New Car Buying Tips, Please??

[nickenumbers]

All,

 

I extremely dislike purchasing cars.  And new car purchase is the worst.  It is a time waster, goofy series of lies and half truths, the price isn't the price and then when you think you are done, they want to talk about options, financing, extended warranty, etc.  But, they have what you want, and you are limited by your time an availability of alternative dealership options.

 

I prefer to purchase this car new, I don't want to get it used, if I can avoid it.

 

So, Exceptionally Frugal, Fair Minded, POWER Brains of COBF, I would like to request any and all tips that you have to improving the new car buying experience, getting the best price, and not ruining your life and personal schedule in the process.?~

 

Most of you are very systematic, I would image that some number of you have this refined, or at least have a process to achieve some balance or improved outcome.

 

Thank you all in advance.

[Jurgis]

Used car buying thread: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/off-topic-what-was-your-used-car-buying-experience-like/msg314475/#msg314475

 

I'm gonna be negative: Unless you learn some serious car-buying-fu, you gonna get screwed mediocre deal at best. From personal experience, I get probably $Xk worse prices than the pro-car-buyers from the thread above.

 

There might be no-haggle prices/places that work somewhat. Maybe people will point to some.

 

I think you are contradicting yourself a bit in your OP. You want to get a great deal, you want to get great tips and you don't want to spend time and effort to master car buying. I don't think it works like that  8)

 

Good luck though  8)

[Voodooking]

www.carwow.co.uk

[odin]

Background: My extended family has been in the car business in the NE almost since the Model T.

 

If you are definitely going to buy new try to take advantage of a zero % financing offer so you don't have to tie up capital.  Obviously 0% isn't offered for used.

 

Turn down every single option they offer you.  And be aware, those options will occasionally make their way back to the invoice at signing.  These are options like "paint protectant," "interior stain and tear warranty," etc.  They call this "F&I" (financing and insurance).  The dealers make a killing on F&I.  The only fees you should be paying are a delivery fee around $700 bucks, and maybe a couple other very small ones I'm not remembering.

 

Look up the dealer price of the car you want to buy.  You can do this at edmunds.com.  And it will show you the dealer price and retail price for every option individually.  I print out the prices of the options so I can spec out a car on the lot.  Once you know the dealer price, you clearly want to pay as little as possible above dealer.  $1k over dealer is usually acceptable to them.

 

Hope this helps.

[boilermaker75]

https://www.truecar.com/#/

 

You'll still get hit up for those options Odin mentioned when you go in to purchase. You will have to stay firm and just say no.

[SharperDingaan]

Talk to your friends in low-places, & give them the specification. Treat the ownership as a 'lease' - and not a purchase. ;)

When it arrives, have it re-sprayed and invest in additional insurance.

 

SD

 

[Voodooking]

Buy a push-bike and invest the car money in BRK.B  ;D

[EliG]

Do not negotiate in person.

 

Go on test drives. Figure out what exactly you want to buy, down to the last option. Then...

 

1. Decide how far you are willing to drive to pick up the car.

2. Prepare a list of the new car dealers within your driving distance.

3. Send every dealer an identical email asking for a firm, all-in, "on-the-road" bid.

 

Your email should include:

 

- The exact spec of the car. Make sure you get the package and the options right.

- Your top 3 color choices.

- Your payment method (cash, dealer financing, outside financing, etc)

 

Do it near the end of a quarter. Give them a short deadline. Do NOT give them your phone number.

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=new+car+buy+email

 

 

 

 

[cobafdek]

I just bought a 2018 Toyota Corolla.  MSRP $20,100.  I wrote a check for $18,578.  How? 

 

Short answer:  Costco.

 

Longer answer:  I already knew I wanted only a new Toyota Camry or Corolla, based on past experience and the reliability record and ratings for these car models from Consumer Reports.  (My previous car was a 2003 Toyota Camry that I preferred to have kept to 300,000+ miles, i.e.., run it until it stops, but at 155,000 miles it was in a minor accident and was totaled.)

 

As a Costco member, I entered my information on their website, which directed me to their preferred dealer in my local area.  At 1 pm, I showed up at the dealership and scouted out the particular color I wanted.  A salesman showed up, we took it for a drive around the block, and it felt comfortable enough.  As we were walking back to the showroom, I said, "I'll take it."  I drove off in the new car around 3:30 pm.

