Latest Update (22 May, 2007)

Haven't been updating for a while. Partly busy, partly lazy, partly distracted, partly lost focus ...

Anyway, saw a news article on the net the other day. But before I go into that, I would like to relate my first car-buying experience. Just after graduation and starting work many moons ago, I went into one of the many car dealerships in the country selling a particular "marque". Though you couldn't possibly call it anyone's "dream car of a lifetime", still, I was reasonably excited to be finally getting my own car and it was relatively cheaper compared to many other makes in the market at that time. Anyway, I'm sure I'm not the only one who experienced the following, since many of my friends went through the same enriching experience:

1. You could practically stand in the middle of the showroom from morning until close and no salesperson would give a shit about you unless you went out of your way to get his/her attention. Forget about being asked to please have a seat and would'cha like a cuppa tea?

2. Want a test drive? Go borrow your friend's auntie's one. Sorry, takde test unit lah...

3. What's that? You nak blue colour? Aiyo, no guarantee lah ... terpulang lah, tengok apa keluar factory. If not you waiting list lah ... Hah? Waiting list how long ah....? Tak pasti lah ... maybe 9 months, maybe 1 year. I rekomen you jangan pilih colour lah... memang semua colour pun OK punya.

4. All accessories were standard issue. Despite what the nicely printed glossy brochures said, you couldn't choose what rubbish accessory you wanted and which you didn't want. It would be too much trouble to "tailor-make" each car for each customer. If you couldn't accept that, waiting list lagi lah. So, no choice but to pay more for silly automatice rear sunscreens, etc.

5. Bank loan kita boleh arrange, you jangan pakai bank sendiri. Kalau kita buat semua one-shot lagi senang, lagi cepat, OK? Rate dia tak lari punya, no problem ... (want to earn commission, cakap commission lah).

6. Ditto for car insurance.

After agreeing to no specific colour, no test drive, all "optional" accessories, no own bank loan, no own insurance .... I still waited around 10-11 months for the bloody thing to arrive. So there, back to the news article I read the other day. Apparently, Proton is planning to ask the Govt for money, supposedly to compensate many of its dealers for having to close down due to poor sales volumes.

I'm sure there were a few "nice" dealers around at the time, but to the rest, I would like to point out an old saying which, roughly translated, goes ... "Good fortune goes in turns", meaning some days you win, some days I win, sometimes you do well, then it's my turn next. But the underlying moral is that when you're up and ahead, don't become big-headed 'cos soon the good fortune will do an uppity-up on you and go somewhere else ('cos it's only fair, morons). In the meantime, while fortune still favours you, be nice to everyone 'cos you'll need all the goodwill you've saved for when it's gone. So now the question is "why in the world should the Govt (and ultimately us taxpayers) pay to compensate a bunch of fellas who treated customers like shit when the good times were rolling"? You go into business at your own risk, now that it's gone to the pots it's "Boo hoo! Help us out...?". What kinda logic is that? What kinda business is that? 'Cos I'd sure like a piece of it then....

It's not like they were busy giving back a cut of their profits to society when the dough was rolling in, so now that it's bustville, why should they be compensated for anything? I just hope those buggers don't get a single sen in compensation ...

Latest purchases:

HIAPTEK: +5,000 (2.11) ... Total 10,000 (got suckered into adding at a higher price when first heard about the steel price ceiling increase, thought I was sooooo smart).

ENGTEX: +5,000 (1.57) ... Total 5,000 (same as above).

TIME: +5,000 (0.785), +5,000 (0.82), +5,000 (0.825) ... Total 15,000

LINGUI: +3,000 (3.10) ... Total 3,000

OLYMPIA-WA: +5,000 (0.205), +5,000 (0.21) ... Total 10,000

Latest disposals:

NYLEX: -12,000 (1.47), -6,000 (1.45) ... Balance 0 (Still made a decent profit, though it hit 2.10 just recently. Latest qtrly report not so encouraging, no choice but to sell first and see later 'cos it kept slipping)


/ichithekiller