How to buy a new car?

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tc101
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How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

After our recent conversation here about the higher prices of used cars today I am thinking of maybe buying a new car. I stopped by a dealership to drive a Ford Taurus. The salesperson did all he could to keep me in the showroom and waste my time and never would give me a price.

CarMax is so much easier. They list all their cars online with the exact features and prices. Is there a good way to buy a new car that is as easy as CarMax?

I am looking for a sedan with plenty of leg room. CarMax sells new Chryslers. I may just buy a Chrysler 200 sedan from CarMax just because it is so much easier. Here is what the place nearest me has available.

http://www.carmax.com/search?ANa=429496 ... indcar:new
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froman118
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by froman118 »

Get quotes online from competing dealerships. Usually this gets you to their "Internet sales" department and they'll give you an actual quote on their out the door price. Ask the second lowest dealer if they'll beat your lowest quote (tell them which dealership) and make it clear you are ready to buy now. You should be well under MSRP with this approach and goal is to get as close to Invoice as possible.

I did this on both of our cars and walked into the dealer with a price in hand and the car I wanted on the lot. No haggling or anything with the Internet sales reps.

Use the CarMax price as a baseline and see if dealerships can beat it.
CarlZ993
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by CarlZ993 »

froman118 wrote:Get quotes online from competing dealerships. Usually this gets you to their "Internet sales" department and they'll give you an actual quote on their out the door price. Ask the second lowest dealer if they'll beat your lowest quote (tell them which dealership) and make it clear you are ready to buy now. You should be well under MSRP with this approach and goal is to get as close to Invoice as possible.

I did this on both of our cars and walked into the dealer with a price in hand and the car I wanted on the lot. No haggling or anything with the Internet sales reps.

Use the CarMax price as a baseline and see if dealerships can beat it.
I've used a system similar to this on my last 6 purchases. Works pretty good. I got some info from http://www.fightingchance.com/. If you follow their strategy, you'll find the lowest price for your desired vehicle in your area.
Carl Z
likegarden
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by likegarden »

There was a great post 'How to buy a car' by norookie here on this forum, search for it.

I did the following last April :
- First figure out which car you want to buy, I did this via Edmunds looking at brands, models and accessories,
- Then we went to several dealers looking at models and drove them. You really have to experience the cars. We did not like large video screens and entertainment centers, would have distracted us during driving. Some cars need backup cameras.
- From Edmunds I got a market price which was a little over invoice. You should get a price close to invoice.
- With those definitions and knowing which model we exactly want to get I wrote Emails to the internet managers of dealers and picked the dealer with the lowest price. We simply walked in and bought the car.
Our final out-the-door price was $220 less than Edmunds and $460 less than from salesmen on a $25,000. cash price.
- I thought undercoating was good for the car, should not have bought that. We did not buy warranty extension, our experience with our older Buick cars showed little repair costs covered by that warranty over the extended warranty years.
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tc101
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

I just learned that AAA has a new car buying service. Has anyone here used this?
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tamudude
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tamudude »

If you are interested in buying a Ford and hate the haggling find out if you are eligible for their X-plan pricing. I am eligible through my workplace and bought both my cars (2011 Explorer XLT and 2013 Escape Titanium) using this service. It gets you just shy of invoice (around $100 or so higher) but you are eligible for all incentives (including cash rebates and financing) on top of it. The icing on the cake : only $100 in dealer documentation fees. You choose the car you want, they show you the X-plan price on the invoice and you decide. No more dealer against dealer.
Granted some people claim (and do get) better deals but this has been a boon for me since I hate the whole haggling process.
https://www.fordpartner.com/partnerweb/ ... _rules.htm

regards
tamudude
beachplum
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by beachplum »

I got a good deal, imho, on a certified used toyota corolla 2013 with 3,000 miles on it because it was the dealers car, and I bought it in January of 2014. I just gave a sales pitch to the dealer with whom we have bought 2 other cars and have had 4 cars serviced there for over 20 years. And I pointed out how there was a lot of inventory of those particular cars all over the area for me to chose from.
carolinaman
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by carolinaman »

I recommend doing your research using Consumer Report, Edmunds and other online services. You should get a good idea of the best cars for you and selling prices. Go to a dealer and test drive the cars you are interested in. Once you know exactly what you want, including all features and add-ons, then contact the Internet desk of several dealers in your area to get their best price. This usually works although some dealers will still try to get you in the showroom to haggle with you.