 

When I sat down at the salesman's desk to start "negotiating," I mentioned that I was referred by Costco.  The salesman confirmed it at the manager's office that I had inquired through the Costco website, and brought back a "special Costco pricing sheet" with the discounts.  The salesman told me that a condition of being a Costco preferred local dealership was to treat the Costco customer in a simple no-haggle manner. 

 

I made the simple, no-haggle process even faster by not being picky.  I do not care much about car "special features."  All I wanted in a car was something that gets me from here to there.  After I gave them the check and the car was mine, before driving off, the salesman showed me some of the "special features" that were standard for the base model.  It was then that I found out my car had the front-end collision mitigation system, lane departure warnings, and a back-up camera.  I said, "Cool."  I neither wanted nor needed those, and would have declined those features to lower the price if they were optional.  But they are cool.  If my 2003 Camry had those new electronic protection systems, it would not have been totaled.

 

The only option the dealer tried to tack on was a car security alarm system for $800, which was easily declined.

 

I could have bought a Camry or Prius, but decided on the spot to save $5000.  I hope to keep this car for the next 300,000 miles minimum.

 

 

 

 

[rb]

Love the enthusiasm cobafdek but honestly I think that 300,000 miles is optimistic. Corolla is a solid car and it could probably do 300,000 under the right conditions but it likely won't get to that, especially if you're a member of this board. Inconveniences will start creeping in around the 150 mark.

 

More generally on this thread, it's much harder to get advantages in the new car buying field. It's kind of stacked against you where all the players you go against have information asymmetry against you. On top of that these guy literally spend all their time on this while you just put in some time every so many years. Plus they control all of the supply.

 

Honestly the used car market is a lot more interesting. A lot more opportunities. And things get really interesting when you get into the used luxury car market. Lots of bargains there.

 

One more thing. For people that want to save money on cars, learn something about them, how they work and how to fix them when they break. It honestly is pretty easy and it will save you a ton of time and money.

[tombgrt]

Thread reminds me of the book Influence where author describes tactics used by car dealers to sell. Could be useful tool check!

[Paarslaars]

Anyone got a edmunds/truecar alternative for europe? Get to pick my company car soon and the leasing company allows us to negotiate with the dealership.

[CorpRaider]

Next time I do it, I might just buy through costco for a new car or CarMax for a used car.  You have to value your time. 

 

Also, no matter what you do, you are buying an "asset" that is going to march from $40K to $10K in value in a few short years.

[Kapitalust]

Our 2003 Corolla is still humming along very nicely at ~210,000 km.

 

I imagine at this pace, 300,000 km and beyond is not unreasonable.

 

The Costco method is probably how I would go about getting a new Corolla/Camry in the future.

[Chris DeMuth Jr]

This is my favorite book with a section on the topic: The Predictioneer's Game: Using the Logic of Brazen Self-Interest to See and Shape the Future https://amzn.to/2rwsSVp.  The whole thing is quite good and the section on car buying works great.  I like the author and chatted with him here: https://bit.ly/2wiV0A7.

[tooskinneejs]

I would recommend either TrueCar or a local dealer that offers no-haggle pricing.  After determining the exact vehicle you want (including trim level), enter it on TrueCar and let the dealers start offering you prices via email.  Note that sometimes you can get different offers just by adjusting your "city" by 30 or 40 miles (i.e., put in Fredericksburg, VA instead of Washington, D.C.).

 

Compare the TrueCar offers to the prices available at the local no-haggle dealers.  And don't rush to take any of the initial batch of TrueCar offers you receive.  By waiting a few weeks, I received an offer that was hundreds less than the initial offer from a dealer.

 

Finally, with respect to the price, completely ignore the meaningless MSRP and know that the invoice price (which is less than MSRP) isn't really the cost to the dealer.  The dealer pays substantially less than invoice due to holdbacks and other manufacturer incentives and rebates.  A good rule of thumb, look at the "what others paid" graph on TrueCar and accept offers only in the bottom 30% of the price range (or if you really want to be a value hunter, only accept an offer at the very bottom of the "what others paid" range).  Unless your car is super hot/in demand, I generally wouldn't pay more than invoice.

 

And I agree with what others have said, don't take any add-on's.  They are a rip.

 

Finally, if you are interested in paying cash consider taking their financing, at least in the short-term.  Sometimes dealers will give you a better price if you finance the purchase through them (since they get a kickback on the financing).  Take the financing as long as there is no prepayment penalty and then pay it off a month after the purchase.

[DTEJD1997]

Hey all:

 

Here is something that has not been discussed in this thread...

 

If you are going for a luxury or sports car, OR something expensive....there are certain dealers that specialize in that type of vehicle.

