I Tried to Buy American

I'm car shopping. I'm not sure anyone likes to shop for a car, but it's what we do.

I've been leasing cars and am tired of making perpetual car payments, so we've decided to suck it up and buy something so that we can see light at the end of the payment booklet tunnel.

I've been a VW guy for awhile, so I went back to the local VW dealership to check things out. I went because my wife suggested we go. I really intended to buy American; a Ford Focus, perhaps. The guy at the VW dealership could not have been nicer and more helpful. He had a great deal on a Passat. And, he is working out a deal to buy back the final seven months of the lease on our Beetle. We're getting 66 months at zero financing. For a really nice car.

But I was still intent on giving the Americans a shot at my business. I went to the massive Ford dealership near my house. I could not believe how many cars and trucks were sitting in that lot. One would think that the sales people would be instructed by managers to make a deal with anyone for any amount of money just to empty a small portion of the inventory. The guy who trudged out of the showroom to greet us probably didn't get that memo from his manager.

His indifference to our potential business was amazing. Instead of inviting us in to the warm showroom, he buttoned up his parka, flipped his hood up and led us out to the Focus Gulag to examine one uninteresting car after another. "So, these are at zero percent financing," I asked. As it turned out, the zero percent financing was only available if you added $500 to the purchase price. And, it was only available for 36 months.

I actually felt sad as I got into my car to leave. This guy, who I'm sure was nice enough, looked as if he had thrown in the towel. He had (hundreds) of average to below-average vehicles to sell and nothing to offer as a true incentive. I also felt angry that my tax dollars are going to prop up companies that simply cannot compete. I drove away from that Ford dealership realizing that the bailout is only delaying the inevitable.

So, I'm buying a German-made car. It's built better. It has better re-sale value. And the pricing was more attractive. I tried to do the patriotic thing and support our industry. But it's clear that they've given up the good fight. And what the government doesn't see is that propping them up is, in many ways, as unpatriotic as letting them succumb to the realties of the marketplace.

Interesting times.