If you need to sell your old vehicle, Carmax will give you wholesale for it which is probably as good a price as dealer will pay.
hudson
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by hudson »

tc101 wrote:I just learned that AAA has a new car buying service. Has anyone here used this?
tc101,
I think car buying services as a whole are a bad deal and should be avoided....James Bragg recommends a non-profit somewhere in N.Virginia that will get you 5 bids for a $200 flat fee.

I like carmax but have never used it....not an expert at all....I think I like all the images and detail they put on their website for each vehicle....it's just great information...they even have some new dealerships...I think for Toyota...they'll truck one in from far off.

For used cars, James Bragg of http://www.fightingchance.com recommends buying dealer certified/guaranteed used cars...in the dealer's brand.
For new cars, I use http://www.fightingchance.com. See other threads for more information. It costs about $40 and several hours of your time, but you get the best price available in your area. On my last 2 new car purchases, I saved 2-3K by using what I learned from Bragg. Call him...He's good to talk to. If you call, you'll get Bragg or his assistant.

https://www.google.com/search?q=http%3A ... eheads.org

Bragg wrote a book...out of print...that's still worth reading....although some of his strategies have changed since the book was written.... you can get it used... http://www.amazon.com/Buyers-Leasers-Ne ... 879&sr=1-1

Have you ever felt helpless and defeated when buying a car when you are in a dealership? Bragg can help you fix that.
Last edited by hudson on Wed Feb 05, 2014 8:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
jcpct
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by jcpct »

Do you belong to Costco? They have a car buying service you may want to check out.
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deanbrew
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by deanbrew »

jcpct wrote:Do you belong to Costco? They have a car buying service you may want to check out.
Same with Sam's Club. I'm not sure how well the AAA/Costco/Sam's/Consumer Report services work because I'm comfortable doing my own research and negotiating. But they probably work fairly well if you really don't want to be bothered.

The first step is to figure out exactly what model and trim line you want, which means visiting dealerships and test driving cars. And, yes, dealing with salespeople. It helps to tell them upfront that you are considering several different brands and you are still in the research stage trying to narrow down what you want. Yes, some are still pushy and will try to pressure you into a sale. But I've found many dealerships have progressed beyond this hard-sell MO and are more helpful and less pushy. But, either way, you need to figure out what you want to drive for the next 3-10 years. Buying a Chrysler because you didn't like the sales process at a Ford dealership seems preposterous to me. You spend a few hours buying a car and then drive it for thousands of hours.

In any event, once you narrow down exactly what you want, do an internet search for "Xbrand no haggle dealers" and see if you can find no-haggle dealers that show decent prices on their websites. Then go and look for what you want. If Dealer X can sell a Ford Taurus LX with moonroof for $26,400 then there is no reason that your local dealership shouldn't be able to. That doesn't mean they will be WILLING to, but all dealership pay Ford the same price for the car, so they should all be able to offer similar prices. Having said that, some stores choose the higher volume - lower profit model while others want to maximize the profit on each sale at the expense of volume.

One place I always check is fitzmall.com. They are a chain of no-haggle dealerships that offer very good prices that you can see online on their website. I also always check CarMax to see their no-haggle prices for new cars. Unfortunately, neither Fitzmall or Carmax sell Fords, so they won't help with your Ford research. But you should be able to find some no-haggle Ford dealerships where you can see prices online.

Otherwise, you will have to dig through Edmunds, Truecar and other online sources to figure out a decent buying price.
"The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases." Thomas Jefferson
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tc101
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

Buying a Chrysler because you didn't like the sales process at a Ford dealership seems preposterous to me.
You are correct. I was feeling pretty moody when I wrote that.
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tc101
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

I think car buying services as a whole are a bad deal and should be avoided
Why?
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Big Worm
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by Big Worm »

I got a quote from the dealer associated with Costco (except they didn't have the color I wanted). I had another dealer who found the right color to match the price. I think I saved a couple of hundred bucks.
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JMacDonald
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by JMacDonald »

