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COYOTE ARCHIVE
Dick Prosapio aka, Coyote is a member of the TMC Advisory Council, ceremonialist, psycho-
therapist (ret.), author, leader of men's experiential workshops, & Co-founder of The Foundation for Common Sense. He lives with his wife and daughter in Stanley, NM
For more info about Dick Prosapio, visit his web-site:
Spirit/ Earth Path
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by
Dick Prosapio
Right next to the threat of a colonoscopy I hate selling cars. You wouldn't think so to look at my record. I've had about half a hundred of them since I was a teenager, trading for fantasy or reality. From Buick's to Toyotas, domestic to foreign. Passenger, sports, big trucks, light trucks, gas and diesel, I've owned them all. In every case, while I had them I made them better than they were when I got them. In every case, I lost money when I sold them.
I'm just not good at hard ball car sales. I'm usually in the position of having to sell in order to buy something else, so there's no such thing as waiting-for-the-right-buyer to come along. There's a sense of desperation working inside whenever I'm involved in this stuff so no matter how cool and easy going I try to be about it I'm either not flexible enough at the right time and so lose a sure sale, or I'm too flexible and so lose money.
Then there's the game aspect of it all that I find insulting. The buyers job is to 1. Mistrust anything I say about the car. and 2. To disparage the car as much a possible. "This was a real junker when they made it." Or "Yeah, I've heard these things didn't hold up very well over the long haul." Etc.
My job is to sell how honest I am and how much time, money, and effort I have put into making my car absolutely "perfect", and how it is way beyond what most cars of this year and type are.
Arrrrrugh!
The fact is, as Elizabeth has said; "Anybody who buys from us is getting a really good car."
Well, as soon as I intimate that, the buyer is suspicious. "Why am I selling such a good car?" is the spoken or unspoken question. In the past few years, now that I'm done with the fantasies about cars; the Corvettes, MG's, Dodge Diesels, the reason has been practical, to carry more kids or to get more power so we can haul water or a travel trailer more easily. We bought our 4Runner when we upgraded from a little Tercel. We've just sold our T-100, with a 3.4 liter engine, so we could buy a friends Tundra, with a 4.7 liter engine. Now we have to sell the 4Runner so we can pay for the Tundra and go back to a little car for quick trips to the store, preferably a Tercel.
The 4Runner is "old", a '93, and has 153K miles on it, not a lot for a Toyota for sure. It's "loaded" with goodies, like a sunroof and Michelin tires, and we upgraded the whole car with Amsoil synthetics and a bypass filter system which protects the engine and that makes everything more difficult. Now, on top of trying to sell the car, I have to sell Amsoil. First!
So, in addition to being suspicious about the car and the seller, buyers who come to look are suspicious about synthetic oil too.
What a damnable tap dance this is.
My hopeful fantasy about this process is that the phone will ring and the conversation will begin the usual way, "Tell me about the car." And when I say, "First of all it has Amsoil throughout with a double filtration system set up for the engine." The response will be, "Wow! Great! Just what I'm looking for."
Actually, that did happen with the T-100. But maybe the odds of there being another person like that out there are just too high and I'll wind up losing money on yet another car deal. Meanwhile the car-ad bills keep mounting. My second hopeful fantasy is that this will be the last time I'll have to do this drill.
Maybe I'll call the VA and schedule that colonoscopy I've been avoiding might be a relief.
(Hey! We finally sold it. Time to light candles and offer prayers of thanks.......and avoid that damned colonoscopy.)
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