Car Talk

June 2007

Dear Tom and Ray:

I purchased a Honda Odyssey today, and the dealer tried to sell me a 1,200-dollar protective interior/exterior coating. I said no, but he said he would honor the offer till Monday. Should I buy this, or is it just an "upselling" strategy to get more money out of me? -- Sally

RAY: Tell him you're not interested, Sally. And then, when he calls back and asks if you'd be interested if it was 600 dollars, tell him no again.

Beat up old car

TOM: Exterior protection is unnecessary. The car already has exterior protection. It's called paint.

RAY: And the inside ... well, that's a lost cause anyway. If you just bought a minivan, you probably have what? Little kids! They spill milk, drop fruit, grind chocolate into carpets and barf on the seats. And that's only the stuff you'll know about. Other than lining the whole interior with plastic or pulling the kids behind you in a U-Haul trailer, there's not much you can do to prevent that.

TOM: Well, you can get an interior that's the color of dirt. That helps.

RAY: Actually, you might try buying a few spray cans of Scotchgard and treating the seats and carpet occasionally. That might make it easier to clean up the inevitable messes, and that's essentially what the dealer is going to do for 1,200 bucks. You can do it for 12 bucks, and that's what we'd recommend, Sally.

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