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Three Ways to Buy a New VehicleFeb 09 '02 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Broker, Dealer or Internet? You decide, depending upon your budget and how much time you have to spend.
My first review at Epinions was of my 2000 Honda Civic EX Coupe shortly after I bought it new. While I had envisioned keeping that car for 10 or 11 years, and was budgeting to pay it off early, I just got a new part-time job where having a pickup truck was almost a necessity at present, and would be for sure in the future. I went through the process of deciding to buy one and did it in a particular way which I thought would make an interesting article comparing and contrasting some of the different methods available for buying a car now to help you decide which is best for you. The three methods I'm going to cover are: 1. Buying through a broker 2. Buying from a dealer 3. Buying through the internet I hope you find my experiences and thoughts helpful when you think about buying your next vehicle. As a caveat, I'd like to add that I may seem to have a peculiar attitude towards buying a vehicle, and a certain lack of patience, which may make my conclusions inapplicable to your particular situation. BUYING THROUGH A BROKER I was in a hurry (see "lack of patience" above) to buy a new vehicle when my old one died on me and left me riding my motorcycle to work. I'm a firefighter and have to carry a lot of gear; I found this somewhat daunting at the beginning of the rainy season in late October of 1999. I had stuff piled up to the chin on my tank, including my helmet with a turnout coat draped over the top, and a four foot wide duffel bag full of stuff with a pair of boots and heavy turnout pants hanging off the side of that slung over my shoulder. I was also interested in a new car with a big trunk because my Fiat's trunk was about the size of an overnight bag and, since it was a convertible, and the door locks did not work, I was afraid to leave anything important in the passenger compartment. At the time, I was also in a good financial position to buy a new one. I had just finished paying off a debt consolidation loan that I set up when trying to get my credit in order to buy a house and felt that since I was used to paying that $300 per month, I ought to be able to qualify for a loan with similar payments. I looked at the cars available, new and used, and had my heart set on a new Toyota, the Echo model just released for 2000, which just fit into my budget. I contacted a broker with my specs and waited. Some time passed (minutes? hours? days?) and I hadn't heard back. My mom was pushing Hondas. I decided to give the Honda a test drive after checking another Toyota dealer and speaking with an unpleasant salesperson, and also deciding that the Toyota Echo, while affordable, was really ugly. I liked the Civic, and I immediately contacted the broker saying that I wanted to change my "order". She said she could have me in the Honda the same day. The car in question was the Honda Civic EX Coupe with 2 doors. I had wanted a four door but this was what was available for the price I wanted. They had the color I wanted, and that was good. It had all the bells and whistles I was looking for: A/C, electronic locks and windows, CD player, and more. I was delighted. This was like getting a gift. Erika's first new car! I took the BART train to Walnut Creek where the dealership had sent a driver to pick me up. The salesperson took me through the paperwork, gave me the lowdown on how some of the features of the car operated, and I drove away in a state of pure joy. Advantages: 1. Firm price. I was given a price right up front that I was comfortable with. While I ended up spending $1000 more than I initially intended to spend, that down payment kept my payments at that comfortable $300 per month and I got a car I was really happy with. The price was also much better than the dealer offered where I test drove the car. 2. Fast delivery. The fact that the broker has relationships with dealers in my area worked out to my advantage. Getting the car on the day I decided to buy was a definite plus. I'm a pretty decisive person and, once I've made a decision, I don't like to wait. 3. Great interaction with the salesperson. She was happy because she'd sold a car with little to no effort. She did have the car prepped for me, took me through the paperwork, and went over the features thoroughly, and I never had what could be even remotely interpreted as a negative moment with her. Disadvantages: 1. You can put in an unrealistic order and possibly not hear much back. What the broker eventually told me was the even though Toyota said the model with the features I wanted was available, I was trying to buy close to the release date and the model I wanted hadn't even been manufactured yet. She kind of put my request on the back burner, I guess. I'm sure she assumed, and rightly so, that I would wait for what I wanted unless I called her back and told her I changed my mind. In other words, you're not likely to get more than answers to direct questions if you talk to a broker. (I'm sure brokers vary, too, but this was my experience.) It was actually to my advantage that I didn't have a list of specific requirements for options on the Honda. If I had, that might also have created problems, which brings me to my next point. 2. The local broker might have a limited ability to track down vehicles for you. If his or her relationship with local dealers fails to uncover a vehicle matching your specifications, that might not mean that it does not exist. You may then decide to go through a dealer and have a made to order vehicle, which implies a longer waiting period than I would be satisfied with, and probably a higher price. BUYING THROUGH A DEALER Aside from the experience mentioned above, I have never purchased a new car through a dealer. I have, however, purchased 5 motorcycles from dealers. 