I live in San Francisco, and had tried to avoid the car-thing until I had no other choice (my third child was in-the-oven). You always hear about how much it is cheaper to buy a car in the boonies, so I was dreading the trek out to Livermore or Fresno - no worries though, I had only to walk a few blocks from my loft: these folks at San Francisco Honda are just as competitive with their pricing. Plus, the experience I had with my salesman - Chris Kenyon - felt more like talking with one of my roll-dogs that I cause damage with on the weekends than someone trying to sell me something. He accommodated my odd schedule, found the exact car (Honda Odyssey) that I wanted, and I felt that he was so cool that, even if I didn't buy a car from him, he was totally cool with it, as if he could wait another 10 years so that I could swing-by and, maybe, I could buy my next car from him. Negotiation tends to be easy with these kinds of folks because you come to an agreement knowing that the transaction was based more on trust than a one-time zero-sum exchange; and trust me, I did my pricing research. Either he is an amazing salesman, or just one of those guys you prefer to deal with because he doesn't seem like one. May future car salesmen take the mold of such an individual.
more