If you want to get a reasonably good deal on a car, use the internet to buy the car.
First, know what you want, then email the dealers in your area for the "out the door" price for the car.
"Out the door" is important because it prevents the little extra add ons from happening.
I emailed about ten dealers. I ignored the ones who didn't give me a quote, but just wanted me to come in.
I made a copy of the lowest quote, went to the dealer, bought the car. Easy.
It helps if you are only buying the car, no trade in, no financing to complicate things.
Best Wishes, | Joe
likegarden
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by likegarden »

deanbrew, last year I got a price from fitzmall in Philadelphia for exactly the same car I then bought locally. Fitzmall's price was $1,000 less, but I live 6 hours away and could not figure out the logistics to buy there. Also, that good deal could have a lot of complications, and I would have wasted 12 hours driving.
About no-haggle dealers, we have one who is high in price. I found it better to go shopping at different dealers without talking about price, then send them Emails and ask for the best price with a followup. This is similar to 'Fighting Chance', which gave very good background information.
I forgot to mention about Consumer Reports in my earlier posting. CR gives very good information about car reliability which was very useful to us not to buy a certain car. We wanted a no-trouble car.
keystone
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by keystone »

JMacDonald wrote:If you want to get a reasonably good deal on a car, use the internet to buy the car.
First, know what you want, then email the dealers in your area for the "out the door" price for the car.
"Out the door" is important because it prevents the little extra add ons from happening.
I emailed about ten dealers. I ignored the ones who didn't give me a quote, but just wanted me to come in.
I made a copy of the lowest quote, went to the dealer, bought the car. Easy.
It helps if you are only buying the car, no trade in, no financing to complicate things.

I will be buying a new car within the next month or two and plan to do it exactly as you describe. I am just curious about the definition of "out the door price." Is it safe to say that this is the final number that you are paying, including absolutely everything - tax, tags, freights, etc.? Or will dealers try to say that out the door does not include something like tax?
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deanbrew
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by deanbrew »

likegarden wrote:deanbrew, last year I got a price from fitzmall in Philadelphia for exactly the same car I then bought locally. Fitzmall's price was $1,000 less, but I live 6 hours away and could not figure out the logistics to buy there. Also, that good deal could have a lot of complications, and I would have wasted 12 hours driving.
We live about 1.5 hours from a Fitzgerald store and my wife bought a car from them. No complications whatsoever, and the price on their website is what we paid (plus taxes and tags, of course). I called up and verified the price and asked if they would try and pull any shenanigans if we drove 1.5 hours to get there. They said "no", and they lived up to that. Easiest purchase I've ever had - in and out in minutes. I understand your hesitancy, but they lived up to their website promise for my wife's car and also her brother's. (In both cases, the local Nissan dealer didn't want to come down even to the same neighborhood as Fitzgerald, so it was worth the three hour round trip.)

On my last car purchase I used their online price as a bargaining chip at my local dealer. I said "If Fitzgerald can sell the car for $x you should be able to, as well. Only took about ten minutes of haggling and a final threat to leave and I got a very similar price."
"The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases." Thomas Jefferson
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by likegarden »

deanbrew, I showed that internet manager also that Fitzgerald had it $1k less, but she said she did not believe it, she could not match it. It seems that all local dealers know their market and how much others would price cars.
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by deanbrew »

likegarden wrote:deanbrew, I showed that internet manager also that Fitzgerald had it $1k less, but she said she did not believe it, she could not match it. It seems that all local dealers know their market and how much others would price cars.
Yep. There's nothing wrong with a retailer not wanting to drop their price if they think they can sell to someone else for a higher price. But by the same standard, don't complain when customers buy somewhere else.
"The course of history shows that as the government grows, liberty decreases." Thomas Jefferson
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Dutch
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by Dutch »

likegarden wrote:deanbrew, I showed that internet manager also that Fitzgerald had it $1k less, but she said she did not believe it, she could not match it. It seems that all local dealers know their market and how much others would price cars.
That's your signal to walk away.
kyle121990
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by kyle121990 »

New member here. But I went through buying a new car a few months ago. I would recommend first deciding exactly what you want down to the smallest detail. Then find out about what the dealer invoice (their cost) of the car is. On top of that they have whats called holdback which on my truck was I believe around $1200. Holdback is money the dealer gets from ford on top of any profit they make when they sell the vehicle. They will go below holdback, but they don't like to. In my case I was able to get my truck for around $1500 below invoice, and I traded in my old vehicle for about what it was valued at if I would've sold it privately. Also pay attention to rebates, they can make a big difference, be sure to ask what all the rebates available are to see which ones you qualify for. One rebate through ford I received was for requesting an information booklet online, I got $750 on top of any other offers. my $.02
harikaried
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by harikaried »

We just bought a car this week, and I can think of some steps that might have made things even easier.

