How to buy a new car?

[GreasyJack]

@jharvey963

This. Everytime I have bought a car in the last 25 years, it’s been through the Costco buying service. First, you don’t deal with the regular sales department. You deal with the Lease department. These guys are used to the Costco service, and don’t give you any problems. You tell them the car and the options, they quote you the Costco price. Invariably, the Costco price has been very close to “invoice” price.

Best, THERE IS NO HAGGLING, no high pressure, no delaying tactics, and no games. I think I may have been asked if I wanted undercoating, but a simple “no” ended all discussion of that.

J.

I’ve never actually bought a vehicle through the program, but I’ve quoted a few. One of them was a Kawasaki motorcycle that has a bit of a rabid enthusiast base, and the Costco price was at the absolute lowest price anyone had reported getting one for. The dealer actually told me he was considering dropping out of the program because the prices were so low.

[LawMonkey]

@weef

The technique on SlickDeals seems like a great approach. I’ve signed up on TrueCar.com and selected the first make/model I’m interested in and found two TrueCar certified dealers in my area. Using the TrueCar price I can now send emails to other dealers in the area asking for bids to see if they can beat this price. I didn’t see how to select various options on TrueCar so I’ll need to investigate that further but it could be this site only supports prices on a base model.

Just a personal experience here–I recently bought a 2013 Mazdaspeed 3 (zoom-zoom!) via TrueCar. Very good experience overall, though it was a bit hilarious to have multiple dealers calling me like five minutes after I hit send. Two of them from a hundred miles away, because the thing wasn’t telling me where they were. Grr. $3k off sticker, which I believe put it about $1k under invoice. And yes, you can select options; just need to noodle around in there.

[Musicat]

Any safe & reliable sites for dealer cost numbers?

[DrDeth]

@Musicat

Any safe & reliable sites for dealer cost numbers?

Edmunds has some data and they are very reliable and safe. Good place to figuer your trade in too.

[Yarster]

I bought a 2013 Toyota Venza XLE two months ago and was trading in a good condition 2003 Infiniti FX 35. Here’s what I did:

The variables the dealers screw you on are the price, financing, and trade-in value, so create ‘not to exceed’ figures for each of these before going to the dealership, once you have figured out the car and options you want.

1. Price - check Edmunds and KBB.com to get a price for the new car and what it should cost with the options you want, but be sure to print out the costs of all the options, since you may have to settle for one with a subset of or slightly larger number of options than you want based on how the dealers have ordered them. That said, you should understand what each option is worth so you can adjust the price accordingly to the car on hand. This is easily done if you do everything on a smartphone. Next look for pre-negotiated rates through Costco, Credit Unions, Truecar, etc. Note that not one dealer asked for proof I was a member when I called, even though I was. See how those rates compare to what the car should cost and they will likely be a bit higher. When you go to the dealership, shoot for a price about $300 below what the car should cost cost based on whatever the lowest price you can find is.

2. Financing - talk to a credit union and your bank beforehand and see what kind of pre-approved loan you can get assuming you get the car at the price of the pre-negotiated rate from Costco, etc. If the dealer can beat that rate WITH THE EXACT SAME OTHER LOAN TERMS, then go with their financing. Don’t fall for a lower rate but with some kind of longer term loan, weird payment schedule, fees, or balloon payments. If even one aspect of the loan terms is not identical other than the rate, use your pre-approved one. They will try to get you focused on the monthly payment, and then do things to make that lower, but do other things to make the loan less favorable on the back end.

3. Trade-in. Get the KBB/Edmunds figures, and then get the guaranteed 7-day price quote from CarMax to buy your car. They will offer you a fair price in my two experiences selling a car to them and both times the dealer couldn’t match them.

My only other advice is stay sharp in your negotiations. They will try to wear you down and once the paperwork starts, read everything. They will almost always try to sneak in a few extra $100s in fees for ‘dealer prep’, ‘advertising fees’ and other non-sense. I am very clear when we come to an agreement on price that I include the destination and tax and tell the dealer to the penny what I am writing the check for. That forces them to disclose the hidden fees in advance once you start writing. If you can’t negotiate those away, then walk away.

[DrDeth]

Mostly good. But I can’t recommend KBB.

[NotDeadYet]

It’s all about what you are thinking about buying. Are there “must have” options or very specific colors, trim levels, etc.? Best price is a car that the dealer has on the lot because the dealer is paying floor financing on the unit and more motivated to move the unit.

Bigger dealerships, competition between dealers selling the same make and model and inventory of specific models also effects the price.