Why I'm Scared of Buying My Next Car

We headed to Ocean Isle Inn several weekends ago to get salted and sunned. Yes! The "fun" of going to the beach. I was quite excited about the notion - heck! I'd get to laze around and on beach time, nothing can beat that! Yet you know what? I had this unexpected queasy feeling tugging at my being. Somehow I feel a bit nostalgic. It's a road trip! And if you remember, my previous road trips to Florida, I had the Sienna! That bad boy certainly spoiled me to pieces and I miss it! Ah...I wished it was the car we've used on that particular weekend...

Don't get me wrong. I still love my own car, that car was my knight in shining rider, but the bad boy is just getting old and requires more TLC than ever. The curse of aging is not delightful. The one good thing about it though, is that it's going to be paid off real soon! Hurray! 

Which brings me to the point where obviously, we will be in the market for a new car soon. I should be excited. But nah. I'm actually a little intimidated and a tad scared. Though I pretty much have an idea what we're going to get, the process of getting it doesn't sound as inviting. I wish it was easy as 1,2,3 but this is not a perfect world.

I remember the day I bought my current car. The process was unnerving.While it took me tons of time browsing online to find THE perfect car, the real test was going to the dealer to physically see the car and test drive it. Now dealing with the dealer is a different story. It took forever to get the car out for test drive. We have to wait hours from processing to approving to releasing. But this was four years ago. I'm hoping that with better technology, the process of buying a car would be rather less unpleasant and different. Although there's really not much I can say about customer service. This always remains unpredictable unfortunately.

It would be pure luck if you find a dealership with excellent salesmen that knows their product well and above all, are customer-friendly. I admire Toyota for their Kaizen and integrity but even a good company like them are not spared from unfriendly customer reps. Let's just say, I have consecutive run-ins with this type of individuals in one of their dealership. I think Fadra, a fellow TWIN member,  who recently purchased her Toyota Camry can attest to a similar experience.

But in retrospect, there is a hint of hope that Toyota will revolutionized the car-buying experience when they took the step to listen to us as we gripe and whine narrating our car-buying horror stories and what they can do to make the experience pleasant during the initial TWIN camp where I attended. My only hope is that, this will be in place when I start shopping for my new car! In the meantime, the prospect of buying my new car soon remains rather scary.

What is your car-buying experience like? Do you have good tips to share to make car-buying pleasant and painless?


**Zensible Mama is a member of Toyota Women Influencer Network (TWIN). All opinions are ours.**