 

For example, here in Detroit, if you want a Corvette, you go to Les Stanford.  They specialize in that type of car.  HOWEVER, there is an "upstart" dealer, Mattick Chevrolet, that wants to take business...so they are VERY aggressive on their pricing.  I know a couple of people that have bought cars by playing these 2 dealers against each other.  They wound up getting AMAZING deals on new Corvettes.

 

They also went towards the end of a model year run, and at the end of the month at that.

 

Other dealers simply don't have the volume/inventory and can't/won't even come close to matching prices by these 2 dealers.  They simply don't sell enough Vettes, and the ones they do, frequently go to buyers who prefer to deal with that dealership for other reasons (fleet purchases of trucks).

 

So if you are going after a higher end vehicle, it can certainly pay to find out which dealers specialize in that type of vehicle.

[Jurgis]

To add something that mostly applies to used cars, but may apply to certain less-common new cars:

 

If you buy from a dealer that is 20-50-100 miles away, consider beforehand what you gonna do if car has an (not-major) issue which requires you to take the car to the dealer to be fixed (for free under warranty). Are you fine driving 20-50-100 miles and spending your day at the dealer for a free service?

 

This also applies to certain new cars, where nobody else may fix it closer to you, e.g. Tesla (yeah, I know you might get car swap with Tesla, but still think beforehand).

[Seanzy]

Where are you located?

[nickenumbers]

Amazing, great, Outstanding Input.!!

 

You people are smart, shrewd and rational!  I am already married, otherwise I would ask for advice on marrying a good wife [spouse]..

 

None of us is as smart as ALL OF US!!!  Keep up the good work.

[Spekulatius]

Some car dealers are actually easy to deal with. the first thing I did was test driving different vehicles to find out which one I liked. I went to the closest dealers with no intention to buy, the gold was just to find out which car I liked. once the decision was made,  I  looked at TruCar prices, took a round number in the 20%tile for the car I wanted and shopped online for quotes. I looked at dealers specifically, that had higher than average Ratings in yelp or google, but sometimes they are not easy to find.

 

Then I named my fixed price for the specific model and asking for online quotes. quite a few answered that they don’t have that specific model in my desired colors (but of course they had more expensive ones) to which I replied that I can wait until they have one. I took the offer from the first dealer that offered me the car for the price I wanted.

 

Some dealers want to screw you with extra fees (advertising etc), which one should not accept. Be ready to walk, if they keep dragging out the process to wear you down. If you walk, don’t come back to the same dealer, or at least make it a point to talk to a different salesperson (if you can’t avoid the dealership) as a deterrent tomolay the same game over.

 

Other dealers are straightforward and you get exactly washable you ask for. A really good negotiator can do better and possibly get free extras, but a fair deal is good enough for me.

[rkbabang]

Our 2003 Corolla is still humming along very nicely at ~210,000 km.

 

I imagine at this pace, 300,000 km and beyond is not unreasonable.

 

The Costco method is probably how I would go about getting a new Corolla/Camry in the future.

 

I purchased a 1995 Corolla in 1996 with 12K miles on it.  I traded it in in 2001 with 254K miles on it to buy a 4Runner only because I wanted a larger vehicle.  That car never gave me any problems at all.  I wouldn't be surprised if someone put another 200K on it.  I find people who have never owned one (especially if they are used to American or German cars) don't really understand how long a Toyota will last and how little trouble it gives you along the way.  When you're used to constant car hassles and large repair bills starting at 60K miles you can't even register the fact that it doesn't have to be that way.

 

 

[clutch]

Shop around in the fall... That's when new models come out so the dealer will likely have some promotion to sell this year's model. You will likely get a better financing rate at very least.

[Jurgis]

Shop around in the fall... That's when new models come out so the dealer will likely have some promotion to sell this year's model. You will likely get a better financing rate at very least.

 

Buying last year's model was a great advice historically. But IMO this is not so clear cut now. There are a lot of changes coming with collision avoidance systems, sensors, and overall software in cars. It may still work, but be sure that you don't miss out on significant upgrades in software and hardware.

[clutch]

Shop around in the fall... That's when new models come out so the dealer will likely have some promotion to sell this year's model. You will likely get a better financing rate at very least.

 

Buying last year's model was a great advice historically. But IMO this is not so clear cut now. There are a lot of changes coming with collision avoidance systems, sensors, and overall software in cars. It may still work, but be sure that you don't miss out on significant upgrades in software and hardware.

 

I don't think those software systems change as frequently as perceived.