Car buying tips

[KilgoreTrout]

What RR said.

The trick is to play one dealer off another. Shop around. Know what you want to spend (based on the CR research) and be willing to walk away if they won't meet or come close enough to your price. Be pleasant but assertive. Simply state that you have your research and this is where you'd like to begin negotiations.

I've had good success with this method. I've had dealers call me crazy, complain that I was eating into their holdback, telling me that the numbers were wrong. I walked away from those places and dealt with the ones that treated me like a normal person doing business.

Also, negotiate the sale price of the vehicle you're interested in first. Then decide on financing/lease, trade in, and any dealer-installed extras. Get the whole deal written up. If the finance guy tries to sell you rustproofing, extended warranties, or advertising, documentation, or other fees, say no and be prepared to walk away unless they agree to eat those fees. It works.

[hyde]

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be prepared to walk away

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This is the bottom line. And they will be playing you better than a three card monte mark in Times Square.

There was a great article about a year ago, I think I got linked from 2+2 but am not sure. about anything...
But is was by a guy who worked for a newspaper and spent 4 or 6 months working the car sales game. He wrote it up kind of funny, but there is NO FUN in the car sales game. They are a ruthless bunch willing to lie and cheat their way to a sale.

I bought a new vehicle a few years back and the sales unit is telling me how these trucks NEVER break down, yada yada yada. 3 minutes later I am in the office with the large breasted, low cut, just plain got to old to work the pole anymore, finance manager who tells me " I'd hate to see something major go wrong and this extended warranty is only an additional $48 a month." or $3000 in their freaking pocket because you have to keep the vehicle more than 70K miles to even have it kick in.

I'll try to googleize that guys article, it will help you.

[youtalkfunny]

This thread makes me so sad.

I was so tickled when Saturn launched, and their model was "no haggling". They put a price tag on the car, with the rock-bottom number. I was SO hoping the industry would go that way.

Saturn had to quickly abandon the plan. Nobody would buy a car without trying to haggle. They all WANTED to play these stupid games with the dealers.

Everyone who ever told me about the car they just bought, universally boasted that they "got a great deal". Then I ask them one or two questions, and it quickly becomes apparent that they got a horrible deal.

I guess my point is that for most people, thinking you got a good deal is more important than actually getting a good deal.

I've read so much stuff on the car buying game, it would make your head spin. But I'm still horrible at it.

At least I'm aware that I suck.

[Blarg]

Even if you're terrible, you can save a ton of money by doing two things. The first, as noted, always be ready to walk away. You gotta really feel it and know it or the dirty dogs will sense it and pull you back into suckersville. Second, go when the model years are changing over and buy last year's model.

There is little demand for last year's model when the new year has come out, the dealership is losing money on it every day(they don't get the cars out there for free), he'll have to sell it for less every week, and it's taking up space he could use for new product. Tell the dealership they can keep on wasting time and money on the lost cause of a car most customers would not want to buy and nobody would pay a premium for, or they can just get it out of their hair right now and move on to what's going to make them more money instead. Two winners. The other choice is there can be one loser and it won't be you, because you'll just get the same deal somewhere else.

Keep in mind that the resale value will be even worse than usual for you as soon as you drive it off the lot. It's to do with cars you want to keep for a long time, not just a year or three.

[KilgoreTrout]

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for most people, thinking you got a good deal is more important than actually getting a good deal.


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I sort of hoped Freakonomics delved into this subject. Not that their theories are at all earth shattering or even productive, but that the comparisons alone are entertaining.

The reason why the Saturn model fails is because consumers (US consumers anyway) think the MSRP is fiction to begin with. Am I to think that the industry is being benevolent? Pshaw.

I recall one near-bamboozle with my most recent vehicle purchase. I found a couple dealers with 4x4 F150's with 8 foot beds, 5.4L, XLT trim line, and the performance options I wanted. One had more doohickeys than the other, which didn't matter much to me. After a couple of weeks going back and forth with both dealers, the guy selling me the tricked out model was only a few bucks away from the guy selling a more basic model. I decided, dollars being equal, why not get the Bose system and the power windows, etc.?

I got there and the guy had all the paperwork prepared. But the math didn't add up. He did the quick "here's our agreed-upon price" which appeared at the bottom, like a bottom line. Added to it were the rebate, my down payment, my trade in, etc. etc. etc. So instead of, say, $25K for the truck, he was writing up a $36K sale.

I told him that I hadn't decided whether to trade my car in or not. I said I may want the cash rebate, as I hadn't settled on financing yet. Furthermore, I told the guy that based on the research I had shown him previously, that I wasn't negotiating down from the MSRP, but was starting with dealer cost and factoring in optional equipment in the plus column and rebates, dealer incentives, and holdback in the minus column.

He said my math was wrong. I told him to have a nice day, went to the other dealer with the less-fancy truck, and got the sale price in writing, then discussed trade, rebate, financing. The number came out to within a couple hundred of my number (though I did settle for a drop in bedliner as opposed to a spray-on one and a cheapo tonneau cover instead of a hard top one). I compromised on options, the dealer compromised on dollars. I signed the deal.

Be very wary of car dealer math.

[AbreuTime]

www.edmunds.com/caradvice.html has a lot of good carbuying advice.

[Low Key]

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" I'd hate to see something major go wrong and this extended warranty is only an additional $48 a month." or $3000 in their freaking pocket because you have to keep the vehicle more than 70K miles to even have it kick in.

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This reminds me of politics right now. Using fear to get people to do or surrender something. In this case, money.

[Blarg]

It has worked really well for the Koreans. Cars are still unreliable enough that those 10-year warranties had some appeal. They were built into the price, but still, while you were not giving up money for a warranty specifically, you were indirectly, by deciding to buy a car you might otherwise never have considered.