Buying new car tips...

[cpals]

1. What are some tips to get the best deal on a car?

2. If you don't like haggling do the buying services help (AAA, BJs, Sams, etc)?

3. What would be the maximum mileage you would buy on a new car? For example, I just test drove a car that had 60 miles on it so far. Can you request a brand new car with less than 10 miles or whatever?

4. Went to a Chevy dealership and the guy was really downplaying the quality of the Korean cars (Hyundai/Kia), but at least according to Consumer Reports Chevy is lower than Hyundai?

5. He also was blabbering something about how the Korean cars use timing belts, but theirs has timing chains. Is this true or old facts?

6. Do you ever do a trade-in or try and sell it separately? Not sure if it would work, but I was thinking about telling them (after I get them to my selling point) that I won't buy the car until I get $X amount for my trade-in. And $X would be what KBB says I would get privately?

7. Do you rather go for 0% or rebate? Example - Chevy is running deal $1500 rebate with a 0% 36-months or $0 rebate but longer months with higher interest rates (48 @ 3.9 | 60 @ 4.9 | 72 @ 5.9).

8. What are the top sites for research? Cars.com, Edmunds, KBB, Consumer Reports?

Anything else I'm missing?

 

[Fenixgoon]

first, know the car you want down to the last detail, and know its competition. know what dealers have it and for how much.

ideally, come in with your own financing (if you intend to finance). if you have cash, all the better.

always be prepared to walk away. always.

2) dont know

3) i bought mine with 66. the closer to 0 the better, but i'm not sure how this works.

4) very happy with my hyundai genesis coupe. miles better than the equivalent camaro (despite having less HP). i got mine at a great price, IMO, and 10 year warranty FTW. the biggest thing is to do your research. if you're interested in a hyundai, check one out. the salesman's job is to sell you a chevy - of course everything else will suck.

5) some use belts, some use chains. i think hyundai's 2.4(?)L I4 uses a belt, while the V6 uses a chain. varies by engine - again, you can always do research. chains generally don't need replacing, but if they go, they can do quite a bit of damage (or at least that used to be the case; i would hope engine design has changed to mitigate this)

6) i traded in - less hassle of trying to sell private party. if you think you can do better selling private, go for it. the trade in is simply easier.

7) the cost difference is easily calculated by any payment tool. at 0% you are paying 0 interest on the principle. your payment will of course be higher at 36mos over 48/60/72, so that is more about whether the payment fits your monthly budget. extending the loan will make the month-to-month payments easier, but you will pay a decent amount in interest over the life of the loan. i used to have a spreadsheet detailing this, but i can't find it.

8) i already knew all the makes/models/trims i was considering beforehand. edmunds has a pretty decent "steps to buying a car" guide.

just to reinforce - if the dealership doesn't give you the deal you want, walk. as long as you don't absolutely need a car right now, don't worry about how long it takes you to get a good deal.


oh here's one more thing - salesman will often play "four square" where they list the price of the car, the monthly payment, your down payment, and your trade in, and manipulate the numbers to make you pay as much as possible. don't put up with this game. if they ask "what kind of monthly payment is good for you?" tell them the price of the car is all that matters. why? because they can make sure you'll have that monthly payment - most likely on as long a term loan as possible, so you can pay the most interest. the more options you take away from their "four square" game the better (know the price you want, preferably have financing, know an estimate for your car, and the maximum monthly payment you can afford or want to have)

 

[MotF Bane]

The salesman's job is to sell whatever is on the lot that you would buy. Any information should be taken with a grain of salt. He'll tell you just about anything it takes, and agree to almost anything you want him to.

Regarding Hyundai, Chevrolet, and Kia, I'd rank them as exactly that in terms of quality.

Use Google for your research. Just run some details on the car through, and you're likely to get pages of reviews.

They may try to play some games with you, although I'd expect a primarily new car dealership to behave better. Things like "we need your keys to evaluate your car's trade-in value", or "let me get my manager to make a deal", "can we have your phone/email/address to send you information", et cetera.

As for mileage, I'd be happy to take something in the 50 mile range. I've been doing a lot of test drives lately, used and new, and felt that the newest of cars (the <25 mile grouping) have more noises coming from the engine.

Some cars use timing belts, some use chains. Google should reveal that.

Run the math on the 0&#37; versus rebate, but on a new car, I'd wager the 0% is the winner over the long term.

 

[PhoKingGuy]

Use internet sales departments, skips 99&#37; of the hassle.

 

[OS]

when i bought my last car it had 3 miles on it and had just been delivered off the truck the day before.

