Random guy trying to hustle me to get body work done on my D
Crazy thing happened today. I'm driving my DeLorean to run some errands and I park the car, like always I try to park it away from other cars. I'm getting out and a guy pulls up next to it in a truck. I'm figuring its just somebody who wants to admire the car. Comes with the territory when you own a D.
He gets out of his truck and I smile at him and say "How ya doing?" and prepare for the typical questions. When I got my D I promised myself I would always be nice to anybody who comes up to it. He says "Thats a really nice car, do you need some dents taken out of it?" I do have a very small dent on the passenger fender that I just haven't bothered to fix yet. So I say "Yeah I've got a small dent but I'm not looking to get it fixed any time soon." He says "whats you deductible" I say "I think $250". He says "Well for $200 I'll take that dent out today". I look at him and say "Have you ever taken a dent out of stainless steel?" He says no but he has tools that will not require him to put holes in the car...yeah...great. So I say thanks but I'm not looking to get the dent taken out today, besides when I decide to get it fixed I do I would rather take it to somebody who knows how to work the stainless on a D. He says "I'll do it for $150" I say thanks but not interested.
I start to walk away, he goes into his truck and grabs a rag and starts wiping it on the D. I turn back and say "wait what are you doing!" He says "I'm putting on this really nice clear coat I have, see how nice that looks?" Now the car was a little dusty, some fingerprints here and there, my D is kind of my daily so its not always the cleanest and I'm going to re-grain it sometime this summer but its far from in bad shape or really that dirty right now.
Whatever he put on the car must have been some kind of wax because I can tell its just smudging up the car and dulling the stainless. He then says "Hey did you get all the paint blasted off of this thing?" I'm just dumbfounded at this point. I just say, "No they came out of the factory like this" He says "What kind of car is this" Really dude "Its a DeLorean and you don't use normal detailing products on it, in fact I'm pretty picky about what I put on it, and you have just smudged up my car." He says "No look" and he wipes it again "Its making it shine man!" I just say "Please stop, I'm not interested".
He says "$80, and I'll take out that dent and shine up the car". I am getting pretty mad now and I say as firm as I can "No not interested." He says "How much money do you have"...Uh oh, I say "I've got nothing on me, sorry". He says "Well you got enough to go to the shops." I say "For the last time I'm not interested". I know I'm getting hustled, and this guy is really desperate and just won't quit.
He kind of walks back to his truck and opens the back door, he has his kid in the car and I assume his wife. He says "I just have the day off today to celebrate my kids birthday and I got my tools from my shop which I usually don't have on me so I'm just looking to get a little work done on the side while I have my tools, I won't have them again so this is the only time you are going to get this kind of deal".
I just say "Its not a matter of money, I'm not trying to be rude but since you didn't even know what kind of car this is I don't think you are qualified to work on it or detail it". He says "I've got 20 years in auto body service, I'm an expert!"
"For the last time, again, not interested!" He then says "$40 and I'll shine it up". "Again, no". "Look man, I know you got money, anybody who drives a car like this has got money, I'm giving you a great deal!" Actually, I'm pretty broke at the moment, so no I really don't have money, and I'm certainly not giving any money to him.
I'm in a public parking lot so I'm not really fearing for my safety but I decide its time to get out of here, I'm kind of mad though because by the time I leave and come back the shop I was going to go to it will be closed. But now I just want to get whatever he put on my car off of it.
I get back in the car and say I've got to go. He gets in his truck and slams his door. After that I get my car to the nearest car wash.
Anyway I just wanted to share that little bit of fun. Any of you ever had something like that happen?
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