V&R Stories: Gary Numan On the Prowl
He mentioned he had his eye on a Jaguar. However, with so much of his time away from his home touring he does not get much time to enjoy his vehicles.
He’s back!
After just eight short months, Gary Numan stopped again in Minneapolis on a new tour with Front Line Assembly on May 8th at First Avenue. For this tour it is being shared with the band Ministry, however Ministry is not playing in all the cities. Thus, Gary becomes the headliner for those shows like the one in Minneapolis. Certainly, no complaints from here about that.
For those who may not be familiar with Gary Numan, he is widely popular for his song “Cars” from 1980 and his works covered or sampled by the likes of Nine Inch Nails, The Sugababes and others. He also recently celebrated his 1,000th live performance!
During Gary’s previous visit, we had a conversation with him about his automotive plans at the time. You can read about his previous visit here. He mentioned he had his eye on a Jaguar. However, with so much of his time away from his Los Angeles home touring he does not get much time to enjoy his vehicles.
With Gary Numan’s most recent visit, we got a chance to chat with him again and catch up on his automotive ambitions. It turns out he did not get around to getting a Jaguar. Instead, Gary decided to do something nice for his wife Gemma as a birthday gift and get something fun. Gemma has always liked the looks of the Plymouth Prowler, and Gary admitted he liked its looks as well. Earlier this spring, Gary found one and they have been enjoying it ever since!
Yet the real story was the ordeal Gary encountered to purchase it. In our discussion, he shared with us when he was shopping for the Prowler, he found one that matched what they were looking for but was about 30 minutes’ drive away. He contacted the dealership who was selling it and they confirmed the availability and price of the vehicle beforehand. But when Gary arrived, they didn’t disclose it had a $10,000 markup adjustment on it, and that they added LoJack that he didn’t want, and the dealership was trying to convince him they had a buyer for the car in Canada to compete with!
Gary said he was very angry by this and walked out and wanted to send a message to the dealership about his dissatisfaction with the experience. On his way home, he found another Plymouth Prowler at another dealership only about 5 minutes from their home in the Los Angeles area. It was in slightly better shape, for about the same price as the other one, and with no market adjustments and unwanted add-ons and deceptive claims. And that earned Gary’s business and he purchased that one.
It is unfortunate some automotive dealerships use these tactics on consumers. The Federal Trade Commission has received so many complaints over the years about deceptive car pricing and sales that now they are stepping in to do something about it. With their proposed ‘Motor Vehicle Dealers Trade Regulation Rule’, it should help take some of the frustration consumers car buyers like Gary and everyone else in the public is currently experiencing.
Cover photo by George Torline