2 were used, 3 were new. On all of them, I hated the haggling. On the last purchase, I didn't even bother and the owner of the store had the nerve to suggest that I ought to finance the full price through the dealership rather than my credit union, even though the rates were 2.5% higher! I feel uncomfortable at dealerships. I even went through The Scenario at a purchase of a computer at CompUSA. You know what I mean. The person says they'll go talk to the manager about a deal and comes back with something which you don't want, and which he was probably authorized to offer you anyway! Slimy. The dealer where I test drove the Honda Civic was explicit: No Deals. The Toyota dealer where I went to measure a Tacoma, my most recent purchase, to see if it would fit in my garage, actually offered me a test drive, and told me he would deal, assuring me that the way the game was played was to offer $800 over invoice. After some back and forth, and a lot of feelers from them on "what did I think I wanted to pay?" I was completely turned off. (I don't know what world these dealers live in but I did mention having done research on the internet.) All invoices are not the same, either. Some dealers who order larger numbers of cars can actually get discounted invoice prices. In addition, some of the on-line brokers offer prices of $600 or less over their published invoice prices. I've read other reviews here at Epinions which state that even if you pay the "invoice" price, the dealer still makes money. In any event, after some what I considered unrealistic negotiations between me and the dealer, and with a firm price in hand from an internet broker, I decided against going with the dealer. Part of this may have been my problem, too. When talking with the dealer regarding my most recent purchase, I did not want to appear anxious or pressed since that would have, in my opinion, upped the price. I tried to appear nonchalant, and willing to wait for the best deal when, in fact, knowing myself, I actually did want the vehicle I had decided upon within days, if not hours, of my decision. I don't really know what difference that would have made. I did tell them how much I wanted to finance but negotiations never got to how much I'd be willing to make for a down payment. I do know that I did seem concerned about price and the dealer called me with information about a 1998 truck well within my price range after I had already bought a new one from someone else. Seems to me that he didn't think he could sell the new vehicle to me for what he wanted for it. I had made no commitment to buy the vehicle we had talked about and am sure they would have sold it at any time to someone who was decisive and went for it. Since that vehicle didn't have all the options I wanted (and some I didn't want), it would cost me even more money for modifications on top of a higher original price. Could the sales person have been better? I don't know. Perhaps in his experience, once someone starts talking to him, they eventually buy without consulting others and he's willing to wait them out. Maybe he was not used to talking to someone like me, someone who has an agenda and a short timeline. People tell me I shop like a man, though, and certainly he deals with men every day. Maybe he just doesn't expect to find a shopper like that who has shoulder length blond hair and two X chromosomes! And, perhaps tellingly, he did not say they could have offered a better price when I told him what I paid. The long and short of it is that the nearest I could determine, it was going to cost me at least $2,000 more to buy the truck from the dealer than from Autoland based on low-ball estimates on trade in for my vehicle and higher MSRP. This is about a 10% difference in price. Advantages: 1. Getting to test drive the vehicle. When I bought from the broker, though, and mentioned that I felt bad about test driving the vehicle at a dealership where I wasn't buying, she said people often buy from places other than where they test drove and, chances are, the dealership where I took the test drive probably sold through brokers, as well, to people who test drove at other dealerships. 2. Another advantage was getting a better perspective on the vehicle options. The information I got on the internet led me to a truck which was more like a low-rider type of truck than a working truck. By talking to the dealer's rep, I was able to determine the exact model and style which I eventually ordered. 3. An advantage I feel I must mention here is that the salesperson will, most likely, go over the vehicle with you upon the sale. In my purchase of the Honda, the salesperson's review was very helpful to me with regard to some of its features. Disadvantages: 1. For the person not adept at negotiating--unlike my old boyfriend Michael, who negotiated the price of a $500 ring down to $35 in Tijuana--the process of dealing with a dealer is fraught with peril, both emotional and financial. If you're not sure of exactly what you want, it might be easy to make price concessions to come to an arrangement for something not quite right for you. And, if you allow the dealer to be the only source of information you have on the product, your decision will not necessarily be made based upon the best information available. 2. The proposed vehicle was lost somewhere in a network of trades between dealerships and I was unable to actually view the vehicle at any time. When I asked about various options, I was told they didn't know until they actually saw the vehicle. I was told by another person that this was B.S.