How to buy a car

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not so sure that the advice to buy a used car a few years old really applies anymore, at least not for Japanese cars and if you are buying from a dealer. That was definitely good advice prior to 2008 or so, but the used car market has changed a lot in the last few years. As an example, if you price Corollas on Carmax, you'll see that a three-year-old model is only about $3K cheaper than a new one(~14K vs ~17K for an LE), and you then miss out on the first three years of the car's life, which are usually the cheapest and most hassle-free to operate.

I haven't tried Costco, but did try a different buying program I have access to from work. I was not particularly impressed with it, and did a lot better just calling and/or e-mailing the dealerships around the area to get the best price on the model I wanted. The down-side was continuing to get voicemail and e-mail messages from sales people at every dealership for a few weeks after I had bought the car.

I've found this to be the case when looking for used Honda Accords as well. They don't seem to depreciate much within the first few years.

it's true, but even buying a low miles last year's model will save you about 4K give or take - not a small amount.

NP and we bought a certified preowned Accord that was 3 years old, with about 35k miles. I think we probably saved $5k, money I was completely happy to keep in my pocket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
NP and we bought a certified preowned Accord that was 3 years old, with about 35k miles. I think we probably saved $5k, money I was completely happy to keep in my pocket.

Hopefully I'm not being obnoxious, but here's another way to look at it. Just based off MSRP for a similar 2012 Accord with 35k miles vs a new Accord (price difference about $5600):

Assuming the vehicle makes it to 200k miles, buying new you pay about 11.5 cents per mile to own the car. Buying the used car you pay about 10.5 cents. These numbers, of course, ignore all maintenance or repair costs, gas, etc. So, buying used over buying new effectively saves about 2000 dollars on a cost per mile basis.

Assuming you drive it 12K miles a year, which my insurance company tells me is typical, the new car will last you about 17 years, while the used car will last you 14 years. In this case, the New Accord costs about $110 more per year to own than the used Accord, but you also get to go three years longer without replacing it.

If you start factoring in real-world conditions, you get hit a little harder on the front end with a new Accord, since you'll pay a little extra in taxes, but you also then know the entire history of the vehicle and can ensure that it's not a former rental or lease that had a lot of extra wear and tear due to aggressive driving in a previous life.

[Anonymous]

So this is how to buy a car but WHERE should I buy the car?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
NP and we bought a certified preowned Accord that was 3 years old, with about 35k miles. I think we probably saved $5k, money I was completely happy to keep in my pocket.

Hopefully I'm not being obnoxious, but here's another way to look at it. Just based off MSRP for a similar 2012 Accord with 35k miles vs a new Accord (price difference about $5600):

Assuming the vehicle makes it to 200k miles, buying new you pay about 11.5 cents per mile to own the car. Buying the used car you pay about 10.5 cents. These numbers, of course, ignore all maintenance or repair costs, gas, etc. So, buying used over buying new effectively saves about 2000 dollars on a cost per mile basis.

Assuming you drive it 12K miles a year, which my insurance company tells me is typical, the new car will last you about 17 years, while the used car will last you 14 years. In this case, the New Accord costs about $110 more per year to own than the used Accord, but you also get to go three years longer without replacing it.

If you start factoring in real-world conditions, you get hit a little harder on the front end with a new Accord, since you'll pay a little extra in taxes, but you also then know the entire history of the vehicle and can ensure that it's not a former rental or lease that had a lot of extra wear and tear due to aggressive driving in a previous life.

That's a good way to look at it- my dad works in the auto industry and almost always buys new unless he personally knows the seller and how they've maintained the vehicle, mainly because of that uncertainty. I always thought my next car would be used but after running the numbers and weighing the pros and cons we're going new as well. My best friend, OTOH, cannot fathom ever buying a new car and thinks it's a waste of money! Although she always seems to find good deals and the cars always work out, so it seems to work for her.

[Anonymous]

I've done this twice now. Test drive wherever is convenient, and be up front that you are not buying that day. Once you know exactly what you want (research online), use the internet to find out what the dealer's price is, and the cost of any options/upgrades you want.

