Originally Posted by mr5by5

Cab0053:

I also was not keen on Ralph Honda's Rep but am going to give them benefit of the doubt here - the individual salesman has been good and straight-up so far. I am hoping that now that they are losing their Pontiac franchise they will see the importance of cleaning-up their act a little bit...
Remember the story from last year when the owner supposedly ripped paperwork out of a customers hands and tore it up in the showroom? LOL
I will keep you posted!

Originally Posted by JGW

You don't see the space between the two/three lines of text I had? That was the guy below me.

Originally Posted by mr5by5

Taffeta White:

Thanks again for all the support!

I have downloaded The Rule and will print/drop-off forms with dealer today - it should help speed-up the process!

Originally Posted by mr5by5

Want everyone to know that Taffeta White's "plan" for expediting our Cash-for-Clunkers deal worked perfectly!
As suggested I printed-out all the forms and filled them in with as much info as I could and dropped them off at the Honda dealer (Ralph Pontiac-Honda in Greece, NY) on a trip to the nearby mall on Thursday (my salesman's day off, so I did not see "our" car! :-( )
About 10:00AM today (Friday) I had a call from him saying everything is "Go"! He said there was a change in the procedure relative to Proof of Insurance on my "clunker" ('99 Merc. Grand Marq - a great car but worth no more than half the gov't allowance on the Fit!) and I would need to call my Insurance Co. to request they FAX him a letter stating 1 year + continuous coverage. Also Asked if I would mind having Temp. Ins. card for the Fit FAXed to him also as long as I had to call the Ins. people - mades sense to me!
He said we should be able to close the deal at 4:00PM Friday - and we did with no problems aside from a 20 minute wait for the doll-up guys to polish her up.
Operator at my Insurance Co. (AARP/Hartford - there I've given away my age!) was great - she is thinking of buying a Fit herself so I gave her a "review"...
I don't think the paperwork took 20 minutes at the dealer - the salesman (Bob Tomaser) had everything arranged and it went like clockwork! Honestly, I made it easy for them - no haggling and they even gave me the $150 est. scrappage (after they took their $50) as a credit without being pressed on it.
We test drove a black Base Fit 2 weeks ago but did not look closely at the paint - the "rainbow metallic" is awesome, and the little car drives great! As Taffeta White suggests, I now have a stack of literature to read and, I hope much carefree driving to enjoy!
Thanks again to all for the moral support - I'll have more questions and comments as I learn about the car to share on the Unofficial Honda Fit Forums...

Originally Posted by ORfit4me

You do realize that you're the common factor in your quote, right?
Maybe it's not the women you've dated, but you.

Originally Posted by dgs

I know this is supposed to be a joke here, but I'm not seeing the humor and I have a pretty good sense of humor. What can I say, I have never been with a woman who knew how to drive a manual or showed any interest in learning. I'm a good teacher because I did show one of my buddies many years ago how to drive a manual because he was getting a new car and didn't want another automatic. I had him up and running in about a day. He wasn't great, but he was able to drive himself home from the dealership with his new Honda Civic 5-speed manual. Now he's better at it than me, and regulary attends auto-x events, and wins (he now owns a heavily modded 2006 Subaru STI).

And posting something about Danika Patric as an example of women who can drive a manual isn't really fair, because how many women can drive like her? Oh yeah, none!

