Planning to buy a car soon - not smart buyers - help please
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Anonymous
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we are planning to buy a new car, probably before the end of the year. we bought a Honda accord in 2005 (which we plan to trade in), and behaved like complete newbies, got taken advantage of and so on. we would like not to repeate the same mistakes, and need help. we did a lot of homework online (cars.com edmunds) to narrow down the type of car we want, visited dealerships to see them, and are probably going to go with Honda CRV, Subaru Outback, maybe Hunday Tucson. we are planning to trade in our car (based on edmund, the value should be between $4500 and $6500, the car has a cosmetic damage above one back wheel after the car scratched against a brick pole backing out of the parking spot, and the cluch- we have manual transmission - is showing problems, the car works ok but sometimes it feels like we have an automatic transmission), finance the rest possibly, or putting down a couple of thousands $
so far we have checked our credit score on Experian (mine 791 and DH's 815) I know we can ask online quotes through edmunds at various dealers, but I do not know how we should proceed with establishing the price of the car, the terms of financing, and the value of the trade-in. in which order? should we first get the price for the car, and then the price for the trade-in, and then the terms of financing? a dealership could give us a great price but value our trade in very low, or give us a bad financing. if it was just the price of the car, it would be easier to shop around and compare, but with three terms, it is more difficult. one thing I know is that we should not fall for the pressure tactic these are the terms if you buy now. and frankly, I am very much ready to walk away if I do not like the terms this time. also, so far we got the paperwork to apply to the Honda financing. last time they screwed us up, so I would like to be prepared and avoid the same fate. should we look also for other means of financing? and if so, which? ask our bank? our mortgage company (wells fargo)? I am concerned that putting out too many requests coudl affect our credit score so I would like to avoid the unnecessary ones. we are plannign to get a 5 year loan and pay it faster (last time we paid in less than 4 years) I know I sound like an idiot,. and I admit in this field I am , but at least I understand I need help . any suggestion would be really appreciated. thanks |
Anonymous
| OP here, just add that we both work FT and have two little kids, so when we decide to buy, we need to do everything in a short time , we basically have evenings and week ends (and we need to place the kids somewhere we can't take them to the dealership) |
Anonymous
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Have you been to true car.com? I found it useful.
Here's what I did: * I called every single dealer in a hundred mile radius and told them I was buying a car today. They all tried to get me to come in. I said no and explained they could give me their rock bottom price and whomever had the lowest price in an hour got me. I also told them I was financing. (They get more $$$ if they sell you financing) * A lot of dealers won't like this... but you will find some who will play ball. Of a dozen dealers a few quoted me awful prices, a few threw out good deals and one gave me a great deal. * Contrary to popular belief, December is generally not a good month to go, it's among the highest in vehicle sales. * I then took a drive there, now having negotiated a good price on the car, I then negotiated on the trade in - ideally get a written offer from someone else first. The minute they try to lowball the trade in, tell them you've got a better offer and if theyll match. * as for financing, it's basically all the same. I didn't haggle any of that because it's not worth it to me (a 2 percent loan is nothing) and because frankly they don't have wiggle room. * You ate right that too many inquires can damage your credit score, but the impacts are generally mild unless you go nuts. |
Anonymous
| If you are Costco or AAA members, you can do Internet pricing through them. We got a great deal through AAA. Just print out the quote, and the dealer has to match it. If you get two dealers involved, you might get one to go below the Internet price. |
Anonymous
I don't have the specifics, but I've heard they recently changed the law so that you can make several inquiries within a day or two and they won't count against you likes like multiple inquiries used to. |
Anonymous
| Whoops, hit submit too soon. Also, the car purchase and the trade in are separate transactions, you should do the purchase first and have it all squared away, then talk trade-in. |
Anonymous
| We had a really good experience with Fitzgerald Hyundai/Subaru in White Flint (I think Fitzgerald has dealerships for all major brands)--it's a no-haggle dealership, and I think they treated us fairly and gave us a fair value for our trade-in. You might want to see what prices they're listing for the models you're interested in and what deals the manufacturers are offering. |
Anonymous
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Also consider getting a Carmax quote on your Accord before heading to the dealership. It'll give you a good baseline on what you should expect to get for it, and a backup in case the dealer won't match.
Also know that a lot of dealerships put prices on their websites that incentives on their websites you won't be eligible for. Lustine, out in VA (where we bought our last car, but I hated them), always includes recent grad, student, AND military discounts in their prices. I can't imagine there are many people eligible for all of those. |
Anonymous
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If I were you, I would test drive the cars you mentioned and then figure out exactly which car you want. After that, as one of the previous posters suggested, email every dealership within a 50 mile radius that sells that car and tell them you are going to buy today based on who gives you the best price. Make sure you are very detailed in your email: I want a 2012 Honda CRV (exact model, exact options, exact color (if you care)), etc.
Most of them will try to get you to come in, some will give you high quotes, and a few will give you exactly what you want. I did this for our last purchase and ended up having 4 honda dealers who were in the same ballpark and 1 who was much lower (the other 10 wouldn't quote me a price). I called the lowest one and told them if they could come down 800 more, we had a deal. They did, and not only that, they delivered it to my house. I would keep all of the negotiations separate, don't let them muddy the waters with price of car, financing terms, trade-in value, etc. - it's hard to compare apples to apples at that point. I would sell your old car on Craigslist. You'll get a much better price compared to the trade-in at the dealer. I'm actually looking for an older accord if you're interested in selling privately and not trading in. If you post the details (exact model, and mileage) in this thread or in the for sale section of this board, maybe we could find a win win. If you do sell on your own, I would suggest meeting at a police station parking lot or a very public place to do the deal and take cash, not a cashier's check. |
Anonymous
| I would also recommend Fitzgerald. No haggling, no hassle, great price. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
| Just went through this this week. We spent the day looking at inventory at various dealerships online and asking for internet pricing. We then took the lowest internet price quote to the dealer most convenient to us and got them to match it. On the way to the dealer, we stopped at Carmax and got a quote for our trade-in. It was right in line with Edmunds. Pps are right--don't even mention your trade-in until you have a deal on the price of the car. Once we had haggled the price to the lowest internet price, I mentioned the trade-in. When they said they couldn't match Carmax, I told them we wouldn't be buying the car that day then. With the tax advantage you get from the trade-in (you don't pay full taxes on new car if trading in), they matched Carmax's deal. Then came financing. I did negotiate that down by about 1.5% by telling them I had a better offer from USAA. If you go to Honda, they will also give you $500 towards a down payment if you finance through them. Oh, and the Herson's Honda in Rockville has a great kids play area if you can't get a stitter. Good luck! |
Anonymous
| 2005 Accord? Keep it! |
Anonymous
keep your current car, that will make you a smart buyer. |
Anonymous
| OP here, thank you so much for all the suggestions. I actually would like to keep the car, it has only 59K miles and we put 4 new tires last August. the issue is the clutch problem the car is having, my DH thinks it may be expensive to fix (~2K), and in the past we had a car (12 years and 100K) that broke and we decided to fix it ending up spending over 3K in less than 2 years, always thinking that it was the last repair. I know this car is a much better candidate for fixing. we are taking it to a shop and ask for what is the problem exactly and the cost for fixing it, and then we will decide. thank you again |