I decided I wanted a 2004 Forester, base model, AT, RED, with no options except the center armrest extension, at invoice price minus the rebate (~19,600.) I went to the dealer I'd been to a few times before. Saturday, 7/31, last day of the month. Four PM, almost closing time.
Well, the REDs were all gone :-( Oh well, it's just a color, right. So I went for a green one, not really sure I like the color that much, but it's just a color, right?
And the two green ones both have about $400 of option. Well, one option was the armrest, which I was going to get anyway.
Well, the salesman gets me to go up $100, and the manager gets another $100 out of me. My 19,600 is now 20,100. Well, 200 over invoice isn't bad.
They offer me $4700 on my old car ('99 Nissan Altime 58,000 miles) which works out to about $5000 with the sales tax advantage. I could have done it, quick and dirty, but I decide a friend or a stranger will certainly give me as much or more.
The sale goes through reasonably, businesslike, can't complain. Drive the Forester home. As happy as _I_ can be with a purchase, though I realize I _really_ wanted a RED car. Oh well, just a color, right? And now I have two cars, which I need like a hole in the head.
Seven PM. Ride my bicycle back to dealer to retrieve my Altima. Good exercise, over 12 miles. Home around sunset, decide to go to Ribfest. I ride my 2 week old Honda over to my buddy's place, see if he wants to go. He's tucked in, but we shoot the bull for a while. Television is showing dangerous thunderstorms coming in, near Chaska. After about 20 minutes I hear rain, so I high tail it. I've got less than 3 miles to go on my motorcycles, but the HEAVENS HAVE OPENED UP! After about 1/2 mile I stop under a tree, a little shelter from the HAIL. At least the hail is small, ~ 1 cm. I try to keep going, but I can't see through my wet steamy glasses, and I'm DRENCHED. Stop at a gas station for a minute, but you know how it is? Sometimes it rains for an hour, sometimes is stops after 5 minutes. I push on the last mile to my home. As I drive up the incline of my alley, the water is pouring out, maybe 3 inches deep! Get it in the garage. Dry it off. Don't see any hail damage, but I can't tell exactly in my dim garage. I'm happy I don't really see any hail in my neighborhood. The cars, both parked outside, should be okay.
Today I get up, and there's a lot of downed foliage. Leaves everywhere: not a good sign. Cars look okay, but covered with leaves. I hose them off, and oh yeah, there's hail damage :-(
So that's my story. I didn't get the color I wanted, I paid more than I wanted, I ended up with one more car than I needed, within 4 hours I had hail damage to both vehicle, maybe all three.
I know none of this is Subaru's fault. Mostly my own fault. I just needed to get it off my chest. I hope the roof is okay :-\