My father-in-law is in failing health and asked me if I... - jscottfaircloth
My father-in-law is in failing health and asked me if I would step in for him and help my mother-in-law find a new car. Of course... I'd do anything for them and was happy to help. But, also, felt the pressure a bit as I wanted to make sure I brought home a car he'd be pleased with... so I was probably paying a bit more attention to the little things than I otherwise might have. So, after test driving a few cars, we eventually zeroed in on Lexus ES350. It had to have low miles and the blind spot monitoring feature... those were both super important to my father-in-law as he's preparing her for life without him. Because of the "in-law" dynamic, out of the gate I was thinking CarMax because I thought that would just give me a bit of peace of mind buying from a big/well-known dealer. So, we got her trade in appraised there and paid the $200 fee to have a Lexus ES350 shipped in from their Richmond store.
While we waited though, I found a Lexus ES350 at Sterling Auto Imports. It was nearly identical vehicle with a few more miles (20K vs 14K) but was newer (2018 vs 2017 at Carmax). It drove perfect and was in near pristine condition except for a couple of relatively minor paint chips. Eddie assured me he would have those fixed, but I was hesitant to make a decision until I saw the Carmax one. Fast forward a couple of days... when the Carmax car arrived, it also had a paint chip issue on the back bumper but there had some "spidering" in the paint that I could see getting worse. I was still going to buy it as the salesperson assured me they would fix the issue. However, they called me back in a few hours and told me they fixed it. He sent my pictures of their "fix"... which apparently entailed slapping some miscolored touch up paint on the bumper. It looked worse than before.
Even then I was STILL going to take another look in person... again, because I was taking comfort in the "big box/brand" of Carmax. But, on the way back to Carmax with my mother-in-law, I said "let's take another look at that 2018... I really want to see that one again." So, we did. And I'm glad we did. First off, Eddie assured me that he would rectify the minor paint issue and it would look perfect. Again, the "in-law" pressure was strong and I really, really wanted my father-in-law to see a fairly perfect car... not a nice car ruined with some distracting touch up paint from walmart.
In the end, we made a deal for the car and I never made it back to Carmax. Thrilled to report that Eddie went above and beyond and he exceeded our expectations w/the paint correction. Unlike Carmax, he fixed it RIGHT and, indeed, made it look perfect. Additionally, Eddie matched Carmax's offer (which I thought was a good trade-in offer) on her car. Oh, and the car was priced well below Carmax... which allowed her to avoid a car payment... which was also important to my father-in-law.
So, in the end... Mother-in-law was happy... Father-in-Law was happy. And, Eddie/Sterling Auto Imports is who I'll call for my next car purchase (well, after my 2021 Ford Bronco arrives this week... which will be the one and only "new" car purchase of my life). BTW he's got a sweet Mercedes GT in the show room that looks sssssseeeexxxxxy.
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