Hyundai of Bend.
I'm still not sure if it really happened or some fairy godmother came along and waved a wand and just made me think it happened.
I've purchased vehicles before. Generally what happens is they promise one thing, do another, keep you there for hours, and wear you down until in the end you agree to things that you probably wouldn't agree to if you weren't exhausted and in desperate need of food and a stiff drink, kinda like the evil Queen forcing the apple on poor Snow White.
The team at Hyundai was the polar opposite of that scenario.
The online sales associate stayed in contact with me but wasn't pushy. I was in desperate need of a new vehicle, completely stressed out, and not my best self when I told her there was no way they were going to get me into a car. After all, my truck, which I loved but was on its last legs, looked like it had done a stint as a maintenance vehicle at Jurassic park, or had been attacked by an ogre with a giant club.
I had had some life problems and to say that I was financially challenged was an understatement. It probably would be more apt to say if financially handicapped at this point.
She maintained that they would be able to help me, so in part just to prove them wrong, and in part desperation, I pulled into the lot.
I was immediately greeted by one of the nicest people I've ever met, let alone the nicest salesman. He stood there, the epitomy of patience, and listened to me rattle on about how there was no way they were going to be able to sell me anything (and all the reasons why) but I had stopped in anyway.
Somehow that didn't faze this great group of folks at all.
He showed me a car he thought would work for me while the miracle worker in charge of finding loans worked some kind of voodoo or sacrificed to the Gods or something because three hours later I was saying goodbye to my truck and in a new-to-me vehicle.
I hadn't been pushed. I had been talked to like the most valuable customer they had ever had, introduced to everyone from the General Manager to the Service Manager, and treated like Cinderella at the castle the night of the ball.
(I keep expecting my new coppery-orange colored car to turn back into a pumpkin or something, but I just checked and it's still sitting in the driveway.)
If you're looking for a vehicle, follow the yellow brick road and go see Joe the Salesman, who is a Prince among men, at Hyundai of Bend.
It may not be Camelot, but he and the whole team were surely gallant and helped damsel distress.
I'm sure they could do the same for you.