how do I go about buying a car?

[Anonymous]

I, too, bought from Fitzgerald. The price was excellent but their service. Is even better.

DH bought from Darscars and they suck. I had to take a taxi from the Metro with a baby and a toddler one superto hot stickyburner summer day because I woke the "courtesy van" up from his nap, which upset him. Total ass.

[Anonymous]

Used the USAA car buying service for two cars. We were very pleased. They have prices for used cars as well. I think anyone can become a member of the bank these days (it used to require someone in your family served in the military).

[Anonymous]

OP asked about CARMAX -- here is my experience on the seller side. I sold two cars to carmax. Both cars i considered too expensive to fix the problem. Carmax didn't identify an concerns with either car and I took the price offered to me and RAN. This experience has made me think that I will never buy from Carmax.

I am considering using the Hertz Rent to Buy program. Anyone have experience with that one?

[Anonymous]

Read this article!

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman.phtml

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP asked about CARMAX -- here is my experience on the seller side. I sold two cars to carmax. Both cars i considered too expensive to fix the problem. Carmax didn't identify an concerns with either car and I took the price offered to me and RAN. This experience has made me think that I will never buy from Carmax.

I am considering using the Hertz Rent to Buy program. Anyone have experience with that one?

We have bought and sold at Carmax (will never buy new again!). They just fix the cars. What younthinknis expensive to fix really isn't for them.

I buy/sell with Jackie at the Dulles one. I can sell, test drive and buy within two hours. Recently I found a car at a MD Carmax I wanted, free transfer to Dulles, decided I didn't want it. No problem. She called two days later with one from NC, transferred that up and bought that one instead. So easy.

[Anonymous]

We also went with Fitzgeralds. I found their price was better than AAA car buying price, and it was all no-haggle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I didn't go in with the USAA price but I knew it (we are also members and actually did our financing through USAA). I got the Fitzgerald internet price and clarified it online, so I was able to compare everything before we went in to see the car.

For the most recent purchase (just a few weeks ago), the USAA price was about $200 lower but the Fitzgerald price included freight which the USAA dealers refused to negotiate away, so the net price from Fitzgerald was lower.

We took the USAA price and went to a dealer closer to our house. They matched it. I felt like we got a decent deal. I negotiated everything by email, then walked in , test drove and signed the paper work. Easy Peasy!

[Anonymous]

I did this and saved about 6k off sticker and got my 34k car for 28.

Get pre-approved for a loan. More negotiating power, you're not limited to working with a particular dealer due to their relationship with a financial institution.

Use the Internet to compare prices at various dealers. I had another dealer contact me but made it clear I wasn't going to switch dealers merely for a few hundred dollars as they were inconveniently located. When I told the original dealer I was shopping around and how I felt about minimal savings, they knocked off another thousand.

If you have a trade, look up the value. If its been in an accident, be realistic and accept that you will likely take a hit if it was a somewhat major accident. Btw, Carmax is horrible for trade ins. Their sales process is decent but they lowball on trades big time.

[Anonymous]

Have your husband/boyfriend/dad (any man) buy it. I'm serious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP asked about CARMAX -- here is my experience on the seller side. I sold two cars to carmax. Both cars i considered too expensive to fix the problem. Carmax didn't identify an concerns with either car and I took the price offered to me and RAN. This experience has made me think that I will never buy from Carmax.

I am considering using the Hertz Rent to Buy program. Anyone have experience with that one?

We have bought and sold at Carmax (will never buy new again!). They just fix the cars. What younthinknis expensive to fix really isn't for them.

I buy/sell with Jackie at the Dulles one. I can sell, test drive and buy within two hours. Recently I found a car at a MD Carmax I wanted, free transfer to Dulles, decided I didn't want it. No problem. She called two days later with one from NC, transferred that up and bought that one instead. So easy.

Another thing to remember, Carmax does not turn around to resell all of the cars that they get. In fact, *ANY* car that has been in an accident doesn't get sold by them. They pull the VIN number on a Carfax type report that will say whether the VIN has ever had accident repairs on it and if it has, they will not resell at the dealership. Some of the cars that are in bad shape, they sell to salvagers who take the cars and salvage parts and refurbish the parts. Especially for older cars, this is a good way to get working parts that aren't necessarily manufactured anymore. Others get sold in bulk to scrap metal reclaimers. Several years ago, I had an older car that wasn't in great shape. They still paid me about 60% of blue book value (a reasonable value to me) and I asked about the car. Because it had been in one accident about 8 years before, they could not resell (they have a policy that none of the cars they sell have been in an accident) they told me that my car was going to a scrap parts dealer to be vivisected for parts (the model was no longer manufactured and the parts were worth more than the car itself).

[Anonymous]

Google and look at the firm internet prices for Fitgerald Automall, Antwerpen Toyota ( not sure if they sell any other brands) and carmax. You can then take those prices anywhere to try to negotiate. I ended up buying at Antwerpen because they had the exact vehicle i wanted and met my lowest price without the least bit of hassle. It was very, very easy working with them and their internet prices. A lot of dealers say they have internet prices but you have to email them to find them out, and it is all a lot of game playing. The three I mentioned put them on their website for everyone to see.

I am a VA resident but bought in MD and as I recall there are extra fees tacked on in VA that arent in MD so one thing to consider.

[Anonymous]

Another Fitzgerld's customer here. My problem was that they tried to offer way less than my trade-in was worth, so I ended up having to haggle on that. At the same time, I didn't want to sell it myself.

[Anonymous]

Can anyone recommend a particular Fitzgerald's salesman or dealership? I guess it depends on which car you want, but just curious. Their prices always look better to me, so I am inclined to go with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Read this article!

http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/confessions-of-a-car-salesman.phtml

Interesting. And tracks with many of the posts on this thread.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Another Fitzgerld's customer here. My problem was that they tried to offer way less than my trade-in was worth, so I ended up having to haggle on that. At the same time, I didn't want to sell it myself.

Yep I remember 8 years ago when my car died Fitz only wanted to give me $200 for it after looking it over. My husband got the Mazda dealership to take it sight unseen for $1000 if I could get it to the dealership. I drove it from Frederick to Rockville on a wing and a prayer. Me/my husband are like a tag team.