Saving The Planet...One Car Salesman At A Time

The lease on my big, honking, gas-guzzling SUV was coming to an end and I needed to make a decision. Much as I enjoy sitting up high on the Long Island Expressway, I must admit that An Inconvenient Truth really hit a nerve. OK...it hit a nerve partly because Al Gore isn't president. (I still haven't gotten over that.) But also because I realized that I could do something for the environment just by sacrificing my need for a status car. So off I went to the Toyota dealer to test drive a Prius.
I have to say that I've always had pretty good experiences with buying and leasing cars. I've never felt particularly preyed upon because I'm a woman. And for the most part the men who have sold me cars (never women, by the way) have been pleasant and seemingly reputable. My history did not prepare me for my experience at Toyota.
At this dealership the salesman who talks you into the car is not the person who prices the car. So you make a decision to buy and then he runs back and forth to his manager getting pricing and throwing numbers around. After the car is prepped you come back to finalize paperwork and take delivery and you are dealing with a finance person who hasn't been in the conversation at all to this point. But I am determined to make my contribution to the planet so I suffer through 3 hours of waiting and paperwork and waiting. The numbers don't seem right but I'm tired and it's late, so we sign and I leave with my new car.
I'm struggling all weekend to make sense of the numbers and I finally pull out the paperwork to take a deeper look on Saturday night. The sticker on the car is $6,000 less than the purchase price on the invoice. Literally, I have been overcharged by $6,000.
At this point I jump on my "I am woman, hear me roar" bandwagon. When the dealership opens on Sunday I am standing outside, paperwork in hand, demanding justice. They are calm and I am insistent. More conversation on the phone Monday morning and ultimately we agree to renegotiate. They give me a much better deal and throw in some extras and I promise not to sue them for shady sales practices and gender discrimination.
The truth is that this is entirely my fault. Not only because I didn't read the paperwork carefully enough, but because in my naivete I actually believe we are all treated as equals. The fact is, whether it's overt or subtle, when it comes to buying big, women are not always treated the same way men are. And despite all the strides that have been made since we were little girls sitting on the sidelines while the boys played the really interesting sports, it is up to us to make it clear that we are smart and capable and informed. And that we will not be taken advantage of.
I have worked for people who would publicly humiliate you if you didn't have all the facts at your disposal. I quickly learned not to let that happen. Prepare! Prepare! Prepare! Frankly, it's a good habit to extend beyond the workplace. Information is power, and there is not a car salesman or a real estate broker or a Best Buy clerk who can take advantage of us if we are informed!