Thanks for your advice in my previous thread, good Dopers. Now we have to buy a new car for the first time in our lives. We have the money for a reasonable, not luxury, new car but we don’t know the process. How to figure which one is right? How to make sure we get a good price? It does matter that choices are very limited up here, and we need to move relatively quickly.
Any and all tips appreciated. Thanking you!
A suggestion I’ve heard is that, unless you know what you want, and can get it for the price you want, it may be better to rent a car for a month to give you time to make the right choice if you need a car which you don’t presently have.
Other then that, test drive, read reviews. There are web sites where you can post what make/model and options you want and you will get bids from dealers on price. Usually a good way to go if you don’t like the pricing game.
I use TrueCar to get an idea of what the actual price of what I should be paying and use that to decide on a make/models that I can afford. After settling on the model, I use it again with the exact specifications of the car I want that is in stock. I tell the dealer that I will buy it at the TrueCar price now or will need to shop around other dealerships who will. I’ve done it twice now and both times their initial reaction was that I was crazy and there was no way they could go that low. However, once they realized I was serious about not budging and that it was take it or leave it, they accepted the price.
That’s how I approach the process, anyway.
I just make a spreadsheet with columns for the features I want (heated steering? fuel consumption? cargo space?) and a row for each model. Then I scour the carmakers’ Web sites until I’ve come down to a few choices.
If you can get to an auto show and sit in evey model with no sales pressure, all the better.
Also, the financing person is usually in charge of selling you additional warranties and theft protection. Usually this is not worth it, but that person won’t tell you that. Check in advance with your insurer about what it can offer you and what theft protection features can affect your premiums.
Dont buy froma Toyota dealer (fine cars, scammer sales).
Go to Edmunds, Pick out the car you like. They will give you a couple dealers to give price quotes. Use them.
If you have a good relationship with your own bank or credit union, go talk to them about pre-approval for your car loan. If you secure your own financing you have removed one of the ways the dealership will screw you. Not always, there are good interest rates offered, but walking in and not dickering about what a deal they can give you keeps the power on your side. You can always take up their financing offer if you see fit. It might be better even. But beware.
You do not need Scotch Guard on the fabric, or extra undercoating because after all, they salt the roads, and your paint is already “sealed” whatever that means. These items are where the dealer really makes money. The dealer is only making about $1500 on the sale of this new car to you, they will push all of this other stuff to make the “gravy.” And then you will get home and read the owner’s manual where it says “no extra under coating is needed or recommended.” I pointed this out when I bought the second model of my preferred car and they shut up. Oh, and extended warrantys on a new car are for morons, don’t be one. Anything that is lilkely to break will do so under the factory warranty.
Two things to keep in mind. All of the extra add-ons are gravy for the dealer. And, when the sales person goes into the office to talk to the “manager” they are fucking with you, not trying to get you a better deal. They are letting you squirm for the 5 or 10 minutes while they joke about last night’s Steelers game. If they do it a second time, give them your phone number and leave. They will settle on a price real fast. And do not let them talk you into taking the car home for the night to test it out, you just bought yourself a car.
Good luck. We are all counting on you. 
All great advice so far - re-read this thread before you go to the dealer.
Assuming you have done your online research on the specific car you want, and you have taken some test drives to confirm your selection, my only add is to work directly with the dealership’s “internet sales” department. If you know what you want and how much you want to pay, you can email several of the dealers nearby advertising what you want, and see who gets back to you soonest, with an acceptable price. Leave any talk of financing and trade-in out of the email. You may need to ask them to come down on price, but that is so much easier via email as opposed to being a captive in their environment. If one dealer wont budge, as stated, others will. Make them all compete for your business from the comfort of your own desk. Once the “out the door” price is established, then you can discuss financing and trade-in, if applicable.
This approach worked for me for the last 2 cars we bought. No slimy salesperson, no manager, no waiting in someone’s office; just the internet sales person (who, in both cases, had authority to set prices).
My personal favourite is the 4 square game. Here is a really goodlink to explain it and how to mitigate it.
TrueCar is great.
