Thursday, November 25, 2010

Car Buying Tips: How to Buy a Car From a New Car Dealer

Nov 24, 2010 Jennifer Silva

Try these tips for buying a car to save money - ralev com

Try these tips for buying a car to save money - ralev com

Buying a car can (and should) be a fun, informative experience. Unfortunately, it's also often a needlessly stressful and overly expensive one. Use these tips to protect yourself and get the best deal possible.

What's the best way to keep yourself from being taken advantage of at a dealership?

The number one way to keep yourself from being taken advantage of is to do your research before you go to the dealership. Things you should do include:

  • Learn everything you can about the car/cars you're interested in. Not only do you want to learn everything about the particular model that you think you want to buy, but you also want to have some "back pocket info" for other makes and models, particularly competitors in the same class. This information can come in handy when sales people try to convince you that a particular feature is class or model exclusive and it's really not. Reviews and consumer reports are great for learning about cars.
  • Check online for invoice prices, lowest prices and factory rebates. When it comes to getting a fair price on a car, knowledge is definitely power. Before going to the dealerships, make sure you've researched local prices, know invoice prices (so that you can know what's a fair price for a vehicle and what's inflated),and know what factory rebates are available. This will give you a better idea of how much "wiggle room" is available when it comes to negotiations.
  • Call multiple dealerships and ask about current rebates. If a dealership is particularly desperate to move vehicles they'll often tack on extra incentives and rebates beyond those offered by the factory, especially at the end of the year.

When is the best time to buy a car?

There are certain times of the day, week and month when you're more likely to get a good deal. The best times to shop for a new car are:

  • Near the end of the year. Factories often offer substantial year-end model discounts starting in the fall. And because dealers are eager to move last year's models off the lot and make room for the newest models (where there's a higher profit margin), they'll often sweeten the deal with additional dealer discounts.
  • The last (or second to last) day of month. Dealers are always looking to make deals at the end of the month, when they're about to post their numbers. You'll often get a better deal at the end of the month than you will at the beginning, when the dealership and sales consultant are less desperate for a sale.
  • Middle of the day during the week. When demand is high, it's hard to get a deal. That's why midday weekday shopping is best. Most dealerships are ghost towns at these times and sales people are eager to make every walk-in count.

What is the best way to negotiate for a car?

When it comes to car negotiations, there are three things you want to remember:

  • If you're paying in cash, don't let them know that until you've settled on a price.
  • If you're using a trade-in, try not to let them know that until you've settled on a price.
  • Don't negotiate on monthly payments, no matter how often the dealership tries to steer the negotiation that way. Negotiate on final price and interest rate so that the dealership can't cloak a high final cost in a low monthly payment. And remember, the sooner you can pay off your loan, the less the car will cost you.

Questions to ask when buying a car

Ask lots of questions. If you've done your research, you should know the car you want inside and out so you should have plenty of material to work with. Most sales consultants don't know nearly as much about their cars as they want you to believe, so you want to use that to your advantage. By asking lots of detailed questions, you're building value in yourself and arming yourself with potential objections for when negotiation time comes.

What is the Road to the Sale?

Just about every car dealer on the planet is taught to sell using a sales technique called "the Road to the Sale." In addition to being a tool for building value in the dealership and quickly moving a sale to close, the road to the sale is a psychological tool meant to discover and counter your objections before you voice them.

By uncovering what your needs, price range and likes are, the sales consultant is not only finding a car you'll want to buy, they're also creating a situation that makes it harder for you to say no (because you've already, at some point, voiced a need that the car fulfills and you'll feel emotionally obligated to stick to what you've said). There's really nothing inherently unethical about the Road to the Sale but it's still important to know that you're on it so that you don't confuse sales pitch with friendship.

5 Tips to Get the Best Deal on a Car

In summary, the best five things you can do to get a good deal on a car are:

  1. Do your research.
  2. Time it right.
  3. Negotiate the right way.
  4. Ask lots of questions.
  5. Know the Road to the Sale.

Further Reading

Car Sales: The Road to the Sale

TLE101

Copyright Jennifer Silva. Contact the author to obtain permission for republication.

  • Try these tips for buying a car to save money - ralev com

    Try these tips for buying a car to save money - ralev com

  • Car shopping should be fun - packthecoo

    Car shopping should be fun - packthecoo

  • Know the road to the sale - thiagofest

    Know the road to the sale - thiagofest

  • Learn how to negotiate for a new car - clix

    Learn how to negotiate for a new car - clix

  • Ask questions to save money when car buying - flaivoloka

    Ask questions to save money when car buying - flaivoloka

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php
Five Filters featured article: Beyond Hiroshima - The Non-Reporting of Falluja's Cancer Catastrophe.


View the original article here

No comments:

Post a Comment