Drive it…

… Like It’s Stolen! Was a common saying when I was growing up.  Usually it was tossed out when someone got a little more aggressive on a dirt road than was really warranted.   It was usually shouted by the passenger and either followed by or preceded by something along the lines of WOOOOOHooooo!!!!

I mentioned buying a new truck a couple of posts ago and yesterday I got a call from the dealership informing me that the finance guy needed me to come in and sign a form that got missed.  It’s 35 miles from my house to the dealership and it’s the second time I’ve had to do this.  Still, they were insistent and offered to buy me gas so I agreed to drive in at noon.   I was careful to point out that I would be in a hurry if I was going to drive a total of 70 miles on my lunch hour just to sign a piece of paper that they should have had me sign the first two times I was there.  I believe that my exact words were, “Tell him that he needs to have the form ready to sign when I get there.”

And, he did… sorta. 

Rob rode into town with me and we grabbed lunch along the way.  Rob (who, by the way is nicknamed “Bubba” and fits the name) was wearing his overalls and jesus sandals… which is only relevant to the story in order to prove that he’s as redneck as I am.

When we got there Rob wandered off to find a bathroom and I found out that  the finance guy was in with another customer.  Just to avoid beating around the bush let’s be clear that I don’t like the finance guy much. First he really liked my credit score…

… chasing a rabbit for a minute.  Mrs. Jinksto and I have worked very hard over the years to stay in the black.  I consider a credit agreement to be a personal handshake and take that seriously.  Essentially, if I agree to pay you some amount of money under specific terms I’m not going to force you to repo my house to get it back.  I SAID I would pay you and I will.  Come hell or high water…  I didn’t always have this opinion and I had to work for about 15 years to fix that, but as a result my credit score is way way way up there.  I didn’t pay my bills on time to get a high credit score, it just sort of happened as a result.  I’ll go without eating before I’ll miss a credit payment.

… back on track.  In fact, the finance guy mentioned my credit score several times and even referred to my truck as “kinda cheap on your budget”.  Thanks pal but I know what I wanted and what I wanted wasn’t a $900/mo note on a truck that I’m going to treat like a truck anyway so you can keep the $60,000 vehicle.  The finance guy was also a bit of a snob.  Me, I showed up at the dealership wearing work boots, blue jeans and a red flannel shirt and the boots were dirty… pretty much what I wear every day.  He was wearing a $70.00 shirt with cuff links.  He winked and mentioned the “other people” that couldn’t afford a truck like the one I bought a couple of times which completely turned me off and he wanted to talk about sports… even after I claimed no interest in the topic.  In short, I thought he was a bit of a snob and worse I felt like he expected me to be one too.  Once again, sorry pal.  I’m just a country boy with a good job that I worked very hard to get…

… another rabbit.  When I was talking to the sales girl the day I bought the truck she asked what I do and I told her where I work ( a multinational American Bank) and that I work from home.  Her response was, “Wow!  You’re lucky!”.  Typical attitude and completely wrong.  I’m not lucky.   Knowing what was coming next Mrs. Jinksto cut my diatribe off by saying, “no, he worked his ass off to get that.  Luck had nothing to do with it.”… thanks baby.

… back on track … I have a good job that pays me well but I’m a redneck and I don’t try to hide it so Finance boy and I had nothing in common and I generally don’t like his type anyway. 

As I walked into the dealership I explained why I was there and asked to see the finance guy.  I was told that he was in a meeting with another client.

“Well, he needs me to sign a paper and I’m here to do it can you let him know that I”m here?” I asked.

“I can’t, he’s in with a client I can’t interrupt him.” said sales guy number 1.

“OK, well… I drove 35 miles to sign this paper and he was told to have it ready for me so if you don’t mind…”

“Right, let me get someone to help!” so off goes salesguy to talk to the OTHER finance guy (not mine) who shook his head sadly and said he couldn’t help. 

Salesguy goes to find a manager who himself can’t help.  In the end, there were two managers and two salesguys as well as a spare finance guy all standing outside this guys door shaking their heads.  About this time I piped up and said, “Umm… I’m not scared of him… you guys want me to knock on the door for you?” which put them all in motion again trying to figure out what to do.

In the end one of them decided to stand in front of the window and get the guys attention so that he could signal him to call the sales desk.  It was very annoying but highly comical watching them.

Finance guy cracked open his door and stuck the form out to one of the sales guys who asked me to sign the paper.  It was the form for what’s called “Gap Insurance” which basically covers the replacement cost of the truck over and above whatever the insurance pays.  Normally, I don’t like the stuff but in this case it made sense so I bought it.

As I was signing it I asked him, “so when does this go into effect?”

“As soon as you sign it”,  He replied.

“Seriously?”, I asked to make sure.

“Oh yeah… it’s even back dated so technically you were already covered… we just needed the form signed.”

Awesome.

Ten minutes later as I was doing donuts in the sales lot Rob said, “Dang son, Drive it like you stole it!”

Rednecks… you just caint live with’em.

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