How to buy a car in 2019?

[Anonymous]

Would someone walk me through how to buy a car these days? It's been 10 years since I bought a car and don't know how to go about it. I've heard to look on the internet to get best prices and then have the dealers compete, but I have no idea how to do this. What websites? What about a car-buying service (e.g., Costco)? I currently drive a luxury compact SUV that needs some costly repairs and would like another compact or mid-size SUV, but something more along the lines of Honda CRV/Pilot or Toyota RAV4/Highlander.

[Anonymous]

I'd like to hear recent stories too. I know exactly what I want, but how do I connect various dealers to ask what their "walk out the door price" is? The ones I've looked at don't list an internet sales dept contact info.

[Anonymous]

First decide what make/model/trim level you want. Then email a bunch of places.

“Hi, I’m looking for a 2019 RAV4, LE trim level. What is the best OOD (“out the door”) price you can do on this?”

Then take the 2 or 3 most responsive, and play them off each other. “Pohanka is offering $24,500. Can you go any lower than that?”

(I’m making up names, prices, etc.)

Once you are satisfied, pick one and go buy it.

[Anonymous]

OP, is it an Audi Q5, BMW X3, or Mercedes GLK?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First decide what make/model/trim level you want. Then email a bunch of places.

“Hi, I’m looking for a 2019 RAV4, LE trim level. What is the best OOD (“out the door”) price you can do on this?”

Then take the 2 or 3 most responsive, and play them off each other. “Pohanka is offering $24,500. Can you go any lower than that?”

(I’m making up names, prices, etc.)

Once you are satisfied, pick one and go buy it.

But how do you know who to email? I'm the PP above all can't find contact info on websites, just a list of employees.

[Anonymous]

Go on Cars.com or KBB.com and start there.

[Anonymous]

anyone order a car and pick it up from one of those vending machines?

[Anonymous]

If you know what you want use Caravan. Did this to get a year old Rav$ w/9000 miles. Never stepped foot in a dealership.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:First decide what make/model/trim level you want. Then email a bunch of places.

“Hi, I’m looking for a 2019 RAV4, LE trim level. What is the best OOD (“out the door”) price you can do on this?”

Then take the 2 or 3 most responsive, and play them off each other. “Pohanka is offering $24,500. Can you go any lower than that?”

(I’m making up names, prices, etc.)

Once you are satisfied, pick one and go buy it.

But how do you know who to email? I'm the PP above all can't find contact info on websites, just a list of employees.

They all have internet departments which are different from the sales people who you would encounter if you just walked in. We got a really good deal at Bill Page Honda on a CRV if you want to look at them in your research.

[Anonymous]

I bought a car last month and went through capital one. I got prequalified and then used their navigator system to look at different cars, prices, locations, interest rates, monthly payments etc. When I found what I was looking for, I clicked on something that let the dealership know I wanted to test drive and they contacted me soon after. We exchanged a couple of texts and set up the appointment to test drive for that evening. I liked it but wanted to sleep on it, then filled out the actual application on the dealer website, and signed the paperwork when I got to the dealership later in the day. Then drove home. It was easy and I’d do it all the same again. Capital One made it really easy and had the best rates around by far.

[Anonymous]

I'm likely to be replacing my car this year. What I've been doing is doing a little research on-line for the category of car I'm looking for (in my case SUVs with optional 3rd row with the best gas mileage). After I find the models I'm looking at, I am going to visit nearby dealerships for test drives. When I know the model I'm going to buy, I will be visiting the dealerships in the general metro area and checking out their web-inventories for best prices. I'll print out the best price and go a dealership (likely the nearest one, but maybe not if I read better reviews about a specific one). I'll look at the cars they have and then haggle over the price. If they can't beat the best price that I found on-line, I'll show them the price and see if they'll match or beat the price. If they don't take it, I'll go to the one that had the best price.

I did something similar several years ago when we replaced my wife's car and even for a Toyota Prius, they matched the price that I found at another dealership and also gave us discounts on taxes and tags to "beat" the other dealership price.

[Anonymous]

Go this this link (http://www.automatchconsulting.com/) and give Tom a call and he'll take the hassle out of the buying process and save you some $$$ as well.

For reference, here's his previously written articles on car buying: https://kinja.com/tommcparland

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to hear recent stories too. I know exactly what I want, but how do I connect various dealers to ask what their "walk out the door price" is? The ones I've looked at don't list an internet sales dept contact info.

Most likely, they won't give you that via phone. They'll do anything and everything to get to the dealership (where you less support friends/family likely to talk you out of buying the car), provide the price and pressure you (either nicely or aggressively, depending on dealer/person) to purchase a car.

One tactic that works very often (person experience and asked friends to do this also), is that if the dealer has already spend 1-2 hours with you and at the bargaining table, that means that your price offer is "within range" (ie not unreasonable), but of course they want to maximize dealer profit so they pretend that "we cannot do this".....at that point, just start walking out the door......and say you need to think about this or come back the another day. They'll drop the price instantly. Now, that's a true "out the door" price Best of luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd like to hear recent stories too. I know exactly what I want, but how do I connect various dealers to ask what their "walk out the door price" is? The ones I've looked at don't list an internet sales dept contact info.

Most likely, they won't give you that via phone. They'll do anything and everything to get to the dealership (where you less support friends/family likely to talk you out of buying the car), provide the price and pressure you (either nicely or aggressively, depending on dealer/person) to purchase a car.

One tactic that works very often (person experience and asked friends to do this also), is that if the dealer has already spend 1-2 hours with you and at the bargaining table, that means that your price offer is "within range" (ie not unreasonable), but of course they want to maximize dealer profit so they pretend that "we cannot do this".....at that point, just start walking out the door......and say you need to think about this or come back the another day. They'll drop the price instantly. Now, that's a true "out the door" price Best of luck.

...meant "...where you'll have less support...."

[Anonymous]

I am still going through dealerships for the warranty.