Used car buying questions

[DarkThinker]

So yesterday I totalled my daily driver because a guy a head of me didn't feel like using his turn signal. I was putting off getting a better car towards the Summer, but I guess I have no other option now, I might as well do it now.

* I know about GMextednedwarranty.com but what about others as well? Such as NationWarranty, WarrantyDirect..etc I am obtaining quotes from them. What criteria would one use to choose coverage from besides price?

* When asking to have a mechanic lift and inspect a used car from a dealer does this usually happen on the dealership premises, or do you usually take the car somewhere else? (of course with mechanic not being affiliated with said dealership)

* How do you identify red flags in Carfax reports besides obvious things like accidents and such.

* If the price seems to be lower or much lower than KBB Suggested Retail value or maybe even Trade in Value, what points does one usually use to bargain the price down considering the car was checked by another mechanic to be without apparent problems and Carfax doesn't raise any red flags.

* I plan on getting a 36 - 48 months loan and perhaps making %20-25 down payment. Last time I checked my credit report my score was much higher than average, with no black spots or any debts, where would be the best place to get low interest loans than %5 and %4.5?

* Some dealers sometime offer very low interest loans, is there usually a catch to watchout for?

 

[Horsepower]

So yesterday I totalled my daily driver because a guy a head of me didn't feel like using his turn signal. I was putting off getting a better car towards the Summer, but I guess I have no other option now, I might as well do it now.

* I know about GMextednedwarranty.com but what about others as well? Such as NationWarranty, WarrantyDirect..etc I am obtaining quotes from them. What criteria would one use to choose coverage from besides price?

OTHERS MAY TAKE MORE TO GET A CLAIM PAID BUT CAN BE MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE

* When asking to have a mechanic lift and inspect a used car from a dealer does this usually happen on the dealership premises, or do you usually take the car somewhere else? (of course with mechanic not being affiliated with said dealership)

IN CALIF LAW PERMITS YOU TO HAVE A 3RD PARTY CHECK THE CAR

* How do you identify red flags in Carfax reports besides obvious things like accidents and such.

CARFAX IS HELPFUL BUT DEFINITELY NOT GOSPEL

* If the price seems to be lower or much lower than KBB Suggested Retail value or maybe even Trade in Value, what points does one usually use to bargain the price down considering the car was checked by another mechanic to be without apparent problems and Carfax doesn't raise any red flags.

IF IT SOUNDS TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE, PERHAPS IT IS

* I plan on getting a 36 - 48 months loan and perhaps making %20-25 down payment. Last time I checked my credit report my score was much higher than average, with no black spots or any debts, where would be the best place to get low interest loans than %5 and %4.5?

CREDIT UNIONS

* Some dealers sometime offer very low interest loans, is there usually a catch to watchout for?

I apologize but was not trying to shout, just to get the answers noticed

 

[zoiks]

I recommend Pedfed for the car loan. I believe it is 3.9% for used and new cars.

 

[Zenmervolt]

* I know about GMextednedwarranty.com but what about others as well? Such as NationWarranty, WarrantyDirect..etc I am obtaining quotes from them. What criteria would one use to choose coverage from besides price?

They're all roughly the same amount of rip-off. If they didn't take in more money than they paid out on average, they wouldn't be in business. You are better off taking the money that you would have spent on the extended warranty and putting it into a CD at your local bank.

* When asking to have a mechanic lift and inspect a used car from a dealer does this usually happen on the dealership premises, or do you usually take the car somewhere else? (of course with mechanic not being affiliated with said dealership)

You drive the car to the independent mechanic's shop. The dealer typically requires that they have a photocopy of your license and your insurance card before allowing this to happen. If the car is in an accident on the way to or from the mechanic's for the check out, you've just bought it.

* How do you identify red flags in Carfax reports besides obvious things like accidents and such.

Frankly, Carfax is really only useful for finding out if the car has been in major accidents or salvaged at some point or if it's failing emissions or was a fleet vehicle. Anything else that Carfax might show (lots of miles in a short period, etc) are largely neutral in and of themselves and depend more on how the owner was maintaining the car at the time, which won't show up on Carfax.

* If the price seems to be lower or much lower than KBB Suggested Retail value or maybe even Trade in Value, what points does one usually use to bargain the price down considering the car was checked by another mechanic to be without apparent problems and Carfax doesn't raise any red flags.

Frankly, if the price is already very low and the car checks out well, then there is likely very little wiggle room left. My own tactic has been to simply say, "I will pay $X for this car" and to walk out if they don't accept it. Sometimes they call you back. Sometimes they don't.

* I plan on getting a 36 - 48 months loan and perhaps making %20-25 down payment. Last time I checked my credit report my score was much higher than average, with no black spots or any debts, where would be the best place to get low interest loans than %5 and %4.5?

Local credit unions or the bank at which you have your savings/checking accounts.

* Some dealers sometime offer very low interest loans, is there usually a catch to watchout for?

They usually require higher down payments, shorter terms, and stellar credit ratings. Also, the penalties for late or missed payments can be very stiff. Otherwise though, there tend not to be any "gotchas".

ZV

 

[SearchMaster]

Something like 80% of all expenses for a warranty company goes out in marketing and commissions - something to consider when deciding on buying one. That's obviously no comfort when your transmission craps out and it's going to cost you $3K, but they're a very bad deal in general.

