On Saturday just past we put an order in for our new car. A 2004 Toyota Echo, Manual transmission, no a/c, no frills, basic as hell car. We're waiting to see what they can find to decide on the colour -- we prefer black, but if the dark grey is less of a wait we'll go with that instead. Apparently people in KW don't buy cars without a/c. We test drove on Saturday afternoon, walked back into the dealership and ordered it.

We have the bank loan pre-approval for 7.5% but the current special with Toyota financing is 3.9%. It's a $1700 difference over the length of the loan. We have nothing to lose and $1700 to win by applying for the dealer financing. So we spent another hour or so upstairs applying for the financing with a lovely young woman named Melanie. We finally left the dealership on Saturday around 5pm with a temporary bill of sale and the expectation of two phone calls today -- one from Melanie about financing, the other from Rheal about where our future car is at the moment.

So this morning we walked over to our insurance agent's office to get all the preliminary quotes finalized and the insurance taken care of. Oddly enough we need the VIN of our car to insure it! *sighs* It's a big circle of patience. We need to wait on Rheal with the VIN so we can then get the insurance so we could then get the loan finalized. For the most part all I can do right now is wait. I'm not good at patience. I can be very patient and slow with coming to a decision but once I've decided I want it done NOW.

Anyway, all of this has been extremely straightforward and game-free. We took the sticker price on the Echo with no dickering because we decided (before we went near the dealership) that the sticker was a reasonable price and what we might gain by haggling wasn't worth the stress. Period. It wasn't out of naivety or ignorance it was an informed decision. We've pretty much decided everything on face value. Anything else, like the all-weather mats that Rheal marked included, is gravy.

The financing from Toyota at 3.9%? Is gravy.

So when I return a call from a woman at the dealership that we never met or spoke to, I really didn't expect or want to start the games.

Coming off of hold after hellos and her getting our file.

Sandi: Linda, I have good news! You've been approved for the financing.

Me: That's wonderful!

Sandi: There's just one thing. They're going to need a down payment.

Me: Oh? How much of a down payment?

Sandi: Well they want $1500 down to approve you. They were asking for $2200 but I've been working all morning on working them down to the $1500. That's the absolute lowest they can go.

Me: (I just let my filters go here. I'm so proud of myself.) We can't do that.

Sandi: Pardon?

Me: We cannot pay that. That's why we applied for 0 down; we are unable to make a down payment.

Sandi: Well they won't give you the financing without it. You know, with the down payment your monthly payments would be less too!

Me: What about a higher percentage with nothing down?

Sandi: No, they won't approve that. Maybe you should discuss this with Mike?

Me: I don't need to discuss this with Mike. We cannot afford a down payment and we don't need to. We have a bank loan with 0 down. We are buying this car with or without your financing. We'd like to finance with Toyota, but we don't need to at all. If this is a hard limit then we'll be going with our bank loan.

Sandi: More pressure that we can find the money *somewhere*

Me: You know, I'll talk to Mike about this. I'll phone back later.

~~ ~ ~ ~

It's been two hours now since that phone call and I am fucking livid. I was pretty pissed when I hung up, but with 2 hours to stew on it I've managed to work up a pretty good lather. So has Mike. We're to the point now that we're discussing cancelling the order on the Echo and buying elsewhere. I did what the woman urged me to do; I called Mike. I guess he was supposed to tell the little woman where the money for the down payment was going to magically appear from. Oddly enough he's now pretty fucking angry that a stranger called instead of the person we agreed to deal with.

What's sad about this is this woman in her fumbling 5 minute phone-call has ruined the rapport and goodwill we had built with Rheal and Melanie over an afternoon. I'd like to think that it was pretty obvious that in this process I am the number cruncher, the one to convince, the one to sell. Mike's paycheque is paying for it. But I'm the one that pays the bills.

So to have a stranger phone me and tell me to talk to Mike when I give a clear, firm no has me absolutely livid. To have this same stranger present a demand like she's done me some sort of favour has me spitting nails. That this has come out of left field has me seriously considering taking our $20000 somewhere else. Sandi has no idea about Mike and my dynamics, has no idea who she should be selling to, or how she should have sold it. She gambled and treated me like the little woman. That move most likely cost them $1800 dollars in financing profit and if there isn't a decent recovery from Melanie it may cost them the sale.

And now I have to go call Melanie back and see if they're willing to salvage our sale.

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