Our first venture into electric vehicles and hybrids went .. well .. oddly.

We’ve decided that we’re too far ahead of the curve to go full electric. The cars aren’t here and neither is the infrastructure. So we were thinking we might just buy a used regular car to last us a couple years and then go electric.

We’re trying to avoid putting ourselves into a long-term relationship with a combustion engine.

But, as I was researching used car prices yesterday I realized there’s a whole other market we hadn’t really thought about — used hybrid.  That could be a nice compromise and hold us over until the electric vehicles catch up with us.

So I shopped around and found a 2007 Civic Sedan Hybrid at our local Honda Dealer — no price listed.  Barry called them  to find out the price and ask a few questions about hybrids since we’re new to all this. He got a salesperson on the phone and, after establishing which car he was talking about and getting the price ($16,800) he asked the sales guy to tell him a little bit about hybrids –just a quick overview of  how they work and how much savings a person could expect compared to a regular vehicle for the type of driving Barry does.

And the guy refused. Seriously. Wouldn’t tell him a thing.

A simple explanation like this would have been great (click image)

He kept asking if Barry was buying and insisting he come and in he’d show him some cars and explain everything. Barry said he didn’t have time for that tonight and was just hoping to talk to someone and clarify a few things.  Again: How do hybrids work and how effective are they for long highway commutes?

Still the run around.

The guy told Barry to come in tomorrow and he’d explain how the cars work. Barry said he didn’t want to come in. He could look it up online if he had to, but he was hoping someone could just talk him through it real quick.

The sales guy’s response: “Are you testing me?”

What?

No, I’m not testing you. I just thought you could tell me… actually .. that’s all I need.  Thanks for your time. <click>

So back to the research this week …