Good luck. Shopping for used cars sucks.

 

[StageLeft]

Something like 80% of all expenses for a warranty company goes out in marketing and commissions - something to consider when deciding on buying one. That's obviously no comfort when your transmission craps out and it's going to cost you $3K, but they're a very bad deal in general.

Good luck. Shopping for used cars sucks.

80% damn! As per above, though, they are not worth it.

 

[duragezic]

I bought a 2008 Mazda 3 earlier this week and asked the same questions about extended warranties. I personally didn't go with the dealer offered one, and likely won't get any because the consensus was a decently maintained car shouldn't have major issues in that time (80k miles in my case).

If you do want it, you'll want to check the policies for what is covered. It may be "bumper-to-bumper" but it's going to exclude some components. Further, I read lots about how say some piece of the engine needed to be replaced, but it was made up of 4 components, and the warranty only covered one, so the others are out of pocket.

For a mechanic inspection, yes I just went to the dealer and asked to take the car to a mechanic so they gave me the keys and off I went.

Carfax or Autocheck is pretty self explanatory. It'll list a dozen or more different items and a green/red/etc mark if the car has been affected by them and it may include more detailed history on some events like registration, inspection, accidents, etc.

 

[duragezic]

double tap

 

[satyajitmenon]

Looks like most of your questions have been answered in the previous posts. Will just add my 2 cents.

1. KBB is usually inflated. So under KBB doesn't mean squat. When car shopping, I found Edmunds True Market Value to be a better indicator and more realistic. You can definitely find deals out there under Edmunds TMV.

2. Credit Unions usually have the best finance deals - especially on used cars. Get the numbers from a CU and use that to negotiate with the dealer on their in-house financing. If they can beat it, great. Remember, don't just look at their APR. Calculate how much you'll shell out over the entire tenure (downpayment + [monthly pymt X tenure] + any addl processing fees) and compare that against what the CU offers.

3. DO NOT negotiate the price out-the-door with financing. Get this number on paper before you talk about financing.


So, what car are you looking at OP?

 

[DarkThinker]

Thanks all for the tips.

Let me first tell you what I have done since yesterday cliffs in bold.

* Signed up for Experian's Autocheck and checked over 30 cars I was interested in.

Then discovered that all the Cadillac CTS's that matched my criteria in my area except for a couple were in either in an accident or had frame damage, or were in multiple accidents and much more sneaky / dirty stuff.

* Found a perfect history, 1 owner off lease Black on Black 2007 Cadillac CTS, 3.6L V6 with only 25K and just 15 minutes away. Still under warranty till September and of course has Powertrain warranty as well. Has to be the cleanest CTS in my area, has almost everything I want in it except for the absence of a moon*roof and Nav but life isn't perfect.

The dealership is big, hundreds of used vehicles on the lot with plenty of new ones as well.

Unfortunately the car was still being detailed, but the salesman took me to the detailing place. I examined it very well, body, interior, engine sound, AC / Heat, sound, electric seats electronics, tires look new, just everything that I could test without driving it I tested and checked out OK.

The salesman told me I can come back tomorrow and that it would be finished at noon and then I can take it for a test drive and all. I gave him the impression I wasn't all that impressed with what I saw and that I was still looking at deals nearby (in reality it was almost perfectly what I wanted).

So while we were talking on the way back to the office, he mentioned to me that it would do them no good if the car stayed there and that he will help me with the price as much as he could. I took that as a good sign as usually most salesmen I talk to pretend the price is perfect until you tell them it's not and then they negotiate down, but this guy is open to it and wants to move the car out.

So here is my question, the asking price is $20,000, I am sure he would be willing to go down a $1000 without a sweat from me the way he was talking, but what I really want him to do is to bring it down to $16K, is that a long shot?

It looked like he was eager to get it over with and it helps that this is a big dealership, salesmen tend to get more wiggle room in big ones than in small ones.

Does anyone think I might have enough wiggle room to drive it home for $16K? Can someone suggest a starting price for the negotiation?

I see wiggle room for maybe $1-2K not sure about what it would take to get $4K off of it but I am going to go for it.

 

[SearchMaster]

If it's worth only $16K to you, offer that and move on if they balk. If it's worth $20K to you, then go for it. It's your money, not ours. From a quick internet investigation, sounds like $18K would be a decent deal on that car.

 

[yh125d]

A clean CTS with next to no miles? 16k would be really low balling it. If you can only afford 16k you probably should be looking at other cars (or older ones)

 

[zoiks]

I disagree. Offer $16k and if the dealer gets offended, either walk away or come up with a different number.

 

[DarkThinker]

A clean CTS with next to no miles? 16k would be really low balling it. If you can only afford 16k you probably should be looking at other cars (or older ones)

Well, to say the truth, I can afford way more than $20K, but it's all about my willingess to pay. I am not going to get greedy and blow away my chance to get this one, but I am hoping worst case we settle on $17K, that's not as bad as $20K. But as I already said, I think the chance is near to none to get it at $16K but maybe I should use that as a starting price in the negotiations.

I disagree. Offer $16k and if the dealer gets offended, either walk away or come up with a different number.

Ya, that's what I think is my main plan of attack there, start at $16k and work my way to the low 17's