I erred. . .

My moving-back-to-the-U.S.-in-two-months to-do list is wildly out of control, but every once in a while I feel like I am making a bit of progress.  We have been talking about what to buy when we get back to the U.S., and decided that now that the kids are getting older, we really need something a bit bigger.  I love our current car (a Volvo), but it only seats 5, and if we have visitors or want to take the kids' friends, it really does not work.  So, we are looking at the AWD options that are out there (we plan to do lots of road trips to visit family, in snowy parts of the country), and which also seat 7-8 people.

I was really surprised to see how few options there are.  In addition, I also don't want to drive something overly large, and I want something reasonably good on gas.  So, we narrowed it down to a few vehicles.  Given that I am prone to type-A obsessive researching on whatever we happen to be buying, be it an iPod speaker or a car, I have a membership to the Consumer Reports website.  While I was doing some research on the site on our short-listed cars, I noticed that you could click a button to get actual quotes from car dealerships.  Hurray for the internet!  Instant quotes!  But. . .

My advice to you:  if you, too, are doing research online, do not ever, EVER click that button.

I immediately received 6 quotes for our two top vehicles.  They were good, solid prices.  I was delighted to find them.  And then. . .the phone started ringing.  It has not stopped.  We've received dozens of calls, thanks to the VOIP service that we receive.  And ENDLESS emails.  I have no sooner told one employee at a dealership that we aren't actually buying for another few months, when another employee will email, or call.  I don't know why there is no coordination internally at these dealerships, but I accidentally requested quotes from SIX dealerships, and we are being inundated with attention.  Yikes.  I inadvertently started a feeding frenzy amongst the sharks.