Sleazy car dealers

For a blog that's supposed to be dedicated to the art of barbecue, I haven't seen much of the Q or the smoke lately. That's got to change.

I had fully intended to cook some ribs this weekend; Saturday as a matter of fact. But no, life got in the way. If you remember about two weeks ago we totaled our car. So we spent Saturday being jerked around by one particularly snarky car salesman -- Eli at Kings Plaza Automall in Brooklyn.

We went to him in response to an ad for a 2005 $9,900 PT cruiser. That car has a manual transmission and my wife doesn't know how to drive a stick, but Eli told her on the phone that he had "tons" of other PT cruisers with automatic transmissions in that price range.

We sat down and he needed to see the ad from the paper to familiarize himself with the car we were seeking. He made a few feeble jokes about how my wife should learn to drive a shift, but then remembered that he had a "demo" available that we could check out. We kept stressing the price point and Eli kept assuring us that this "demo" was "do-able."

So he shows us a "top of the line" 2005 or 6, he couldn't remember. And we take it for a test drive. It was a beautiful car and according to Eli we could drive it home that day. We get back into the showroom and sit down to work out a deal. Eli's figuring, writing something on a pad which he kept hidden like a schoolboy afraid that someone's going to cheat off his test. While he's doing that, I peruse the PT cruiser catalog and one line catches my attention "Best car value under $15,000."

Eli finally emerges from his scribbling and announces that he's taking a beating, but he can let us have the car for $24,000! WTF?!?!?!?! I was literally dumbfounded. $24,000? I told him he was out of his mind and pointed at the page in the catalog that states best car for under $15,000. He makes all sorts of comments that the car is "top of the line" and that it's tricked out with every amenity possible. Not true, it was a limited edition model, which is the mid-range version of the PT cruiser.

I ask how can he have the balls to ask for 24K for a used car? Didn't he recall our conversation that we didn't want to spend more than $10K? He does a little sleazy salesman raindance and keeps talking about nothing. After awhile he asks again how much cash do we have and to make an offer on the car. So I say we'll give him $11,000 for it. He says fine and tells my wife to make out a check for the $10K we have and he'll take it to his manager.

He comes back and says everything is fine and we're sitting there when another guy comes over and hands Eli a piece of paper saying that the manager won't let the car go for under $22K and suggests we buy a Dodge Neon.

We walked out. I felt like I needed a shower after that whole experience. Stay away from Eli and Kings Plaza Automall.

But back to the barbecue, because remember, this is a blog about barbeque. We didn't get to cook the ribs outside, but we did cook them in the oven on Sunday rubbed only with John Henry's Wild Cherry Chipotle rub. I prepped and rubbed the ribs but I had to work while the ribs cooked so my wife cooked them and left them dry. I did miss the smoke, but damn they were tasty with just the rub. Sometimes the simple things are best.