Recently I was in the market for a new to me, but used - Erik Garcia
Recently I was in the market for a new to me, but used vehicle. I haven't bought a car in over 10 years because both of my cars are paid off and who wants to rush into a car payment? Anyhow, My two Ford's are over ten years old and the mileage is getting up there, so sooner or later it was inevitable that I was going to have to get a younger vehicle. I'm not made of money, but my credit was ok, so I figured I needed to start looking for something within my budget. I was really looking at a Chevy Trax at Hertz Car Sales on Fulton Avenue, because it seemed in my price range (around 19K), but I hadn't run any credit checks because I want to avoid as many hard inquiries as possible. My thinking was I should go to a bigger dealership first and have them run my credit and based off of what that looked like, I could take that and go to a smaller dealership with no problem. Since, I prefer Ford's in general and I go to Downtown Ford for all my parts anyways, I would start there. So, I go to the lot kind of later in the evening, mind you earlier in the evening I had been at a brewery, so I wasn't looking to do any test driving, I just wanted to get the feel for it. When I got there I met Nick Terrasi (General Sales Manager) and told him about my plans and he explained to me that whatever I thought I was going to do with the credit check, doesn't really work like that. He was kind enough to thoroughly explain the process to me and went through a bunch of financial scenarios with me to get a better idea of what to expect when I did run all the numbers. At the time, I probably didn't seem like a serious buyer, but he still took the time to talk with me, find some car options on the lot, grabbed keys and showed them all to me. Nick seemed like a real genuine guy and not just someone trying to push to sell you a vehicle. No pushiness or urgency to get me out of his hair. He really took some time with me and I got along with him well. We looked at the car I would eventually end up buying that night, but since I had another car at a different place in mind, I never sat down and ran any numbers with him or moved forward with anything that evening. I just told him I'd probably be back, not really knowing if that was true or not. Another night I went to the intended dealership (Hertz Car Sales on Fulton Avenue) to look at the car I did have in mind. As I was leaving the lot their Sales Manager, I forget his name, approached me and I explained pretty much the same as what I had told Nick. The interaction was completely different though. He definitely treated me like I was someone he wanted to get rid of quickly. I didn't like the cut of his jib. Even though they had the vehicle I was really looking at I decided, xxxx this place, and never went back. That weekend I went back to Ford and who do I run into as I was parking...Nick Terrasi. I told him that I was ready to run the numbers and see where the chips fall. He welcomed me in, but he was busy that day. So, he put me with Lenka. I never got her last name, but she was a very nice young lady with a very distinct Australian accent. She was a pleasure to work with. We went for a test drive, talked about life in general and how she ended up here in the US, etc. We got back to the lot, we sat down and went through the whole sales process. She was very attentive and just a sweet person in general. Like I said, a pleasure to work with. I ended up with a car that day and I don't have any inkling of buyers remorse. I ended up driving the new vehicle to the bay area for my daughters volleyball tournaments and I noticed that when I pressed on the brakes at high rates of speed, there was a definite, almost violent vibration in the car. Generally due to warped rotors. So, I called Lenka and explained the situation. She got me in right away to get it looked at. I took a test drive with Ed (the main mechanic) he confirmed, they got me a ride to and from my home and so far so good. I'm completely happy
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