When an option isn't optional
Until his retirement, Buz Winchester was one of the most savvy lobbyists in Annapolis. As the chief advocate for the Maryland State Bar Association before the Maryland General Assembly, he kept a close eye on a wide range of bills and developed a keen nose for "snakes" -- those deceptive little bills that conceal their true purpose but inevitably line the pockets of some special interest.
Winchester was always a vigorous advocate for his client, but he sometimes found time to lend his skills as a legislative herpetologist to reporters, including this former member of the State House Bureau.
It is thus with great pleasure that I pass along Winchester's account of his recent foray into the jungle of car-buying, where there is also an abundance of reptiles.
Recently my wife and I decided to buy a new car after our trusty 1994 Volvo croaked after 208,000 miles. As you may remember, my wife has worked for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation for over 35 years and I’m the Chairman of the Maryland Green Building Council, so it should come as no surprise that we agreed to look for a hybrid vehicle, specifically the Toyota Prius.
Since we are both in our 60’s, and drive our vehicles well beyond their normal shelf life (Question: Do cars have a shelf life?), we decided to go for broke and buy the top of the line- a brand new Toyota Prius V! We did the necessary research and found that we could get this baby for under $30,000 if we bought the basic car without all the optional bells and whistles. By far the most elaborate bell or whistle was the NAVIGATION PACKAGE which would give us a DVD system with JBL AM/FM, 4 disc CD Changer, USB Port w/I Pod, Music Streaming via Bluetooth Blah, Blah ,Blah. Now Mike, my wife and I are simple folks. Give us a reasonably priced good bottle of wine, some cheese, a baguette, and some soothing music on a sunny Saturday afternoon and we’re happy. What is even more important when we are in the car together after 40 years of marriage we actually enjoy talking with each other without unnecessary distractions.
There were three other considerations that we factored into our decision: (1) Over 90% of the miles that we would put on our new car would be between our home in Galesville and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation near Annapolis; (2) Both my wife and I are part of a diminishing breed of drivers that actually use and know how to read a map; and, (3) Given my unfortunate disability that prevents me from understanding how to operate all these new and wonderful technological innovations (This E mail is about as complicated as it gets for me), having all of these doo dads only would give me something more to break. We agreed that the NAVIGATION PACKAGE was not something that would enhance our driving experience.
So there we were in a local car dealership right in the middle of the “Cash for Clunkers” extravaganza. A very nice young man approached and asked if he could help us. We said yes he could and told him we wanted to buy a Toyota Prius V. After the test drive and about an hour of hearing about things we already knew because we had done our research we placed down a $500 deposit and were told it may take a few weeks to find a Prius V because they were “selling like hotcakes!” (Well, maybe he didn’t actually say “hotcakes” because nobody under 50 years ever says “selling like hotcakes”.) We said that’s OK we’re patient people, after all we’ve waited 15 years to get a new car, so a month or so more wouldn’t be a problem. Before we left the dealership we made it clear in no uncertain terms that we did NOT want the NAVIGATION PACKAGE.
Over the past few weeks we heard from our nice young salesman on several occasions who with some excitement informed us that he had found a Prius V in the color we wanted. Then his tone changed. He told us unfortunately the vehicle he found had the NAVIGATION PACKAGE. We said “Sorry, please keep looking.” Finally, this week I decided to pay the dealership a visit. The nice young salesman saw me arrive and politely arranged a meeting with his manager so we could plot a strategy to locate and get us the car we wanted. When told of the dilemma, the manager frowned and shook his head. “I’m very sorry sir,” he said “ it may take us up to a year to get you a Prius V because they’re not making them without the NAVIGATION PACKAGE and we will have to special order one from Japan which will involve an additional shipping expense.” I replied “ Wait a minute isn’t the NAVIGATION PACKAGE an option.” He answered “Yeah it is, but it’s a mandatory option.”
In the next few days I intend to visit some used car lots.
Comments
A few years ago, when my wife and I were buying a new car, we had decided on either a 2008 or 2007 Honda Civic hybrid. Most area dealers had one or two of the 2007s left on the lot, but your options were more limited (color, etc). At one dealer, we explained that we had not yet made up our mind but would like to test drive both models, which we had already done at several other dealers. Our salesman told us, "Oh, we only have one 2007 in stock, and no 2008s. I don't know when we'll get a 2008." I agreed to test drive the 2007 and we began to discuss price, with the salesman very much delivering the "hard sell", explaining that the deal he could offer on THIS car--and only THIS car--was too good to pass up. After the test drive, I had agreed to take a look at financing options and was led back to the office. Right past a whole row of new 2008 hybrids. Needless to say, I did not purchase his 2007 great deal, nor any deal on a 2008.
Posted by: Mitch | September 28, 2009 11:47 AM
Please tell Mr. Winchester that his dealership is trying to pull the wool over his eyes. I founded the largest Prius enthusiast website in the world about 6 years ago, and I can tell you for sure that there are no "extra shipping charges" to custom-order a car from Japan. That's a flashing neon sign not to trust that dealership.
Posted by: Danny Cooper | September 28, 2009 1:13 PM
Dealers do stuff like this all the time. My friend wanted a Subaru Baja in a particular color w/leather seats (among other things). Dealer didn't have one, but would check. I can't count the number of calls he got where they had the right color, but never had the options he was looking for.
He gave up and bought it used. Less than 1-year old and he saved $8k+ over buying it new.
The only thing more reprehensible than cars salesman are politicians.
Posted by: Bill | September 28, 2009 1:42 PM
Pretty soon, "navigation packages" will be "mandatory options" on all vehicles so that they can be used to track our every move. It's happening first on the eco-friendly cars because they really don't trust us hippies not to commit some act of "terrorism" like telling a Hummer driver what they're doing to the environment.
Posted by: Big Brother | September 30, 2009 4:35 PM
I can so relate with this story! I am also looking for the exact same car as Mr. Winchester (2010 Prius V with NO package). The dealerships in my area were unable to even custom order one (yes, I inquired with several of them). Eventually after several weeks of research I figured out the dealerships in the NE states can, and now I have a pending custom order with one. However I am told it could be several weeks before my order could be filled, if at all.
I can also confirm that the custom order does not require extra shipping fees.
Posted by: Mihir | October 3, 2009 12:10 AM