I am giving serious consideration to buying a new car by year’s end. I’ve never done this on my own. Always had my dad or (ex) husband with. I’m thinking of a Honda Accord or Civic, Toyota Corolla or Nissan Altima. Don’t know if I’ll go gently used or 2002. Anybody ever bought a car from Carmax? They have gently used cars and a no-haggle policy. I’d appreciate any advice, tips, etc. on dealing with car salespeople and deciding which is the car for me. (As long as it’s dark green with beige interior!)
Yes.
First, hie thee to www.fools.com. This is the Motley Fools’ web site. Find the section on how to buy a new car. Follow their instructions to the letter.
My main advice (which you will see in that web site) is: do your homework first. Decide on what car you want. Use the 800 numbers in the Fools’ web site to acquire a copy of the manufacturers’ invoice. Offer the dealer about $300 over invoice and keep walking away from the deal until they meet your price.
Rule of thumb: if you have visited the same dealer several times, and keep walking out when they don’t meet your price… when they finally follow you out to your car, you’ve got 'em right where you want 'em.
Turn around and go in to close the deal. Just don’t be afraid to walk away a few times until you get the price you’re willing to pay. The car will still be there and if that dealer simply refuses to meet your price… you can always get that same car elsewhere.
Also, do not allow dealers to offer trade in prices on your current (old) car before you’ve settled on a price for the new car. This was a very interesting negotiation technique I learned when buying my last car. Get the price down… then start talking about trade in. Tell ‘em you’re going to sell the car yourself and use the cash on a downpayment, instead of letting them rip you off. They’ll offer you a fraction of your cars’ blue book value on a trade in, so I also advise trying to sell it yourself through your local classifieds. You’ll get more money for it.
This worked for me. In 1995 I bought a brand spankin’ new Honda del Sol (which still purrs like a kitten) for a little more than $4000 off the sticker price. I ended up paying exactly $350 over manufacturers’ invoice (the price the dealer paid to the car factory for the car.)
Deciding which is the car for you:
• Go to the various manufacturer web sites. You can “build your own car” at most of 'em. This will help you compare features and such without pressure from salespeople.
• Once you’ve narrowed it down, talk to a few people you know who drive that type of car. Find out how they like the car and how much maintenance they’ve had to put in.
• Come back to the message boards and see if anyone else has input about that particular car.
• Call your insurance company for a quote before you even test drive – this way you won’t get your heart set on a car for which the insurance is unaffordable for you.
• Test drive, test drive, test drive. I put 48 miles on my car test driving it! I went to the dealer when it was raining, I took it out on the freeway, I drove it in the dark – wanted to be sure I could see out of the darn thing in any weather/traffic condition.
All that said, it takes me 2-4 weeks to buy a car… AFTER I’ve decided which car I want. Doing the homework yourself will help you negotiate with the sales people, which really isn’t all that painful, since you’re armed with information. It’s just so worth the investment in your time.
Thre are a few car buying topics lately you might search for them & read carbuyingtips.com
I was looking real close at the 2002 Corolla. I didn’t like the realy chintzy interior. The cup holder didn’t look like it would last a week. Though the 45mpg mileage rating was hard to ignore. Also, the CD player was a $600 option@##@!
I ended up buying a Mazda Protege 5. A small wagon/hatchback, much nicer interior, conderably better acceleration and handling, but a lot less mileage. The CD player was only about another $75.
The Protege and Corolla were the only two cars in their price range recommended by Consumer Reports. The protege 5 was too new to be tested, but it had the same engine and drive train as the Protege, so I went for it because of the hatchback, a trait I absolutely love in a car.
I went to a Toyota dealer again a few weeks ago when my sister was shopping, and the dealer claimed that the 2003 Corolla was almost completely redone on the interior. We didn’t look at it though; sis was looking for something more upscale.
usually I dont learn much new about this sort of thing, but I was reading at edmunds.com & they have an aritcle on the kbb price book. They said that dealers show the dealer kbb book (Just for Dealers) to customers which has suggested prices for the car. However, these aren’t the prices that cars get sold at…just suggested prices for dealers around the US…grrrrrrrrr
Do you have a Costco card?
If so, go here. It’s a no-haggle deal. You click on the model you want. The site will give a contact at a local dealership. When you go to see the contact, he will have to show his invoice (how much the dealership paid the manufacturer for the car). Costco allows them to charge you a set amount over that invoice. Usually $250.00.
I got my Toyota Tacoma for almost $2000.00 under the sticker price.
Only drawback, the Costco deal only applies tp cars actually on the lot.
Peedin- Do yourself a favor and stop by a Saturn dealership. No pressure, no price haggling and a great car for about the same as a Civic/Corrolla/Altima. Maybe hold out for an Ion, due in mid-January. A terrific value, solid performer and a very cool/useful rear-hinged rear doors, similar to the extend cab pickup trucks.
Sly
Here’s the basic lowdown.
TEST DRIVE AS MANY CARS AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN!
Do NOT restrict yourself to the models you have mentioned. Have you considered the Hyundai Elantra? Beautiful car, lots of options, price is great, well made. What about the Saturn? What about Mitsubishi? Suzuki? You don’t know until you see 'em and drive 'em. Figure out what models are in your price range and test drive as many of them as you can possibly find time to test drive. Visit ALL the dealers you can. Look at as many cars as you can. Anyone who goes into buying a car fixated on 1-3 particular models is dooming themselves to potentially massive disappointment.
I cannot stress it enough; test drive them all. EVERYTHING in your price range you can get behind the wheel of. And make sure it’s a substantial test drive. Take it on a highway if you can.
In summary;
- Using a variety of sources, find out all the cars in your price/utility range.
- Test drive as many of them as you possibly can. If you have taken 3 cars for a test drive, you haven’t done enough.
- Ask a LOT of questions. Make sure you know every single possible thing you are buying. Do you get floormats? (Believe it or not that’s often an option.) Make sure it’s written down - EVERYTHING, not just the trim level, because you’ll never remember all the differences between a “GS” and a “GT.” Ask to see their service schedule and prices, and ask to see the garage.
- When you have selected a car, keep walking away until you get the price you want with the options you want. They should move farther than you can. If you don’t like the deal tell them you don’t like it and that you’ll be back in a few days “assuming I don’t find a better deal elsewhere.” Try a dealer in a bigger city if you don’t think they move fast enough.
I etsted one of those before I bought my Tacoma. I really liked it. It looked great, good price, lots of features, had more gitty-up than any other automatic I drove, great warranty…