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Shopping for a used car ? Read this !Jan 28 '01 (Updated Aug 03 '01) Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Use the internet to do your research. Never buy on your first trip to the car lot.
I just finished this exercise so everything is still fresh in my mind. In the past, buying a car has been a most unpleasant experience for me. Now, however, the internet has turned the tables in favor of we poor, dumb consumers. No longer are we at the complete mercy of the car salesmen and women. Though your motivation and tastes will, no doubt, be different from mine, I’ll relate my own experience and you can pick and choose what might be of help. First and foremost, you need to understand that the dealership or car lot wants to get the most money possible from you. They want top dollar for the car they’re trying to sell you, and if you have a trade, they’ll make you think it’s not worth the 4 tires it’s sitting on. My budget was restricted to around $ 225 per month. NEVER tell a car salesman what kind of payments you can afford. I went to my bank and pre-arranged the financing. At current interest rates, that meant I could afford to finance between $10K and $11K. I had a trade, so I needed to know how much my trade was actually worth. To do this, I recommend going to 3 websites; ww2.nadaguides.com, the North American Auto Dealers Association, www.kbb.com, the Kelley Blue Book site, and www.edmunds.com, the Edmunds site. Put in the particulars on your trade and they will give you the “average trade value” of you car. Armed with this info, you now know how much car you can afford. In my case, I needed to be looking in the $12-15,000 range. Knowing this eliminates a lot of wasted time looking at cars you can’t possibly afford. Next, I went to several dealerships with notebook and pen in hand. I browsed the late model used cars in the style I was interested in. When I found something that might fit, I wrote down all the particulars such as make, model, year, mileage, optional equipment, and VIN number. A salesperson always approaches on these visits asking leading questions, wanting to keep you there and let you drive anything on the lot. DON’T DO IT ! Take their card, go home and get back on the 3 sites already mentioned and look up the “average retail” of the cars you’re interested in. I took the average of the 3 sites for a particular car and THEN went back, if still interested, to take a test drive. I now knew what the average market value was of the car I was looking at (usually $1-$2,000 less than their asking price), I knew the average trade value of the car I was trading, and I had my financing already approved. I refused to play their game on their terms. If interested after a test drive, I might make THEM an offer. I would start by offering the low end of the 3 average retail prices I got, minus the top dollar average trade-in. I would always have a figure in mind that I would agree to, but it would be a last resort number if it was the car I really wanted. I don’t mind them feeding their families on my transaction, but I don’t want to finance their summer home ! They’ll plead financial ruin if they give you what you think your trade is worth, but you’ve got to stick to your guns. You need to be prepared to “walk”, which is exactly what I did on two occasions. I ended up getting a 1999 Plymouth Breeze, loaded, with only 19,000 miles on it. The car fit my needs and my budget and I got it for a fair price with a fair trade. The car also had good reviews on Epinions and these car sites as well. There’s no excuse for getting “screwed” on a car deal anymore. The same holds true for new cars too. You can get the “Sticker Price” or MSRP, the “Dealer Invoice” (which may or may not have any relevance to what they actually paid), and the “True Market Value” for your area of the country, directly from these 3 websites. There are other excellent websites as well, but I really liked these three. It’s amazing what knowledge will do for your confidence when you go car shopping !  |
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