Life drama 2

So, I pretty much decided I want a Kia Sportage EX for my next vehicle.  This decision took me about a month to come to.  In the meantime, I've been looking at the options, test driving, sending Teh Dad and Teh Sister to test drive, getting price quotes from USAA, Navy Federal, cars.com, edumnds.com...  I've been doing lots of homework related to Kia Sportage.  I'm trying to find the best price and the best time to buy between now and November.  And its tricky.


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 Lets start with, do I really want to spend $25,000 (prob plus some) on a vehicle?  Do I really?  No.  Would I to get what I want?  Yes.  Do I really need all those things that I want?  No.  Do I really want all those things that I want because this is the first car I'll have ever bought for myself and I plan on keeping it a very long time?  Yes.  Will I give myself grief down the road for not getting those things that I want?  Yes.  Do I really want to spend over $25k on a vehicle?  No.  Will I?  Probably.  Will I regret it?  Some.

See what I just did there?  That's pretty much a several time a day conversation in my head.  Ugh.  I'm having pre-buyers remorse, what is that?!

Then it comes to dealing with my car now.  Which is finally sorted out, but was very tricky there for a while.  That will be more of a headache come October and we're transferring the car to the guy buying it, so I'm saving that blog for a later time, when I need to rant.  Which I'm sure I'll need to rant, because it will be a situation where I'm having to deal with locals, which usually comes with a frustrating lack of English (on both sides), spending money (hopefully not mine), and will ultimately end up with me no longer owning Teh Kaar, which in turn means walking to work.  Good times.

"You're going too fast" warning...  NOT ok.

Since I know what I'm looking for, I'm trying to get a jump start on the actual purchase.  Shoulda Been a Cowgirl and I went on a Kia Dealership adventure, to include finding the dealership and actually test driving... twice.  The first test drive was on the base model which didn't impress me at all.  I was only allowed to drive it down the street and back since it was someone's already purchased vehicle.  Well then.  We went back later and test drove the highest model and loved it.  The dealer didn't really hassle us, it was nice.  He let us drive it, gave me his card, easy day.  I think he knew because we were Americans (which isn't hard to tell when I open my mouth) we weren't actually going to buy.  I considered it for a moment, but the price of everything in Bahrain is so inflated because their money is worth more than USD.  I also considered the fact that I'm buying a new car when I get back to the states because having to ship my car means time without a car.. which was the issue to begin with.  And buying a car means having to ship it back, which means being without a car, which was back at square 1.  So I got over that idea quickly.  In addition, it would have been the European model, which was the engine I didn't like.  So, definitely no.

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Then I went to base, because there is a car dealer on base, who deals mostly with Ford, Dodge, Chrysler, and Jeeps.  He was talking to the person in front of me about a Nissan, so I kinda got my hopes up he could help me with a Kia.  Instead he told me "there's a reason they have those warranties," and tried to sell me a Ford Escape.  A manual Ford Escape, after I had clearly said, "I want an automatic, my car now is a manual, and my clutch foot is tired."  I wasn't joking.  People kill me.  Actually, I wanted to kill him because he called during my sleep time, which is pretty much a death sentence to the caller, no matter who it is, unless I really like you.  I was sad that he couldn't help me because they usually give such great deals.  But, I wanted to kill him, so it is probably for the best that I don't see him again.

I talked to Teh Dad and he said he'd test drive an American one for me.  Which he did last weekend, with Teh Sister.  They liked it.  He really liked the SX, because it had the "get up and go", but that's the most expensive model, which I don't even want to pay for.  Teh Sister gave me the email address of the dealer.  When I spoke to Teh Dad and Teh Sister, both spoke highly of the dealer.  Great, a decent car salesman.  Win.

I emailed him a list of things that I required, things I thought were nice options, and things that I didn't want/care for.  This is his email back to me:

Me = not impressed.

1.  No professional writes in all caps.  I've seen people claim they write in all caps because they are dyslexic...  Well, that's what spell check is for, welcome to the 21st century.  You aren't sending me a navy message, so fix yourself.
2.  I'm interested in buying a very expensive car.  Tell me what I'm looking at paying.  I don't care that it isn't November, and there are potentially deals now that won't be available down the road.  I need to know how much I'm spending.  Because that could very much affect other things when it comes to money and the MD situation.
3.  He led Teh Dad and Teh Sister to believe that he really wanted to help me.  He even told them, "Well, I need to eat in November too," implying that he didn't need a sale right away, and was happy to help them help me.  He didn't seem all that happy to help me.  He talked to Teh Dad about payment options and down payments, but he didn't mention any of that to me in the emails.  Again, 21st century, welcome to it.  Email is the way to communicate now, get with it.
4.  Is there something somewhere that says if you don't thank a military member for their service you will get your tires slashed?
5.  My list of "must haves" was 4 things long.  Automatic, keyless entry, power windows/doors, and the reverse assistance thingy.  All of these things are available at the lowest, non-base model.  Again, not impressed.

At this point, I'm willing to find the place with the best deal online and head straight there after getting off a plane in NC.  I'll be tired, grouchy, and probably down right mean, along with being excited over being in America, which means I'll probably be pretty no-nonsense about the whole situation. Get me the best deal, I'll buy your car.  Don't give me a good deal?  Keep your damn car.  Easy day.

OMG WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Teh Bear warned me that this adventure wasn't over.  I told him I knew, and that was just all the more blog posts/rants for the future.  See, I'm always blog preparin'!