New Car Buying Experiences/Advice

My dad doesn't even like to mention the trade-in until he has the price on the car he is buying set..

don't want them to offer you a good deal on the trade in just so they can rip you off on the car you are buying or whatever..


the last car we bought he was up in the office had the price settled etc.. then told them he had a trade in

 

forgot to mention.. then if they wont give you a good price on the car you are trading in. you can work from there.

at least you will already then know the price you should be expecting from the other dealership before you consider buying from them ..

 

This is my experience from buying a couple cars and a new one recently in the past couple years.

First off i always do research on the car and find out what all the options cost for the dealer price. They put on a bunch of stuff on there that they have huge markups on.

Once you have that sheet you know what these dealers are playing with and how much you can shave off the price.

Im 100% positive the car you have will have something called like clear coat or something that cost 400 bucks on the sticker that is a dealer added option. This is actually like 50 bucks and they spray it on top of the paint to proctect it. That i heard from a friend that used to work for Gillman Honda.

When you really have all the facts right in front of them they can't deny things.

Definetly use the fact that the new style is coming out beucase they will have to get rid of it or they will loose much more in the coming here.

I have also found when i negotiated the price of the car that if you go towards the end of the month there is a lot of quotas that have to be met, they will work a bit more on the price of the car to get it out of it's inventory for that month, not only for the purpose of the quota but as well as the inventory tax they have to pay on all the vehicles on the lot.

I would highly recommend you selling the cars yourself becuase you will get so much more for them in a personal sale rather than a trade. They will end up selling your same car for up to 3000 more than you got for it. If you have the time just put it on either ebay or the chronicle and sell it fast.

Then take the extra time to research it this month, walk in with the cash at the end of the month and be stern with them and don't back down. Give them a price and if they don't like it try someone else...they will always call you back to work out the deal.

I learned that lesson from my mom when we bought my car. She told them a price 500 bucks less than what they had and they said no..she walked out 10 minutes later they called and said we have to get it off our lot if you come back we will do it now...

It really does pay to be stronger than they are. I will try to find the site where i got dealer costs on all the options they put on.

 

With a new Honda Odyssey they may not budge much on the price. (Check at a couple of dealers to see if this holds true in your area). If the buy price is constant, your variable is the trade.

I'd start there.

 

http://www.car-buying-strategies.com/car-buying.html

There is some more info on how to figure a lot out on the pricing and working the dealers.

If the Odessy is changing body styles they would have a lot of room to play because it will devalue when the new style comes out.

 

Remember the hidden costs of selling your own car.

If you trade it in, you don't have to pay sales tax on it.

If you sell it to an individual, you either have to charge that individual tax, or pay the tax out of your pocket.

 

My brother got his Odyssey for about $500 above invoice at the end of last year. It was a 2004 model. You should shoot for something less than that. The trade in will never be near what kbb says. You are better off selling it on E-bay or something.

 

Clutch,

Funny you post this because I'm smack dab in the middle of the new car buying process.

Here are my suggestions to get the best value.

- Get the invoice price of the vehicle that you want to purchase. Haggle with them to get as close as possible to this.

- Get your financing BEFORE you go to the dealership. Cash in hand is like a staff from the heavens, you can demand what you want.

- Never look at purchasing the car from a 'low payments' point of view. You want to concentrate on the final price of the car. This is especially true when you use their in house financing. They'll try and wow you with their low monthly payments, but will offset that by extending the terms of the contract at a higher APR.

- Get your beacon score, and clear up any black marks that you can. This way if you do decide to use dealer financing, you know exactly what rate you should be getting.

- Once you agree on a price, you are not in the clear yet. You will have to deal with the Finance group, who will try to sell you on extended warranties, etc. Stand your ground. Especially if you already have the cash from another bank. With cash in hand, you are the MAN. They give you what YOU want.

- Shop your trade-ins around. Try CarMax. It's always best not to trade in on a new car purchase. It leaves too much room for them to screw you. Know the value of your trade-in, and don't sway too much from there. If you want, I have the latest NADA values. (I work at a bank)

That's it, good luck!

