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Top 10 Car Buying Tips

Top 10 Car Buying Tips

1. You should purchase your new car at or around Christmas time because with everybody buying their Christmas presents, not many of them are looking to buy a new car, and it forces dealerships to up their sales strategies. Salesmen are more willing to haggle down to your prices to close the deal.

2. You can also get a good deal from July to October because that is the time of year when dealerships are trying to get rid of their inventory to make way for the new models.

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Tips Buying Car Top

Consumer Reports has great information on the rebates that the dealers are getting from the parent company and that is some really powerful information that consumers usually don't get. It saved me a couple of thousand on my last car and I paid like $40 to get the information. Also, I know they say not to do it in some places, but if you have a 401K you can take a interest free loan out of you 401K (this really good if it is before taxed monies). If you go to the dealership around the end of nearly any month (especially the last day of the month) and are willing to pay in cash/check...the dealers start to salivate like pavlov's dog. However, the real key are the rebates that the parent company gets that the consumers are never told about. They can easily end up being about 2,000 dollars into the dealers pocket...not to mention the profit on the car. Also, never fall for the phrase..."how much can you afford to pay per month?" That is not the question...the question is what is your best deal! Also, never let them hear that you really like or love the car! Don't be afraid to leave the dealership. If you find a car you like and told them how much you want to pay and they give you the standard..."we cant possibly sell it for that much", then give them your phone number and walk out.


Dealers will tell you that they actually paid the invoice price for the car. This is NOT true. Dealers actually rent the car from the parent company. The rent is determined by the invoice price, but the monthly rental on the car is VERY LOW. This is why the are in such a hurry at the end of the month to get rid of cars. If they hold it until the next month...they pay more rent on the car.

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The tip on the fact the car is rented from the parent company is a big one as they also have to meet a certain level of units moved to get the more expensive cars from the parent company.

One trick I used last time was starting on the internet I managed to get a vehicle profile made up that I sought. Then I found places that had what I sought and faxed that profile to them and got them to fax me back their price quotes. Obviously they varied but only by 2,000 to start. It was a quad cab dakota brand new I sought. Once I had the price quote I faxed it back to all the dealers I had contacted saying not good enough what can you beat it by.

3 of 5 responded beating the lowest price, I returned that quote in same manner and one dealer ship beat the price other two were will only to match. I dropped 3500 off price at this point. The basic vehicle was about 22000 to start. From consumers guides I had read suggested the mark up on the msvp was 17 to 22 percent. There were no factory rebates at the time. I went to the dealer with the lowest bid they would not drop any more but gave me a suspension upgrade, box liner, extended warranty, class3 trailer hitch and a sliding back window for $700.00. I might have been able to get a better deal but most importantly I found the whole thing very easy and not stressful.

Tips Buying Car Top

Some dealers like to show you their invoice sheet. Really, they only want you to look at the final number and feel sorry for them paying that much (which they dont...remember it is rented by them) and that they are only asking about 10% over that. If you see anything on that invoice that is not directly related to the car, ask about it. I asked about 2 line items that totaled over $1500. They told me that these were the national and local advertising campaigns. I asked them shouldnt that be covered by the profit you all make off this car? Of course I was told that they have to charge everone for this. I thought about it for a second and really didnt see why I was giving them $1500 on top of the profit that they were going to make for the car and had a idea. They put a dealership decal on each car they sell. I thought that was like a billboard of sorts on my car...free advertising for them and thought that was not fair that they didnt have to pay for that advertising I was going to do for them over the next 5-7 years. I offered to let them keep the dealership decal on my car for $1500. I could tell they never heard anyone come up with this idea. I told them for $1500, they can keep the decal on my car and I will advertize for them as long as I own the car...otherwise, I want the decal off the car. Now, these are pretty firmly attached because they don't want that advertising to fall off...so repairing the damage done to the car would probably get close to that figure. I agreed to pay their $1500 national and local advertising campaign money and they agreed to pay for the billboard I was providing them!

Tips Buying Car Top

Indeed you are right and a car buying guid I read stated in it to charge 200 per month per inch for any decals. My new truck has none though they did put a plate holder on it. When I got the truck I did my walk around and upon seeing it I asked for the person who sold me the car and asked him if was ready to start paying. He started to argue with me then I asked him who owns this truck?

He took the plate holder off then handed it to me. I asked him what he was giving it to me for he said it was complimentary, so I broke into two pieces and threw it in the garbage. Before leaving I kindly informed him for his rudeness he would not see me or the truck again. I just went up the street (2 blocks away) to the next dealer when I had any issues with warranty or for oil changes. Strangley enough they treated me very well.

They are not your friend they do not care about you and all they want is your money and as much as you can give. Keeping that in mind you will do well in any car lot.

Edited: krakyn on 21st Sep, 2007 - 1:27pm