Toyota Sales - BITTER

I'm pulling this one out from last year because it really gets me still to this day. I was in the market for a new SUV in August of 2007 and I went into my local Toyota dealership to inquire about leasing a Highlander. Everyone is very nice and we drive one around a bit. We like it and decide to sit and work the numbers out with the salesman.

This is where it goes south.

The salesman starts trying to convince me to buy the car. He tells me for just a little more than the amount I'd be paying on the 3 year lease, I could do a 5 year loan and own the car. I tell him that I don't want to own it. (My father has been a mechanic for 30+ years and highly recommends against owning your car from a maintenance cost perspective.) I tell him that I don't want to get locked into owning an pure gasoline vehicle, given what I viewed as oil troubles on the horizon that would lead to mass adoption of alternative engines.

Now we get the "big gun" from the back room. I repeat everything to him and he treats me like I'm ridiculous. He then goes for the bottom of the car sales scum barrel and rolls out this line, "Well, if you can't afford it...." at which time I told him, "Thanks but no thanks." My family got up and walked out of the dealership and ended up leasing a Honda Pilot instead.

So we go another 9 months into the future on this story and what happens? Oil starts the skyrocket toward $145 per barrel, gas goes over $4 a gallon, and the SUV market falls through the floor while everyone under the sun is trying to score a hybrid. Granted, the oil market crashed and normalized again, but it still doesn't change the fact that the car market was changed forever because of where we are in the history of fuel.

If I remembered the name of the "big gun" I would definitely have gone back to Toyota and had some words, but instead, I'll just have to give Toyota a BITTER.