Slog - Comments on How to Show Cars http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars I have a fond memory of the last time I shopped at an auto showroom. I was around nine years old, my single mother's old red clunking GM had kicked it in the middle of the street outside K-Mart, and I watched as she got tough with a salesman who was trying to blow her over like a pair of walking eyelashes on the subject of a used purple Pontiac. (We had attempted to enlist a beard for the day, but no men had been available, so we trucked around looking for a deal, wearing brown and trying to seem... Copyright 2008 Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:03:28 -0800 Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:35:57 -0800 http://www.movabletype.org/?v=3.34 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Comment by Gomez What's funny is that as new car dealerships try to adapt to the internet and adapt their approach, their tactics are still the same: bait and switch, make like you don't have or can't get the model when you do or it's actually available, pile on add-ons when possible, try to sell the shittiest car on the lot and so on.

Don't think buying a car is that much easier or better. In most cases, it's not.

]]> Gomez http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c482471 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c482471 Arts Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:41:42 -0800 Comment by Fnarf Car lots used to be great architecture. The old Lincoln dealer down on Westlake for example, and the many, many fine Googie examples around the country. Now, they pretty much all suck, though some high-end dealers are trying to do a little modern style; see Carter Audi in Ballard (across the street from the VW side).

I wish your mom could come with me when I shop for cars, Jen; I'm the worst haggler in the world. I'm likely to come out with gems like "Oh, is that all?", "blue smoke, that's the kind that's not a problem, right?", "I'll bet we'll get used to the smell" and "ooh, it's green, I want it!"

]]> Fnarf http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c482479 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c482479 Arts Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:49:14 -0800 Comment by rodrigo Then it will match Benaroya, which looks like an oversized car dealership from 2nd avenue.

The real architecture buzz in town is about the accidental swapping of plans by a stoned bike messenger that led to the construction of a prison intended for Grant County at the corner of Broadway and John.

]]> rodrigo http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c483057 http://slog.thestranger.com/2006/10/how_to_show_cars#c483057 Arts Sat, 28 Oct 2006 17:35:57 -0800