Originally Posted by mr5by5

I have a dealer "working on" a C4C deal on a Fit but I expect it to fall through. Your story is bad but mine is worse (ha! ha!) here's my experience so far with the government's intrusion into the auto business (BTW: nothing from Toyota on this yet either, I think that Toyota and Honda don't really want to get involved with C4C - just waiting to try to get a more profitable deal from me when the program is over...) To: Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. 19001 South Western Ave. Dept. WC11 Torrance, CA 9050 Dear Sir or Madam: I am writing to inform you that the incompetence of one of your dealers, Vanderstyne Toyota-Scion in Rochester, NY has cost Toyota Motor Company a sale! Early in the week of July 20-24, 2009 my wife and I drove a new 2009 Toyota Yaris 2-door at Vanderstyne. We also drove a Honda Fit at a nearby Honda dealer and decided we liked the Toyota better than the Honda. The Yaris we drove had some expensive options that we did not want but the salesman, Jay Vanderstyne, assured us that he could locate a “dealer-trade” with pretty much the equipment we wanted and would be able to close a deal with us on July 24th under the US Government “Car Allowance Rebate System” (CARS Program) that was to go into effect on that date. On the 24th Mr. Vanderstyne contacted me via E-mail to let me know that he had located a vehicle that would meet our specifications. (The E-mail included an invoice for the vehicle providing detailed information about the equipment, pricing, and even the color and VIN for the vehicle.) I replied to his E-mail immediately making him an offer on the car and he accepted my offer and confirmed that they were prepared to begin processing the deal under the CARS Program immediately. I gathered all the paperwork I thought would be required for the government (Mr. Vanderstyne was not specific at all about what was needed other than a check in the amount of $500 as a deposit!) and went right in to the dealership to complete a Purchase Agreement. At the time my Purchase Agreement was completed I provided Mr. Vanderstyne with my New York State DMV Registration for the (CARS Program eligible) car I was trading, my NYS Driver’s License, and my current NYS Insurance ID card to photocopy for documentation under the CARS Program. I also handed him my original copy of my NYS Certificate of Title showing no liens or encumbrances on the vehicle – he also photocopied that and returned all the original documents to me. Mr. Vanderstyne then informed me that I should be able to take delivery of my new Toyota on Monday or Tuesday (July 27th or 28th, 2009) and that he would be in touch if he needed any further information. On Monday July 27th, 2009 I went to my Bank and drew a Cashier’s Check in the full amount of the outstanding balance for the transaction shown on the Purchase Agreement so as to be prepared to take delivery of the car the following day. On Tuesday, July 27th, 2009 Mr. Vanderstyne called to indicate that they were “having some problems” with the CARS Program process and that they would need me to FAX or E-mail them additional proof that my vehicle had been insured for the past twelve months. (My policy renews in May and the current Insurance ID Card I had provided to them initially only indicated coverage from the period May 2009 to present. He said they needed additional proof that the car was covered under my name during the period July 2008 to May 2009.) I was able to E-mail him a digital copy of my May 2008 to May 2009 Insurance ID and he confirmed receipt immediately via telephone. Mr. Vanderstyne told me at that point that I should be able to take delivery of my new Toyota on Wednesday July 29th or Thursday July 30th. He indicated that, if they were unable to complete all the detailed transactions required for the CARS Program on the 29th, he would call me on the 30th to give me an “update” on the status of the process. Having not heard from the dealership by mid-day on July 30th, I called Mr. Vanderstyne to find out what was going-on with our deal. He explained that they were still “having problems” with the CARS Program and that they would also need the original copy of my NYS Certificate of Title in order to complete the process.(The document is printed in such a way that it cannot be accurately copied with a photocopier as a protection against fraudulent reproduction.). I E-mailed him a high quality color image of my Certificate of Title but he indicated that it would not be sufficient and I agreed to meet him when they opened for business on the morning of July 31st to hand-over my original Certificate of Title. He assured me at that time that I would be able to take delivery of the new Toyota by 3PM on Saturday, August 1st, 2009 at the latest. As you know, the US Government put a “HOLD” on the CARS Program at midnight on July 30th, 2009 because they felt more deals were in-process than had been budgeted for. I was becoming very concerned at that point that Vanderstyne Toyota-Scion had somehow bungled the processing of my deal under the Program. Even though I signed my Purchase Agreement with them on the FIRST DAY OF THE PROGRAM they had been unable to close the deal in a week. I had provided them with every piece of documentation that was required of me at the time I signed the original Purchase Agreement. So many deals had already been approved that the government was putting a HOLD on the Program, yet the promised delivery date for my new Toyota had been pushed back 3 times and they were asking me to bring back a piece of documentation that I had given them on Day One! Something is clearly wrong here and I am not liking the looks of it! After waiting for Mr. Vanderstyne at his desk for a half-hour after the time he indicated he would be there on the morning of July 31st, I asked him if I could see the car that they had obtained for me. He said “Sure, let me get the keys. It’s right out in back.”, to which I replied, “Good, because I intend to leave your property today with either a refund of my deposit on the deal or at the wheel of my new Toyota!” He responded that it would be impossible for me to take the car that day because they had not yet succeeded in completing the paperwork to satisfy the CARS Program without my original Certificate of Title. That is where you lost your sale. I informed him that I would prefer to have my deposit refunded and he produced a copy of a hand-written request that a check be mailed to me, but first he commented that, “If we let you take that car now it would leave us “holding the bag” for the $4500 (CARS Program allowance on the deal).” Only an hour before my exchange with Mr. Vanderstyne, I heard the President of the Rochester (NY) Automobile Dealers Association state in a live local TV News interview that the CARS Program DID, in fact, require the Dealer to “hold the bag” for the government allowance BY DESIGN in order to simplify the process for the customer! I thought at that point I had finally gotten to the bottom of the problem and that Vanderstyne Toyota-Scion had been trying to “stall” the deal until they could have the money from the government in-hand, but there was more! I mentioned at the beginning of this story that Mr. Vanderstyne had E-mailed me a copy of the invoice for the car I was supposedly purchasing and that it provided significant detail on that vehicle. The color stated on the Invoice I received was “Meterorite Metallic” (Gray), as I left the Vanderstyne property I drove around the back and I saw only one 2009 Yaris 2-door there – a white one! I now suspect that, along with their business incompetence (or sheer audacious greed!) in negotiating the details of the government CARS Program (and/or “stalling” me until they had the government allowance they did not want to “hold the bag” for) the process had been complicated by their inability to obtain the “dealer trade” for the car they had originally offered to me. White is, in fact, not my favorite color, but that is not the point – and there is even more to the story… I went directly to the local Honda dealer and told a salesman there my story. On the prospect that the CARS Program will be re-started soon, I gave him all the documentation that would be needed to make a purchase from them at that point. He copied everything except my Certificate of Title, indicating that it would not be required unless and until we were ready to close a deal. (I honestly prefer the Toyota Yaris to the competitive Honda Fit. Vanderstyne Toyota, though, is the only Toyota dealership within a reasonable distance from my home – a consideration I feel is important in order for me to meet all the service requirements under the Toyota new car warranty. When Vanderstyne failed to close this deal, Toyota, unfortunately, lost a sale.) About an hour after I returned home my wife took a phone call from the “Business Manager" at Vanderstyne Toyota-Scion. In the course of trying to convince her that I should reconsider my decision to give-up on the deal, he asserted that the salesman had originally promised me a delivery date of August 7th or 8th on my new Toyota. That is entirely untrue and I feel it was highly unethical of him to lie to my wife about that! If it were true that I had been told it would take that long to complete the deal why was I getting calls every two days promising another delivery date prior to August 7th? (And why would I have been asked to wait so long for a vehicle that was already on their lot?) The answer to both the foregoing questions is, obviously, that Vanderstyne wanted my original NYS Certificate of Title in order to “game” the CARS System and get their cash from the government in-hand before transferring ownership of a new Toyota to me! I respectfully suggest that, should Toyota Motor Company find that you need to terminate your relationship with any of your US dealers due to business conditions (As have GM and Chrysler) you move Vanderstyne Toyota-Scion’s name to the top of the list! You have been disgraced by association with such an incompetent and/or unscrupulous operation, and I know that the Toyota people in Japan would be mortified to hear that! I thank you for taking the time to read this letter. I wish there were something else I could suggest that you could do to rectify this situation but I have no ideas at this time. Please feel free to call me for clarification or further discussion of any of the information I am providing in this letter.

