The last three vehicles I've bought, from three different Toyota dealerships, the options, color, etc. were negotiated completely over email, no phone calls or physical dealership visit. I always pay cash and I never trade in. At the end of the process, which wasn't excruciating, I asked for and received, in each case, a price fixed to the penny. In each case I quite brutally asserted, multiple times for each purchase, that if the price was even 1 penny more than the agreed on price stated in email, I was going to walk, even though I had to drive at least 100 miles in two cases. When I sat down at the dealer, I reasserted my guarantee that if the price was even 1 penny more, I was going to walk.

We still had to sit through videos and the standard sales pitches for the undercoat, etc. Can I shout now? Lasting an hour. For the last Prius they said well this particular vehicle has an optional security registration or some such that is installed in the car. I said remove it. Maybe two minutes of harrumphing about how I am exposing myself and I got quite acidic actually. Well whatever they actually did the price I wrote a check for was exactly what we had agreed to over email.

Now I don't actually care if what you like to do in your non-work time is to sit through car dealership sales pitches for nonsensical stuff, but I don't. And I want the option not to have to burn my time for this. It really is a wonder how normalized for many people it is to feel how pleasant it can be to sit through add on advertising while doing some sort of necessary activity where at the conclusion I'm going to write a check for tens of thousands of dollars. They're so helpful! Rather than what it is, which is time theft, condescendingly done.