PS. Come in with the attitude of 'Hey, I don't HAVE to have this car. I'll go elsewhere.' When they know you really want this car, they'll feed off of that, and won't give you much of a price break. Be ready to walk out of there with your money in hand at any given moment.

PPS. Use edmunds.com to find the True-Market-Value of your vehicle with options. Edmunds.com is an essential tool in the car buying process.

 

I spoke with a few Honda dealerships over the phone when buying my Accord, and the nicest were defintely the David McDavid people. It didn't hurt that prices were also the nicest(I bought for about $100 under invoice price). I'd say invoice or below is possible with a redesign in the works.

Not once did they pressure me into buying the day I came in. Our salesman came a little early with the "What color would you like?" talk, but all salesman do that.

I would definitely give David McDavid a call before I went in. He was probably just talking us up, but our salesman told us when people call ahead of time, they offer them as low a price as they can offer.

 

I really like the Town & Country, and the Caravan.. For some reason the Odessy's price doesn't offer the bang of the others.

 

I got my new Accord for 50-100 under invoice last year.

To negotiate on a new car, the easiest way is to first list out all local honda dealerships with their "Internet sales" email addresses. Email one dealership what specific car you want and ask them how much it will cost. <optional if you're stingy like me>These guys love selling 2 or 3 cars at one time without any effort, so you can even tell them you and/or your friend are looking to get another Honda also at the same time to even lower the cost</optional>. Once you get this price, you will email all of the other honda dealerships if they can better this price. Let each one of them have their chance to match or better, and go with that best price.

If you do this, there will be no need to really sit down and negotiate with anyone. (Cut the lies lies lies).

 

My family calls me "the negotiator." Any time anyone wants to buy a new car, I have to do it all...I refuse to be screwed and I'm never particularly friendly with the salesman. They say women get the worst deals on cars...not THIS woman!

ALWAYS get the price of the car before you mention a trade-in. If they ask you about a trade-in, say your undecided -- it depends on the price of the car. NEVER show them the car you might trade-in BEFORE you have a firm price on the new car.

Have a set price in your mind of what you're willing to pay for the car. DO NOT GO ANY HIGHER THAN THAT PRICE. Don't get caught up in the emotion...don't give in to the salesman. If you want to pay $25K, don't go any higher...don't go to $25,500...don't go to $25,000.01.

They're going to highball you, so lowball them. If you want to pay $25K, offer $22K or $23K. They'll go on about how ridiculous your offer is (remember, the sticker price is even more ridiculous!). If you offer low, you can end up paying $3K more than your inital offer, because your target price was actually $25K. It's all mind games!

Also, don't sign a piece of paper, period. Most salesmen will write down a number on a sheet of paper and ask you to initial it if you agree to that price...then they'll take it to their "manager" for his initials. Personally, I think they're going to the bathroom or getting a donut during this time...they take for freaking ever to come back. It's a pressure tactic...don't let this get to you. It's not like putting your initials on a piece of paper means crap, but still, don't do it.

Under no circumstances should you tell them how much you want to pay a month. Always say you want to pay one of 48 or 60 payments of the price of the car per month. If you tell them you want to pay $400 a month...they'll give you $400....with a total of $48,276.38 or some crazy number three times the amount the car is worth.

TAKE THE INTEREST RATE INTO ACCOUNT. And make sure you know the interest rate before you agree on a price or decide about your trade-in. I failed to get this hammered down on the last car I bought....when I got in to sign all my paperwork, they had 8.9% interest on that puppy. The salesman had told me it would be around 3.9% to 4.9%..."around"...that's the word that got me. When I saw 8.9% on the contract I wrote "VOID" all over the thing, ripped it up and began to walk out. Within 20 seconds they offered 1.9% PLUS a free extended warranty.

