I spent 3 hours of my life at a car dealer today and it is 3 hours I will never get back. I've been thinking of trading in my car for one with less miles (I'm getting close to the magic 100,000 mile mark) and a bit more reliability. I gave my conditions of how much I was willing to spend to the salesman. He showed me a couple of cars that I knew were out of my price range and then, after the usual "Let me go talk to the manager," he came back with an "offer" that was about $5500 more than I told him I was willing to spend. Why? Did he not believe me? Was I not clear? Obviously, many people respond to this type of upselling because it happens to me every time!

The car sales game can be such a disgrace to the idea of business as value to both the owner and the customer. All the sales tricks to get people into a car they 1) can't afford and 2) don't need, just so the salesman and manager can make a sale and take a car off the lot. I'd be curious to know - how many people reading this have had a car purchase where you felt like the car dealership's representatives knew you and what you wanted, and that you liked and trusted them in return? How about when you were buying other things, like a cellphone or an iPod. I hate to say that I think we would feel more in touch with the selling company in these minor sales rather than a major auto purchase.

But in my gym business, we have to be someone the potential customer knows, likes and trusts or we won't get their business. That's why CarMax has built a successful franchise nationally - those games aren't played and people tend to trust them because of that. Even though their prices can be high, it is still a popular place (sales is not all about the money). I'm not sure how I would react if I was about to purchase a car and felt that I trusted that the salesman was working in both of our best interests. I'd probably take my temperature and go lay down until the illness passed.

I'll have to get my energy level up to spend more time at a dealer sometime. What a racket!