Female and Car Salesman

My experience of buying a 2nd hand car in USA though went reasonably well, with the help of my colleague, but there wasn't without any hickups. And this is one of them, I am prepared to get more at later stage, because I am not familiar with the procedures and administrative stuffs required to buy and sell used cars in USA.

This is one of my experience with Jay Wolfe Toyota car salesman.

I had a simple check on my car the other day, before driving down to Oklahoma, and found out that the coolant in the reservoir was barely touching the minimum line. That was less than 4 days after I collected my car from Jay Wolfe Toyota.

In warm country like Malaysia, the car would probably overheated in no time with such level of coolant. Since I have no experience driving in 4 seasons country, I seek for my colleague's opinion, and he too thought that it is unacceptable.

I have also checked the Toyota car manual, it mentioned that the coolant should be between the max and min line.

So I called up Jay Wolfe Toyota, where I purchased my car, asking why diddn't they fill up the coolant. They said it is their standard procedure to have the coolant filled to that level, and gave me a bunch of other reasons.

I asked if they could arrange someone, or the Toyota assistants to come over fill it up for me. They said they don't have such service, and and said that I do not know anything about cars. Denying their fault for not filling up the coolant.

I being too direct, went straight to ask if Jay Wolfe would like to take any responsibilities, if my car were breaking down due to overheating, on my journey down to OK. No one was willing to make a comment on that, but Jay Wolfe insisted that it is their company standard procedure to have the coolant filled up to that level. They then asked me to drive to Jay Wolfe Honda to get it topped up, if I really wanted to have it filled.

To me, if it is a company's standard procedure, then they must have guts to take the responsibility to overwrite Toyota's car manual, since it is backed up by the company.

Anyway, I drove to Jay Wolfe Honda, only to discover that their coolant is slightly different. Though I don't think it would matter to mix it, but I seriously don't want my coolant tank to turn into black colour (the existing coolant in my car is red, and the Honda offered green).

So I drove all the way, about 30 odd miles up north to Jay Wolfe Toyota, and get them to fill it up for me. The treatment I got wasn't any better, they still talked down on me, and was very defensive.

Again, I made a stupid mistake for being too direct. They said over and over again, that I don't know anything about cars, and it got me ticked, and I just said back "I know cars." And quickly stop, because it sounded as if I am captured in their play down game.

When I met my friend in OK, he said, it is normal for car salesmen to talk the girls down. And I felt bad, because I was only unfamiliar with the rules and regulations in this country for making a car purchase, but that doesn't mean that I have to be bullied this way.

And come to think of it, if it is Jay Wolfe's standard practice to not fill up the coolant, I could only think that it is because they want to save money. Because they wouldn't even dare to bear the responsibility of their own words.

I will write up some quick car maintenance tips for females. I know girls prefer to have a list with boxes to tick, so I will try writing the tips in the simplest manner, with some photos to show which is what... depending how much time I have.