When signing the contract, make sure you're being charged for everything you were told was on the car. Some dealers like to add on "theft protection" bar codes or other little things that are not stated on the sticker or the salesman did not tell you about. You agreed to pay for the things on the sticker or the salesman told you about, nothing more. I saw a $400 "theft protection" thing on the contract one time...the price added up to what I had negotiated, but because the "theft protection" was not on the sticker and I had not been told about it, I ended up getting another $400 knocked off the price we had negotiated AND I got the feature because it was already on the car. I never agreed to it before, so they took it off...otherwise I was walking. Also, be sure you GET A COPY OF EVERY SINGLE THING YOU SIGN.

Be sure YOU are in control at all times. Remember, you're not the one dependant on purchasing the car to make money. You won't be hurt if you go elsewhere. You're not losing anything...the salesman/dealership are the ones who stand to lose.

My car purchases normally take 6-8 hours to complete, but that's because I do NOT budge on anything and I read the contract 15 times. I've negotiated three new car purchases in the last four years, all within 2 months of the model year coming out:
2000 Mercury Sable (brand new, loaded with leather, 24-valve) $16K (sticker was $23K)
2000 Ford Windstar (brand new, loaded with leather, sliding passenger door) $24K (sticker was $33K)
2002 Ford Taurus (loaded) $13,500K (sticker was $19K)

The only one I had a trade-in on was the 2002 Taurus....I unloaded a 1995 Mercury Tracer with about 120K miles on it...$900. That thing was a piece of crap and barely ran.

BE FIRM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Great post amfootball.

You sound like my mother. She doesn't budge on anything.

That's how i got my 4runner fully loaded 35K Sticker. I paid 28K

 

Excellent post...although I'd probably disagree about the initialing thing. It doesn't bind you to anything other than the lowball offer you just made, so don't sweat it. It makes them think you're serious which is part of the game. And it is a game.

amfootball said that she usually spends several hours to do the whole deal, and unfortunately, that's a reality. It often takes a while to get a good price.

Be educated......look on edmunds.com to see what vehicles are going for and then understand that you can get them for less. those numbers are averages....make sure you're someone who pulls the average down.

And once in your life.....buy a Lexus. You may not get much off (though they hold their value), but it sure is a nice experience compared to everyone else.

 

Leave it to an aggie to cleverly fight tooth and nail, to overcome many obstacles with determination... only to end up driving crap cars.

I'm just kidding, amfootball.

 

from what i have heard and seen, they will have a change over price in mind.. ie sale price minus trade-in value... that is the amount that you need to change.... often when they seem to offer you are great new car price they will shaft you on the trade in and vice-versa.... get em both to move and you are in business

 

Clutch, there's some good advice from folks here. I would add that you should have just one of you do the negotiating. It may be an obvious thing, but having your partner getting drawn into it will just complicate matters. They will try to play that if they see one of you getting worried or nervous or whatever. And, as has been said, be prepared to walk. The last time I bought a new car, I got up and left three times. My wife was great about just sitting there quietly with a poker face (you have no idea how out of character that is!) and following my lead. She wanted me to handle it... I just happen to be a hard azz about stuff like that and she saves that attitude for work.

The online shopping is a great idea. My sister looked into it after she bought a new car (when I asked her if she'd used it) and said she could have saved thousands of dollars and tons of aggravation.

 

I know when I bought my last car (a Maxima), I knew specifically what I wanted on the car and how much I was willing to pay for the thing. I looked all over the internet at dealerships throughout the SE for a 99-01 Max with 40K or less for about 12-13 grand. I found several cars, emailed dealers and they replied swiftly. I drove to Columbia,SC, a three-hour drive, to pick up my white 99 GXE, 38K, for only 12K. So use the internet, use Edmunds for sure and remember, their sole job is to screw you out of whatever money they can. It took me a few months to find my car, but it was worth it.

 

Good post. The best deals are often from dealers you never really negotiate with. One of the best advice I got from a former car salesman was to fax or email exactly what you want and what you're willing to pay to several dealers. Tell them to make a counteroffer if possible, but that will be the end of negotiation and that at that point you will just go with whomever has given you the lowest price. You also may want to call up the fleet manager or internet salesperson at the dealers as well and talk to them. Don't step into the dealership... that's just wasting time you could be using elsewhere.