Then, email a letter to all the dealerships in your area detailing what you want and inviting them to bid. Cast a wide net if you are willing to drive a decent distance to buy.

The second time I did this, my local dealer was not the low bidder but I went back to them and said that I wanted to give them the opportunity to win my business. They matched a low bid from further away. Then when we went in to pick up the car, they tried to upsell us on after market leather. I had already decided I wanted to do this, and knew the price the local auto detailer would charge. I kept declining, and then finally just told them I already had an appointment with the detailer, and what it was going to cost. They matched that too, and took care of the logistics for me, so that was worth it.

Do your research, know what things cost, know what you want, and stand your ground.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Get quotes from several dealers and tell them about the other quotes. They will essentially negotiate against each other. I have done this twice now, and did it via email. So, I would email five different dealerships, ask for prices, and then tell the other dealers about the deal, and then kept going until nobody would go down further. I just did this last month and knocked off $5500 off the price just doing this via email.

Go at the end of the month. Many dealerships have quotas that they have to meet to get overall bonuses for the team. If you go on the day or two before the last day of the month, you are much more likely to get a deal if they haven't met their quotas yet.

If you have a trade-in (not sure from your post if you might have something even if you didn't buy it), go to Carmax and get a quote for a trade-in. For the car I just bought, I got that quote from Carmax and when I went into the dealer and they offered me almost 30% less. I showed them the Carmax quote and it took about a half an hour of annoying negotiation, but I got the dealership up to within $200 of the Carmax trade, which was worth it to me for the convenience factor.

Do not just go with their first financing offer! They often have deals with the car company financer and those rates are way high. Again, last month, they quoted me a rate of 4.0% for financing a new car, which is insane especially because I have great credit. I actually didn't know about this deal and was just going to walk (for real - I wasn't bluffing) and then it occurred to them that they could check other financing companies. Quite shady, indeed. Anyway, the final % was much, much lower (in the lower 1%) and was compatible with my internet research for car financing rates.

PP again - forgot to say that one time I did the email negotiating thing, I showed up to buy the car and they said they had made a math mistake and could not honor the price and it would be much higher. I told them that was too bad but I was leaving. As I was walking out the door, they miraculously were able to give me the price.

Man, I hate car buying!

Hah! That happened to us too. They said the price they quoted us was for another car which of course had less options but the car we wanted was going to be about $750 more. I said too stinkin' bad and that I didn't want it at that price. And they eventually gave in!

But yeah ... car buying takes hours, at least. Especially if you're dealing with negotiating your new car, your trade-in, and your financing. Then at the end of all that when you're hungry and crabby, you have to get the hard sale from the extended warranties guy and OMG, just punch me in the face right now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 30 years old, and I have never bought a car! Well, I need to now. Any tips? Has anyone here tried the costco auto program?

Kinda snarky, but if you are 30, and have no idea how to buy a car, how have you ever succeeded in buying anything? It is an exchange of goods/services for money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 30 years old, and I have never bought a car! Well, I need to now. Any tips? Has anyone here tried the costco auto program?

Kinda snarky, but if you are 30, and have no idea how to buy a car, how have you ever succeeded in buying anything? It is an exchange of goods/services for money.

Car buying isn't that simple and you know it. If you buy a new car you not only have to negotiate the price of the car, you probably have to negotiate financing as well. If you're buying a used car that's a whole 'nother issue; you have to make sure you're not getting a lemon and that's completely on you. And you have to negotiate how much your trade-in is worth in either case. What other transaction involves that much negotiating? What other thing that you buy has an MSRP, but no one ever pays the sticker price? At worst, when making a big purchase like new furniture or home improvements, you'd get estimates from multiple companies or look around for the best price online, then order online or in the store and get what's in your budget, whether that's Wal-Mart furniture or something custom-made or anything in between. And maybe you'd say to the salesperson, yes I want to open the store credit card to get 0% financing for 24 months or what have you. But that's the extent of it. Car buying is a whole another level of jacked up.

[Anonymous]

USAA car buying service. You won't regret it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:USAA car buying service. You won't regret it.

Ditto.