Car Shopping

We ventured out to look for a car today. I've done a bit of research on the 'net and right now we are leaning towards a Perodua MyVi. This of course was after I had researched virtually every car available in Malaysia, new and used. I research and contemplate things to death, to the point that I suck all the joy out of it. Wedding planning was really fun with me.

The little Peroduas are too cute. Really. They are little boxy things that come in fun colors, although we will probably get one in silver because I am known to basically never wash cars. The back seat even folds down, so M can put his mountain bike in the back. Funny that a car small enough to fit in your backpack can fit a mountain bike inside, but there you go.

Okay, a few weird things...

1) All the dealerships are really small. There are maybe three or four cars on display. That's it. No big lot in the back. We aren't in the land of CarMax any more. So what you do is pick out what you want and it's ordered. Of course, we want the most popular car in Malaysia, so the waiting time is one to two months before the car is delivered. Don't they understand? I have no patience. I come from the land of 24 hour Walgreens and one hour dry cleaning. I want it yesterday. I want them to hand me the keys to something shiny, with the new-car smell and the plastic covers still on the seats, so I can drive it home today.

2) You have to make an appointment to take a test drive. That's fine and all, it's the way things are done here, but it still took us by surprise to ask about a test drive and the sales guy said that we had to call and make an appointment to take one. Huh? You mean I can't just give this one a go and see how I like it? I like to test drive the actual car that I'll be buying, but that's just not how it's done here. "So can we test drive it next Saturday?" we ask. "No," the sales guy replied, "you can only test drive cars from Monday through Friday. We have to arrange to bring a car here so that you can test drive it." Okay. So I guess we will be taking time off of work to test drive a car. K...

3) As far as the wheeling and dealing goes, that's basically nonexistent. The sticker price on the car is basically the price you will pay. Now this I really don't understand. There are like, ten, Perodua dealerships in KL. How do they compete with each other? How to they all stay in business if they charge virtually the same price? Maybe it's different with other dealerships, or maybe if you are a local you can bargain more, I don't know. I know that we have picked the most popular car in Malaysia, so they really don't have to negotiate in order to sell a buttload of them. They sell themselves. So maybe that's why there's no wiggle room, although from what I've heard, negotiating a price on a new car in Malaysia is a much more straightforward process than in the US. What this list price is, is what you will pay. Especially when there's a waiting list.

So we'll make an appointment to test drive it (at some point when M and I are both in town, which will be a rare event this month) and see how it goes. Barring any major issues, that's probably the car that we will get. Except that on the way home, M turns to be and says "Maybe we'll just buy a used Merc instead." Okay, now he's just messing with me. I can't handle too many options, or else we won't have a car until Christmas.