Gladstone Mitsubishi Review By Tim Srite

While looking for a new car to buy, I e-mailed dozens of dealerships for their bids. Then I forwarded their bids to each other to start a bidding war. Over the course of a week, 1 by 1 they dropped-out saying that someone else's price was too low for them. The last 2 dealerships standing were the Subaru Dealership and the Mitsubishi dealership both in Oregon City. The e-mail dialog I had with the Mitsubishi dealership was very good (so were the others, but now I'm only gonna talk about the Mitsubishi dealership). My first impression when I pulled into the parking lot was that there were quite a lot of cars on the lot and lots of staff waiting. I was promptly greeted. I have to admit, I just look like a guy who arrived prepared & with a purpose. The internet-contact staffer (Kai I think) greeted me and handed me to Alex. I already knew the model I was interested in, So Alex had his job easy. He was easy to talk with and friendly. The 1st car we got into was a red Outlander SE that I had been eye-balling. Once the engine got started and the dash initialized, I saw warning lights. It could have been a warning about low washer fluid for all I knew. But when you're going to put some serious money down and you're 5 hours away from home, that was enough to make me say, "Let's take a look at another car." We found an identical car; except for the color. I took it for an initial test drive and it behaved exactly as Consumerreports, truecar, kellysBlueBook, and Edmunds said it would. Did it have rocket-like performance? No. But if it did, I'd be stuck with 12MPG. Buying a car means trade-offs. This car fit the bill very well. I left for another dealership and returned (3 hrs later). I told Alex I wanted to talk about the final contract. Alex handed me off to Joe. Joe's a negotiator. Negotiation is always a challenging event. Some people love it, some people hate it. But if you do your reading (just like you're doing now) you'll be prepared for the process. There were only a few items on the agenda to negotiate anyway. Price, APR%, Warranties, etc. Joe was easy to talk with and he knew I had given a low bid, but also he knew that I had given him a fair bid. I didn't budge. And he left several time to consult with his boss. They accepted my bid. That's when I asked about my trade in. (NEVER tell them ahead of time about your trade in.) They wouldn't touch my old car. At 130,00 miles I can understand why. But Joe wanted my car for himself & paid cash on the spot. Good thing I had the title and registration with me. Then I showed them a $200 off offer from the manufacturer on a new car. They accepted it. Then came a half dozen ordinary documents that needed my signature. They basically outline what the final contract would say, authorized the dealership to run a credit report, an arbitration agreement, etc., etc. Then all the numbers went to the finance officer who put it all together. It took about 20 minutes. However, I am an exception. My credit score is very high. So they were comfortable with letting the paperwork get finalized without getting an ok from the bank. The Finance officer covered all the docs and answered my questions. This is when you finally sign on the dotted line and hand over your down payment. Then I got a walk-thru on the car that required another 45 minutes. ok... no prob. The instruction books were 2" thick. I had MANY questions as we progressed and they answered all but 2. That's pretty darn impressive guys! All in all, i was very happy with the nuts-&-bolts of the entire affair. The building they are in is older, but they keep it looking acceptable. Everyone was friendly and there is a play area for children. Bottled water is offered regularly. Drink it. Your body will be under some stress from general nervousness anyway. I'm still waiting to hear back to find-out if they can ship the license plates to my work or not. Thanks guys. You did well by me. ~Tim from Coos Bay, Oregon.