As if buying a home wasn’t enough, we’re also in the market for a car. Our Toyota Corolla two door hatchback just isn’t big enough for the three of us, and with another baby on the way, we definitely need a bigger car. Last time we went on vacation in our Corolla we could barely do the speedlimit (130 Km/h) without redlining the car. Also we had the thing packed so tight people probably thought we were moving.
So we want one of those mini-van / car hybrids. That will let me preserve my self-esteem by not joining my friends’ mini-van club. So today when a real estate agent didn’t show up we figured we’d go look at some cars. Renault has a dealership near us so we decided to go look at the Renault Scenic.
I must admit I was attracted to this model because of their snappy commercials. We drive by the dealership in Boulogne-Billancourt and of course there is no parking so we have to find a space on the street. This is an advantage because they don’t see us pull up and they don’t see what kind of car we’re driving.
Now in the US I hate going into car dealerships. I’ve seen my parents get sucked many times, and I must admit the one time I went shopping for me I bought a car right away. So I was cringing going inside. I was quite surprised when we walked right in and weren’t even greeted.
We walked over to the Scenic and looked in the trunk. We got inside. We walked around the car. A few salespeople said Bonjour and that was it. We looked at another model. Came back to the original. Got back in. I now had some questions and was actually wanting someone to come help us!
Finally a woman came by and politely asked if we’d like some information. We took her up on it and asked about the sizes and features. We gave us a brochure and then after answering our questions she casually left us alone to continue looking at the car.
After we were done we quitely walked right out the front door. No one tried to stop us. No hard sell tactics. Heck, no sales tactics at all! It was very nice. First time I actually enjoyed going into a car dealership.
The salesman at the Citroën dealership was slightly more interested in us. He offered a test drive for the following day. In France you have to schedule them in advance, you can’t just walk in and test drive a car. Actually Renault had 3 cars ready for test drives, it was a big marketing deal they had going on.
Finally we went to Toyota. We couldn’t get anyone to talk to us there, but we didn’t need any help we were just there to look and get first impressions. Again, we left without even being noticed.
So why is it so painful in the US and so easy in France? For that, you’ll have to read the next installment. Just follow the tag buying a car.
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