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[li]Also, if you are a Costco member, you can get Costco pricing.[/li][li]If you are an upstandin American Express card owner, you can get AMEX pricing. (AMEX even allows you to buy a car with your AMEX card.)[/li][li]Some car insurance companies also have special pricing. If you insure through Liberty Mutual, they have special pricing.[/li][/ul]
The point is, you have several avenues to compare real car prices (and specials) vs what the dealer says and the sticker price on the car. The more knowledgeable you are before traveling to a dealer the better leverage you have at negotiations.
We recently bought a new vehicle through Costco. For me, that was just the starting point. I checked out several other places and found a list of the hidden dealer factory incentives. Armed with that I got a better price than just the Costco price.
First it’s helpful to figure out what sort of vehicle you want. Small, mid-size, large? What features do you require; sunroof, all-wheel-drive, etc.?
Definitely test drive so you will know how a car feels and drives.
Never let the dealer know you’re in a hurry, they can take advantage of that. Out-the-door offers are great advice, otherwise they will agree to your offer and then tack on hundreds or thousands in fees and taxes once you’re in the office filling out paperwork.
Rather than saying you can’t afford something, just say that’s more than you want to pay. Don’t be afraid to give a lowball offer, you aren’t going to hurt anyone’s feelings. They aren’t going to accept any deal that loses them money.
If you want a new car, there should be some good deals on 2017 models now that 2018s are out.
One thing a lot of people forget is insurance. Once you think you know what kind of car you want, check with your insurance company to see how much the insurance would be. It could be a lot more than you expect.
I’ve spoken to several people who have done much of the purchase negotiation on-line.
First you need to identify what you really want/don’t want. The more flexibility you have as to model/color/accessories - the stronger your position. Play the various dealers against each other.
Of course, you need to figure out what you want. IME - and from what I’ve read - you can’t go wrong with Honda/Toyota if you simply want dependable transportation which will retain its resale value.
Great advice, all. We are thinking Subaru Outback, because we have a 2000 that’s still going, there is a dealership in town (Toyota is the only other one besides American-made) and there is 0% interest for 5 years. Don’t care about color or trim levels, just want the best/cheapest price. TrueCar didn’t help much because there are no TrueCar approved dealers in area. (Told you we were rural.) Duckster, any suggestions as to how to compare car prices? No Costco here, for example. swampspruce, that link doesn’t go to anything 4 square.
Sounds good. If there is only one Subaru dealer in town, still email others in your region and get a quote from them - that can be your bargaining chip with your local dealer. YOU know you wont drive a hundred miles to the next town to buy a car, but THEY don’t know that.
IMO the process is way simpler than spreadsheets and advanced negotiation tactics:
That’s it.
You’ll end up driving yourself crazy and spending more time doing all the research things you “need” to do than you do just finding what you want and what you can afford.
This is rarely the case. While it’s true that the salesman isn’t trying to get you a better deal, sales people almost never have final say-so on price and must present your offer to the sales manager; sales people in fact usually don’t even know what the dealer’s bottom line on a vehicle is. The sales manager has access to all the pertinent current data that tells him what he can sell that particular vehicle for and still make a profit. If you’ve done your homework on what the car should be selling for, then you can hold your ground against counter-offers. In particular, don’t fall for “let’s split the difference”. It never works in your favor.
I’ve got two spreadsheets that I downloaded years ago from https://www.carbuyingtips.com/. One is used to price out the vehicle including invoice & MSRP on base price & any/all options wanted, along with fields for holdback, incentives, floorplan fees, etc. so you can really figure out what you should pay for the car.
The other is a ‘four-square’ spreadsheet with identical fields. This one is for payment/financing. By having four identical sets you can tweak one (or more) number(s) at a time to see what it will really cost you / cost per month. For example, what’s the difference between their .9% financing for 36 months vs. your bank’s rate for 60 months? How much more is it per month? How much more interest over the course of the loan?
I love pulling out my ‘four-square’ sheet; you can literally watch the finance manager deflate.
Sorry, messed up the link.https://consumerist.com/2007/03/30/dealerships-rip-you-off-with-the-four-square-heres-how-to-beat-it/
Two of my co-workers bought new Outbacks this year. For one it was the second, for the other, the first. They love them. The one whose had one for a while says it’s excellent in snow.