Mrs. Chief and I spent 5 hours at the Dealership today picking out, driving and buying a car. After watching all the youtube car buying video's before going, there is still no real way to keep from getting hosed! I negotiated my best deal to the point where they would have let me walk out - without anymore counter offers - so I knew I had gotten pretty much the best deal I could. They now have more fees, add ons and BS than ever before - what torture! Even though we think we go into the dealership prepared, they are always two steps ahead. Although I got many of the extra charges taken off, they did add window tinting and a few other items that were permanently part of the car as it sat and they weren't taking those off, although I did get most of the up-charges reduced.

The one thing I don't have patience for is going back and forth from dealer to dealer and they just wore me out. The dealers in our area are all cut from the same cloth and I just made the best deal I could even though we wound up buying more car than we originally wanted. Since we intend on keeping this vehicle for about 9 years or so, the extra options although not necessary are useful as safety tools. Things like 360º cameras, turning cameras, adaptive cruise control, blind spot warnings, automatic liftgate, giant sunroof, premium sound system, hill hold, automatic emergency braking, blah blah blah which are certainly not necessary - but nice to have when keeping a car for the long haul.

The bottom line is we did get up-charged, forced to take items we did not really want, (they bundle things of course so we are forced to do that) but they had most models with added stuff for more profit. I feel like we went through the meat grinder today however I am picking up the car tomorrow morning and I hope it lasts a while! Maybe I am crazy, but I'd almost rather spend a little more than spend a week or so haggling with these guys. Had I spent another day or two shopping and haggling I could have probably saved another few hundred bucks - but they just wore me out!!! My sanity is worth more than a few hundred bucks. So the "Stealers" are still up to their games and tricks and all we can do is the best we can do! I am mentally and physically exhausted tonight and feel like I just ran a marathon - lol.

My sincere sympathy for anyone who has to do though this ordeal!! We were very very spoiled over the last 30 years because we had a very close friend that owned a Cadillac, Buick, GMC Dealership and he always treated us right and gave us an excellent deal. Now that we have moved far away, we are just part of Joe Public again and must endure their torture! Today's events reminded us BIG TIME why car dealers and car salesmen have the reputations they do!