My girl and I pull into a parking space. Prior to exiting our vehicle, I let loose my initial expectations,
"Now, don't expect us to leave in a brand new car."
"You never know what might happen, we could get approved."
"We've little to no credit, no money, and no history to prove our reliability. Our perceptions need to correlate with realism."
"Stop being so negative, we might get accepted into a program."
I sigh...
We then exit the car, proceed to the entrance, rest the door open, and, upon walking through, are welcomed to the sight of two customer representatives occupied with their respective prospects in separate corners, and two men behind a desk. The room was white, with three vehicles displayed at various angles on the floor, and a handful of cubicles littered the perimeter.
I breathe in the atmosphere. Seated at the bottom of my stomach is a mixture of nervousness and faint amusement, all cloaked behind the exaggerated casualness I displayed to offset the marinated emotions.
Now I knew, or at least carried a fundamental idea of how dealerships worked. For the most part, I felt like all I needed to know was that any deal offered was with intent to screw you over, in the long term. But even now, my focus had somewhat adjusted to concerns about how my girl and I were perceived once we stepped into the facility. She's white, I'm black.
The manager greeted us, and inquired on our arrival. We stated we wanted to apply for financing. He assured us someone would handle our concern shortly, and as I reviewed the display cars, I couldn't help but feel that we were misplaced. I mean, I carried no illusions that we would turn right onto Route 130 in a 2013 Hyundai Sonata, but I wanted to believe our visit would be a well spent hour in trying to acquire a vehicle. I wanted to share my girl's enthusiasm.
Almost twenty minutes pass, and as we're rested at a desk, a white service representative works his way toward us. His lucidity strengthens upon approaching, and as our appearances are clarified to him, his demeanor immediately extrapolates.
He glances at his manager,
"So, these nikkas think they driving out of here in a new vehicle?"
"Hi, how are you!" He extends his hand to me, displaying all his teeth in a glorious wind of expected representative mannerisms.
"Good, and yourself?"
"Great. What can I do for you today?"
"We would just like to apply for auto financing."
"Is that right? Okay... Do you have credit?"
"Not established; I've recently began building it."
"...Okay... And uh, what's your range of price...?"
"$6000 - $17,000."
He forces a smile,
"Okay, well, I'll be back in one minute, and then we will start the application process."
"Sounds good."
He maneuvers around the table, heading toward the exit. With a final glance toward his manager,
"Who let this nikka in?
"I'll be back guys, and we'll get started!" Flashes the smile, then disappears.
My girl and I are conflicted. I'm more aware of his demeanor alteration than she is, and I make it clear that he doesn't see us leaving with a vehicle today. She sticks to her guns,
"Stop thinking negative! We will apply, and get into a program. It was worth coming."
"Babe, you're not listening---"
"Stop it, and let's just think positive. He's going to help us."
......Fast forward, and we are now at his desk, going over standard provisions, and running routine procedures. Through out the paperwork processing, he begins,
"So, did you two bring any money with you...?"
(We were looking to operate the same way my girl's sister did. She traded in her vehicle, and got qualified for no down payment; left the lot in a new 2008 Saturn Vue without placing a dime down. Clearly, here, we were the optimists. We didn't bring anything but a run down 1995 Nissan Maxima, myself, and her.)
"No... We were looking to trade in our car, as down payment."
"So.... No money at all today?"
"No sir."
"If y'all don't get ya'll broke asses up out my seats and take ya'll tired asses home."
"Okay... Um, so here's what we'll do... We're going to hold off on this.... And..... oh, HERE.. Here's my card. Call me when you guys figure out what you want to do.. Yeah, at least $1500 will do. We'll take your car for $500."
"Okay... We'll call when we have everything ready." I say, unamused and naturally unsurprised.
He shakes her hand, then shakes mine with a,
"nikka, ya broke black ass knew you wasn't leaving with anything on this lot. Whatchu tryna impress the white bish for?
"yeah, just call me."
"Alright, we'll do that..."
next time before you attempt to make a major purchase.