Originally Posted by solbrothers

tl;dr.........

Originally Posted by TaffetaWhite

I had to look up the definition of that, finally. Found it on Urban Dictionary:

Too Long; Didn't Read

Literally translates to: That was too long to read.
Really translates to: I'm too lazy to read the entirety of what you said, but I still want to say something.

Originally Posted by TaffetaWhite

Fair? It's really not "fair" to make a broad (no pun intended) statement about all women and stick shifts. I learned to drive a stick in an old Camaro with a very laid back guy. LOL! My first car was a stick MG. My former spouse had a stick Toyota pickup, a stick Toyota 4-runner, a stick Ford flatbed, all of which I drove. My last car for 15 years was a stick VW.

My mom drove a stick Celica (two different kinds) and her last car before dying was a stick Honda CRX-si.

I used to belong to a Corvette club. While mine was an automatic big block, there were plenty of women and plenty of sticks.

Have you always been in Texas? I'm wondering if it is a cultural/area specific thing. I recall someone telling me of their girlfriend that she thought her tires looked a little low. She didn't know how to use an air pressure guage. She didn't know how to use the air compressor they have in their garage. She notified the man of the house who was expected to do such things.

I have no problem with men doing stuff, but I also have a deep curiousity and want to learn. Or at least watch and ask stupid questions.

Like:
"Now what are you doing?"

and:
"What's that for?"

and:
"Pass you the what? They all look the same. Well, don't get at mad at me because I don't know the difference between the sizes of the wrenches. I'm going inside now."