 

[Howard]

5) Whether it's a belt or chain doesn't really matter. Belts are standard maintenance items at around 80-120k miles, but timing chains may need service as well (see: first-gen CTS). Just incorporate it into the lifetime cost of the vehicle, which you should already have tabulated.

8) Public forums are the best. You will easily find out what all the major issues are with the vehicle, like the first-gen CTS's timing chain failures, the slushbox deaths of the 6th-gen Accords and 2nd-gen TLs, etc.

 

[Sluggo]

4. Went to a Chevy dealership and the guy was really downplaying the quality of the Korean cars (Hyundai/Kia), but at least according to Consumer Reports Chevy is lower than Hyundai?

I won't buy anything from any salesman who spends the entire time shitting on the competition instead of selling his product, just a personal gripe with me.

 

[Gibson486]

the best way to negotiate is to know what you want to pay. If your price is "the lowest possible", you are not going to get far when you show up to the show room. A good salesman can read when a customer does not know what they want to pay.

Your best bet is to just do research and email dealers to give you prices. The prices you get back should give you idea of what it will cost to buy the car. Ignore dealers that say, "Well, come on down and we can talk price". You ignore them until you actually know what price will make you sign the papers.

 

[Gibson486]

I won't buy anything from any salesman who spends the entire time shitting on the competition instead of selling his product, just a personal gripe with me.

yeah, it's the first thing my boss told me when meeting when clients. Never talk bad about your competition, even if its obvious. 1. It sets the bar even higher than it should be and 2. it tells the client that your product is only better than bad competing products.

For the trade in question, it's up to you. Keep this is mind, however. When you sell your car, in some states, you have to give the person a 30-60 day warranty against items that devalue the car. It's a very grey area as to what "devalues" the car, but it can be a hassle. Also, when you sell your car, you are supposed to report it as income on taxes. Not everyone does it, but it's something you are supposed to do.

 

[Vette73]

1. What are some tips to get the best deal on a car?

2. If you don't like haggling do the buying services help (AAA, BJs, Sams, etc)?

3. What would be the maximum mileage you would buy on a new car? For example, I just test drove a car that had 60 miles on it so far. Can you request a brand new car with less than 10 miles or whatever?

4. Went to a Chevy dealership and the guy was really downplaying the quality of the Korean cars (Hyundai/Kia), but at least according to Consumer Reports Chevy is lower than Hyundai?

5. He also was blabbering something about how the Korean cars use timing belts, but theirs has timing chains. Is this true or old facts?

6. Do you ever do a trade-in or try and sell it separately? Not sure if it would work, but I was thinking about telling them (after I get them to my selling point) that I won't buy the car until I get $X amount for my trade-in. And $X would be what KBB says I would get privately?

7. Do you rather go for 0% or rebate? Example - Chevy is running deal $1500 rebate with a 0% 36-months or $0 rebate but longer months with higher interest rates (48 @ 3.9 | 60 @ 4.9 | 72 @ 5.9).

8. What are the top sites for research? Cars.com, Edmunds, KBB, Consumer Reports?

Anything else I'm missing?

1. Internet/Fleet office usually can do the best. Not always so hit several dealers.

2. They are ok. they will nto get the best price but something fair.

3. As long as its less than a coupel hundred its new to me. But I buy used.

4. Hes selling HIS product. Why speak up something that will not make you any money? Ignore it and just think of it as bs chatting. Also Consumer reports is junk, also ignore them.

5. Some cars use belts some use chains. Its a car to car thing. So if the 2 cars you are looking at don;t have timing belts then don;t worry about it.

6. I would sell on craigslist if its in good shape.

7. If you are paying off in less than 3 years then take the Cash. If 3+ years then do the math and see.

8. Best sites are message boards for auto repair and fan sites. If you see a lot of people asking about Alts on a site for the car you are looking at then that may be a problem area. Most "reviews" are biased. CR is one of the worst and Car magizines say they use points but then give more points for cup holders while test driving a Sports cars.

Example on 8. The first gen CTS had a recall on the rear diff seal on 05+ models, first year 3.2 motor had timing belt issues, etc... I own a 04 CTS and bought it after reading what problems may come up. So I maintain my car correctly based on not only basic maintaince but also problem areas others have had. Do the same and I am sure you will be happy with what you get.

 

[Zap]

2. If you don't like haggling do the buying services help (AAA, BJs, Sams, etc)?

There was just a thread about this.

 

[ss284]

I've found that cars.overstock.com is a very good starting price reference. Usually you can get them to drop it another few percentage points lower.