$1 Cars Draw Hopefuls From Near And Far To Toms River

TOMS RIVER, NJ — Lynn Guiles sat in her beach chair, the hood of her sweatshirt and a blanket pulled tight around her head against the wind that was starting to kick up in front of Toms River Volkswagen.

She had arrived at the Route 37 auto dealership on Friday afternoon, driving over from her home in Morgantown, Pa., west of King of Prussia. At 3:30 a.m. Saturday, after spending the night in her car, she was first in line for the dealership's $1 car contest.

"It's an adventure," Guiles said as she waited in the dark with the other hardy souls in line at 5 a.m. The temperature was dropping and the wind was reminding everyone that it was still winter, despite the nearly 70-degree day on Friday. Immediately behind her in line were a group from Bayville and Manahawkin, young adults wrapping themselves in blankets as they waited, looking to pick up a deal on their first cars.

"It's a dollar and a dream," said Mike from Toms River, another early arrival, who didn't want his last name used. He had his eye on a pretty red Volkswagen Beetle convertible. "It's kind of like that old lottery line, a dollar and a dream."

Some had big dreams, of course. A black BMW convertible had people crossing their fingers, and a 1965 classic Volkswagen Beetle in the showroom — glistening with a white paint job and fully restored leather interior and three-gear manual transmission — tempted others.

Shane Shugart, who drove over from Browns Mills, sat in the driver's seat of the Beetle, waiting for the price cuts to begin.

"I figured why not take a look," he said with a smile.

In the end, three people had their dollar dreams fulfilled. Abby Entwistle of Red Bank was the first winner, when Tom McMenamin, the owner of Toms River Volkswagen and Toms River Mitsubishi, marked the 2012 Volkswagen Jetta she'd picked out down from its price of $14,892.

Joe Cordero, who drove up from Galloway for the event, watched as Entwistle burst into tears when her car was chosen. When McMenamin announced the 2018 Mitsubishi Mirage next to the Jetta was also a $1 car, his grin for Entwistle turned to shock at his own good fortune. The Mirage had been priced at $15,042.

"This means so much to me," Cordero said as he hugged McMenamin. "Thank you so much."

The third $1 car went to Nadia Salimbene of Toms River, who got a 2006 Mitsubishi that had been priced at $8,918.

"I know a lot of people thought this was a scam," McMenamin said afterward. "I'm glad people came in and got to see it was real."

The $1 winners were charged sales tax on the $1 sale price — McMenamin said the sales tax is required under state law — and the fee to register the car with the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission, officials with the dealership said.

The original plan was to slash prices only on the used cars, and many of the prices were cut in half. A handful of older models were offered at prices below $1,000, and snapped up by people looking for first cars for young drivers. But so many people showed up for the promotion — more than 300 people strolled the lot, and salesmen were busy with three and four customers at time — that McMenamin offered deals on new vehicles as well.

One of the young women who'd waited through the night was excited when McMenamin cut the price on the car she liked to $1,800 from a $9,000 posted price. But when someone in the crowd mentioned she had been waiting since 10:30 Friday night, McMenamin cut it further, to $1,650. "That's dedication," he said.

The contest gave those sitting in the driver's seat of a car the right of first refusal on a discounted price. Not everyone took the deals that were offered, and in some instances people waiting in the passenger seat slid right over and took advantage. In one instance, a car marked down to $5,717 (lots of prices ended in "17" in honor of St. Patrick's Day weekend) was passed on by the driver and the passenger, whose son was looking for a car, hopped over. Another man interested in the car jumped into the passenger seat.

"If her son doesn't take it, I will," he said, prompting laughter from the crowd. He later ended up taking a deal on a different car, and there were a number of folks who did so as well.

"My daughter is 16 and we need a car soon," said one woman who drove down from South Brunswick. She ended up with a 2012 model that was marked down from $12,277 to $3,717.

Lynn Guiles, who'd driven in Friday afternoon, didn't get the deal she was hoping for on a hardtop convertible Volkswagen Eos. But she was working on a deal on a Mitsubishi as the afternoon inched closer to evening.

"I've beaten cancer twice," she said, adding that she's currently fighting Stage IV breast cancer again. "My kids used to take adventures with me like this, but this time, I did it by myself. It was something to do."

If you missed the Facebook Live broadcast, you can watch below. The first two $1 cars are within the first 10 minutes, and the third is in the second portion of the video.

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