I'm buying a car today...

[adirty1]

do you really need a new car. NO you want a new car.
buy one a year or two old. you save a lot of money that you are just giving away to buy a new car....

if you have to have a NEW car than go in at the end of month. better yet the end of the quarter. look around and find the new guy that isnt selling much. dont take the first sales man that comes to you.

check out carpoint and see what invoice is on the car. now adays it's not a big secret. I wait till the end of they year or right when the new cars come in. I go and buy a used car with new car interest rates and still has all the warranties. that's if i want a certain car and have to deal with dealer.we got a volvo for 10k off brought that car down to where i wanted it...

personally i would deal with carmax. after selling and buying from them i wouldnt go anywhere else... no games just walk in and buy...

[dp4712]

I have always gotten a year car.

This is what I do.

I arrive at the dealership after 700PM and the last week of the month. I start on Monday.
Do your research before you step foot on the dealership.
Walk out the door if the salesman picks up the phone, leaves the office, or anything like that.
Visit as many of the dealerships that sell the same car that you wish.
OH! one thing. Make sure that you mention that you already have financing for the car.
That way the sales knows that they are going to have to give you a better deal to get your business.

I hope that helps you.

Alberto

[cmalana]

Another technique I used once to help a friend is to fax the car I want to each dealer in the area that I was willing to travel to, along with options, etc.

I then provided the price and a number to call me if they want to have a quick sale.

No time wasted on your end, no time wasted on their end.

[jerrykr]

If you drive a car and decide to negoiate for it, write down the VIN number on the dash before you walk back in the office, and make sure your salesman sees you do it. After you looked at a bunch of cars they all start to look the same in the same color. They can and will switch cars on you and sell you another one in the same color, but with fewer options than the one you liked and drove. It gets confusing for you. Make sure they negoiate with you on the same car you decided on.

Also be aware that you will get two entirely different sales jobs thrown at you, one negoiating for the car itself, and one after you arrived at the "final" price. That's when the 2nd guy takes over from the salesman to "do the paperwork". You don't expect him to be a salesman, but he is. He will start trying to sell you all sorts of extended warranties, seat cover protection, clear coats, towing, etc., etc. stuff you are not prepared to consider. They know you have made up your mind, and just want to get it over with by then, and will agree to lots of extras. They add up, are expensive, and hardly ever really needed. Be as prepared to say no to this sales pitch as you were to the first one. Remember, no matter what you said, you have not purchased the car until you sign the paperwork. You can still walk.

add this to all of the above, and good luck.

-=- Jerry -=-
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[Terrancelee]

First thing they will ask you is what kind of monthy payments are you looking for? Well, we can get it down there, we'll just finance for 72 or 84 months. Let that sink in for a minute; that's 7 years of interest you are paying.

If they try to steer you that way, stop them and put them on the total price of the car, not the payments.

Course, with the price of a new 4x4 diesel pickup going for almost 40,000 dollars, I'd need to finance for 12 years! I thought 24,5k for my new 1992 dodge cummins diesel was way high back then. I sure as **** haven't gotten that kind of % of an increase in my earnings.

[Davidtxs]

another thing if they offer to show you the factory invoice dont fall for it theres still plenty of factory to dealer incentives and floor plan discounts built in so the invoice is noway dealer cost. also if you go for an ext warranty pay HALF of what the offer it to you for thier cost is about 1/3 of what they sell it for i recently bought a pickup they wanted to sell me the extended for 2000 that covered bumper to bumper for 80000 miles the truck had 20 on it so i told them id pay 1050 then ended up paying 1100, a used vehicle is a great way to go let someone else eat the initial depreciation. a new truck like mine was about 30K i paid 15K for it it was 22 mo old and 20000 miles
good luck

[PictureCow]

Wow Guys!! Thanks so much for the help! After reading this thread I decided I was SOOO not prepaired to go in and talk to them... so this weekend I'm going to do my research and go in there armed! Thanks again for all the great advice!!

[dbphotos]

Ok, this is a little late but in case anyone else is looking. First the easiest way to purchase most cars is to join either Sam's Club or Costco and get a referral (online) from them for the car you want to buy. You will either pay invoice or $100 over invoice depending on your level of membership.

The next way to purchase is to use what's called preferred "supplier pricing" which is less than invoice and available to people that have some affiliation with large companies, Universities or alumi associations, etc. This will get you the lowest price but will take a little work identify your affiliation and get the special code. Here's a few for GM as an example:
GM Supplier Discount Program

Company or Association Discount #

Duke HR 831701
Wayne State University 828181
Carnegie Mellon 843283
Eastern Michigan University 897333
Chevron Texaco 865265
Michigan State University 844004
Indiana University 672741
Northrop Gruman 897687
PSS/World Medical 848989
University of Oklahoma 675487
Vanderbilt University 889729
Honeywell 821515
Ohio State University 885646


Just about every auto manufacturer offers "supplier pricing". Spend a little time researching it and you can save yourself thousands.

David

[david seale]

are you sure you want the matrix? my mom was between the xb and the matrix a couple years ago and went with the xb because for the money, you got SOOOOO much more in the xb than the matrix. for about 15k, the matrix came with almost nothing, i think it didnt even have electric windows or mirrors. sorry, kinda off topic but i thought id share my .02 and maybe save yall some money???

[xfloggingkylex]

Originally Posted by david seale

are you sure you want the matrix? my mom was between the xb and the matrix a couple years ago and went with the xb because for the money, you got SOOOOO much more in the xb than the matrix. for about 15k, the matrix came with almost nothing, i think it didnt even have electric windows or mirrors. sorry, kinda off topic but i thought id share my .02 and maybe save yall some money???

go figure david is pushing the terrible toaster :) have you lowered yours yet?