Quote:
Originally Posted by Evia
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Does anyone have any advice, tips, or suggestions to buying a new/used vehicle?
Do I haggle like I'm in the EC tunnel?
Will I really get a better deal with cash vs finance?
Are there any other decent search apps besides cars.com and autotrader.com?
If the car market really is crashing, should I wait to buy?
When will I know it's the right time?
Anyone who's got some experience with this I'm all ears(eyes)!
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So I've bought two cars from dealers in the last 8 months. The last several years, inventory has been shit and prices have been high, particularly for used cars. Recently, that has no longer been the case, and the prices of all cars have come down, but particularly used cars relative to new ones. The gap is much larger than it was, but still small compared to the beforefore times
Let's say you're going through a dealer, you may need to haggle to get the price down depending on how you approach the process. Some tips:
1. Don't let them cook you. Some dealers will give you a few concessions preliminarily to hook you and then try to make you wait a long period of time to build up a sunk cost impetus when the real negotiations begin. Be ready to walk the fuck out and don't come back if they try this. imo it's better to get an agreement on bottom line price on the phone before you ever come in, if possible.
2. Make sure time is on your side, you need to be able to walk away-- if negotiations come to an impasse and you don't have the price you want, you need to be able to say "Hey, I'm really interested in this car but the price isn't where it needs to be, I'll leave you my contact information and feel free to give me a call if you can come down to $x", something like that. I said this when buying my wife's car and they immediately took off $1k and we had a deal.
This is another good one for a dealer, when buying my wife's car I said something like "Hey, my wife and I go through cars like crazy, we've bought 3 cars in the last 2 years and I'm going to be looking for a new car here in the next few years too, so if you can come down on this we'll be coming back year after year", something along those lines.
3. If buying a new car, one of the easiest strategies is simply to find a specific model you like and call nearby dealerships and bluntly say something like "I'm willing to pay $x out the door for this car, please give me a call if you have something available". This was my brother in law's strategy and he got the price he wanted within a week or two. He flatly refused to negotiate beyond his figure and only came in when they were willing to sell a car out the door at his price.
4. If financing, make sure you have your approval from your bank before negotiating the purchase of the car. (One time I had a dealer try to lie and say I didn't qualify for financing from any banks (my credit is 780 lol), only through their company's financing.) With your financing in hand, you can compare to what the dealer offers-- sometimes they will have promotions/incentives or manufacturer rebates that can result in a better rate than the bank/credit union can offer.
Be extremely wary of buying cars from places like Carvana, KBB, Carmax. They are pretty undiscerning about what they'll buy and resell, compared to a reputable dealer. While you do have the option, when buying from these companies, to take the car in and get it inspected, and return the car if they find it unfit, it's a fucking hassle. Buying a used car from, for example, a toyota dealer, you get a pretty good warranty and they're not going to certify a mess of a car that's under warranty and they're going to have to fix.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Evia
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When will I know it's the right time?
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You won't. But I can tell you right now is a dramatically better time than 9 months ago.