Test Drive Gone Bad.....Or Not....

We are in the market for a new (new to us, at least) car. David and I have about decided that, most likely, we will never again buy a new car. Yes, there is the thrill of having a brand new car that no one else has driven. You are protected by lemon laws, usually have a manufacturer's warranty (but on most reliable cars, what on earth is going to go wrong in the first 4yrs/50k miles???!!), and you don't have to worry about things that may be hidden in the vehicle's history. Also, there is the big sticker price....and the oh-so-quick depreciation in value. All of that said, we have sold our cars and are looking for a used car. We are most likely going to buy out of state where we can find a car with the best value, but before we go look at a car out of town, we wanted to test drive several models locally to get an idea of one we liked the best. So, yesterday evening, we headed over to test drive a used car at a local dealership. We went knowing that there was no way we would actually purchase the car we test drove and told the salesman up front that we needed to take time to research and price whatever model we ended up deciding on. We took John Harrison with us so we could see how he liked the car (you may be skeptical but seriously, John Harrison likes some cars much better than other ones) and whether or not his car seat would fit in the back seat with David driving. I have to first say that John Harrison is teething---he cut his front left upper tooth last Friday and now the front right upper tooth is coming in. I drove the first car and John Harrison was a bit fussy but not too bad. Next, David drove a different car. The salesman was in the front seat with David and I was in the back seat with John Harrison. Shortly into the (long) test drive, John Harrison starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Huge tears are streaming down his cheeks. His arms and legs are flailing. The salesman makes the brilliant comment "he really sounds mad" (thank you, Captain obvious). John Harrison continued to scream vigorously for the remainder of the test drive and still was not too happy when we got out of the car. I truly felt bad having my baby scream with Mr. Used Car Salesman (who was actually a nice guy) being a captive audience. I felt especially bad with my baby screaming knowing that there was not a chance we were going to buy the car. You know the akward feeling when you test drive a car and you know you aren't going to buy--you don't want to be rude to the salesman but you also don't want to be lured inside for a sit-down with the sales manager who "debriefs" you and tries to make you a "deal" if you "buy today." Well, there was none of that akwardness, none of the trying to get us into the office. That poor salesman knew there was no way we were going to buy. So, moral of the story, if you want a no or low pressure car sales environment, take your teething baby along. Maybe we can use that same approach to get out of a time share presentation in under 90 minutes......our best time yet to be out the door with gifts in hand is right around 90 minutes.....that was in the pre-child days.....I have a feeling that the best is yet to come:).