--All of the information should have been available to them via computer. Whether it was or not, I will never know. I do know I feel like I got the runaround on this. 3. Trade-in price was about $2400 below Kelley Blue Book value, as obtained on-line. BUYING OVER THE INTERNET After the above diatribe, I have to admit that buying over the internet did have an advantage: Price. I ended up paying a price which I was happy to pay for a vehicle which was exactly what I had ordered. The internet also gave me the information I needed to determine what my price would be. I started out with the CarsDirect site (http://www.carsdirect.com) where I got the best pricing and option information that I was ultimately able to find on the 'net. I might have actually ordered from them if I had not sent in a request for a quote from another source, Autoland.com, which was linked to my credit union's web page. (Note: CarsDirect had a great model for determining price and options; however, their stated policy of price quotes being good on saved option packages did not always work. Some days I "saved a vehicle" which then disappeared before the price was supposed to have expired and, when I requested a quote again, it came back higher.) In any event, I felt pretty good about Autoland because a real person got back to me, although it wasn't until the next day, to discuss my request. She got back to me within 24 hours stating that she had located the exact vehicle, including the color, that I wanted, but that it was in Los Angeles. After some hesitance on my part, I decided to buy that vehicle based on price. I made my decision to purchase the vehicle on a Wednesday, with delivery promised for the following day. I missed half a day of work on Wednesday in order to complete paperwork, etc. The vehicle was not delivered as promised and I had to make an extra trip to the credit union to obtain a cashier's check for my down payment. No one led me through the paperwork (I actually had to read it) and I had to go to the expense of making copies of everything at Kinko's. The truck was actually delivered to me at work at around 3pm on Friday. (I had to have a friend drive me to work so I wouldn't end up with two vehicles there.) After delivery, I had to get all the paperwork into two packages--a FedEx package for Autoland, and an Airborne Express package for the dealership--find the dropoff boxes, and send the paperwork after receiving the truck. I assumed the trade-in would be picked up at the same time the new truck was delivered. I assumed wrong. This will probably take another day of arrangements and another day of sitting around waiting. The long and short of this method is that it may save you on price, but the amount of time you'll have to put into it to make it work may make one of the other options more attractive for you. Advantages: 1. Price. 2. The fact that this service found the truck I wanted in L.A. indicates that they have access to information about vehicles over a wide area. (I'm in San Francisco.) 3. It was kind of a thrill to have the vehicle delivered to me in the parking lot at work! Co-workers shared the excitement about the arrival of my new truck, and it was an unusual and new sort of event for everyone. If you are reading this article and the author's name is not shown as "Erika A. Lockhart", "user-fiatgirl" at Epinions, or the review does not appear on the site "fiatgirl.com", it may be an internet forgery and I encourage you to report it to "inquiry@fiatgirl.com." 4. In addition to the offer of a good price, I got a better deal on my trade-in than the dealer supplied. Disadvantages: 1. Delivery not on time and I had to change my schedule several times over the course of the three days it took me to acquire the truck. 2. Having to supply a cashier's check was a pain. It took an extra trip to my bank. The dealer in the first example above, "Buying from a Broker", took my personal check. The bank has approved the loan based on the figures in the purchase order--what's the problem? 3. Trade-in price was below Kelley Blue Book for a trade-in by about $1,200 (still better than the dealer, at $2,400 below Kelley.) 4. Call-back turnaround time was awful. Even though the initial contact was by e-mail, no further contact was via e-mail. I never had an e-mail address for the agent I was working with. This could have simplified matters a lot. Every time I called I had to leave a message and get a call-back from the rep (usually many hours later). A lot of the call-backs came at inconvenient times. At one point I had given up on receiving the purchase order (it took more like three hours than one) and had driven about 20 minutes away from the credit union in heavy traffic on my way to the office when I got a call that it was done and I needed to go back. Fortunately, my work is very flexible. Others might not have this luxury. 5. When I got the truck, it did not have a "clicker" for the door locks. I was used to this for my Honda and, when I had ordered automatic electronic door locks, this is what I thought I was getting. It was missing when the truck was delivered. I was later told that this option was "remote keyless entry". You had better know the lingo when you are ordering your options. 6. Trade-in does not take place at the same time. See above. 7. When the truck was delivered, the delivery person did not go over the vehicle with me. I'm sure I've figured most everything important out, and I did receive a manual, but in my brokered purchase above, the salesperson was very helpful in pointing out features I would never have anticipated. I would have appreciated having an "Intro" to the vehicle. All I managed to do before the driver left was verify the VIN and that the headlights and turn signals worked. CONCLUSION While I'm very happy with my vehicle, despite the lack of "remote keyless entry," buying a car over the internet was a very labor intensive process. I'm glad that I tried this method because, in the end, I ended up with a better truck than I had contemplated buying for the exact amount of money that my budget could handle. I'm steaming now over the lost time from work, and the delays, but in the long run, this dissatisfaction will fade. The fact that I did not obtain the vehicle until three days after my decision may not be as critical a factor to you as it was to me. I'm thinking that the broker option may be the best way to quickly obtain the exact new vehicle you have decided upon. The internet offers a good way to obtain information on prices and features of vehicles. If you are in Northern California, I continue to recommend the broker at http://www.originalbroker.com. Cheers, Erika A. Lockhart, aka fiatgirl  |
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