted to see and try it out. I noticed right off that there was no space in the dash for a navigation system. There was no provision for a phone connection, either. No leather seats, no dual temperature zones, no ... well, none of those "bells and whistles". In fact, it turned out that the car had been purchased and retained by the dealer as a loaner for people getting their cars worked on. That was it. It didn't offer keyless anything and had only the standard equipment. Well, okay. It drove nice. It wasn't experiencing any of the problems my older car was. I fit in it. All good.

So, with i's dotted and t's crossed, we went in for the "What's it gonna cost?" section of the visit. We knew, right? I mean, the website told me what my trade-in was worth, what my loan would be, what my payments would be. I could "Drive it now!" the website had told me for just $156 a month. "Here," the website said, "prequalify, print this out, and take it with you." And I did. So they came back with "Oh, your trade in isn't worth anything at all" and "Your payments will be for a year longer than we promised at $100/month beyond what we promised as long as you give us an additional $3000 as a down payment," I was not amused.

Why do they do this? Why do they promise so much and deliver so little? Why do they bother putting, "You can pay this month for this long" when they know you can do neither? Why do they tell me "Your trade in is worth more than you would need as a down payment" online and then tell me in person, "Yeah, we're doing you a favor to take it off your hands and you'll have to pay us much more than that"? I understand that sometimes the car advertised and the car you get aren't the same -- "Sorry. We sold that one. But here's another." -- but this wasn't the case. It was the identical car -- same VIN number -- as the advertised one, but lacked all the amenties that made it so much better. Why do they do that? The funny thing is that lots of readers will tell me, "Hey, that's just what car dealers do." And I would agree, but why? I would think that they might want to make customers who find them trustworthy and reliable, customers who would then rave about how trustworthy and reliable these people are and "You should shop there, too!" But, no. They all want to promise big and deliver small and you'd better like it.

I said at the outset that this wasn't something helpful. I guess, in all this, I will disagree with me. I guess I'll try to do what I wish they would do. I'll deliver more than promised. Here are some "helpful thoughts". Sin promises big and delivers small and you'd better like it. It doesn't matter if you think you have it all figured out; sin doesn't deliver what it promises. Worse, it infects everyone and everything. The trick, then, is not to be like that. "Let your 'yes' be yes and your 'no' be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation." (James 5:12) In a dark world, "Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Matt 5:16) We shouldn't be car dealers, known for promising a lot and delivering a little. We ought to be living lives that will cause people to ask, "Why are you so different and how do I get it?" Lessons from a bad experience at a car dealer.