0) Figure out what car model you want
1) Use PenFed's Car Buying Service (powered by TrueCar) just selecting the correct manufacturer to proceed to "View Dealer Pricing," and this let's you see if there's a close-by dealership that will use TrueCar's price (invoice price)
2) For the local dealers, visit their websites and look at the inventory of the model you want
3) Find something in stock with your desired options, colors, etc.
4) Return to PenFed's Car Buying Service and select the matching options (and confirm the MSRP matches)
5) Continue to "View Dealer Pricing" then "Get Certificate"
6) Visit the dealership and get the car for that price
(7) Optional: Use PenFed's special rate auto loan for using the service if it's better than loan offers from the manufacturer

For our purchase, we knew what model and options we wanted, and I knew the dealership we went to was one of the TrueCar hassle-free dealerships. We didn't look ahead of time for their inventory, but they did have the model and major option we wanted, and we were flexible on color and smaller options. After picking out the car, I pulled up the PenFed Car Buying Service, selected the make/model/options and got the pricing. At first the salesperson was surprised to see a price so quickly and a little more so when I mentioned this is the price /this/ dealership is offering, but he walked over to the sales desk and talked to someone and came back agreeing. Done with pricing. (Figuring out the loan stuff was a bit trickier because I didn't have a PenFed account at that time, but I was able to become a member right then, get approved, pay $15 to overnight the check, etc.)
hudson
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by hudson »

tc101 wrote:
I think car buying services as a whole are a bad deal and should be avoided
Why?
tc101,

I just re-read the buying service section in W. James Bragg's book....
In Bragg's book, he only likes the CarBargains non profit buying service: http://www.checkbook.org/auto/carbarg.cfm
brochure: http://www.checkbook.org/auto/cb-brochure.cfm

I'll try to paraphrase Bragg's answers to your question...From his "Car Buyer's and Leaser's Negotiating Bible"
How much will you pay a service, and how good a deal will they give you?
Many buying services get silent kickbacks from dealers.
If a typical broker gets $100 from you and $300-$400 from the dealer...that's money that you aren't saving by doing it yourself....getting payment from the dealer is a conflict of interest.
Buying service/dealer alliances throw in lots of un-needed add-ons like paint sealant....these alliances are a conflict of interest
According to Bragg, the way to get the best deal is to get several dealers bidding against each other.

I think using a buying service is like going to a bank and asking them to manage your IRA....hold on.
jlawrence01
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by jlawrence01 »

I will make this as simple as possible.

Attend a car show and find a few models that fit you and your needs. MAKE SURE that the vehicles are comfortable to get Into and out of.

Go to your local rental car agencies and rent the cars over a weekend and drive them 2-3 days to see if you like them.

When you get down to a couple of models, go to Edmunds.com and review the "Prices Paid" to get an idea of what people are paying.

Look at all of the local dealers for those brands and find the best deal.

Keep it simple. Have your financing prearranged and sell you car privately. DO NOT TRY TO NEGOTIATE NUMEROUS POINTS - purchase price, financing, trade-in price, and the like. If you do that, the dealer wins.

Avoid CarMax as the prices are generally higher than most dealers.
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JMacDonald
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by JMacDonald »

keystone wrote:
JMacDonald wrote:If you want to get a reasonably good deal on a car, use the internet to buy the car.
First, know what you want, then email the dealers in your area for the "out the door" price for the car.
"Out the door" is important because it prevents the little extra add ons from happening.
I emailed about ten dealers. I ignored the ones who didn't give me a quote, but just wanted me to come in.
I made a copy of the lowest quote, went to the dealer, bought the car. Easy.
It helps if you are only buying the car, no trade in, no financing to complicate things.

I will be buying a new car within the next month or two and plan to do it exactly as you describe. I am just curious about the definition of "out the door price." Is it safe to say that this is the final number that you are paying, including absolutely everything - tax, tags, freights, etc.? Or will dealers try to say that out the door does not include something like tax?
The "out the price" is the absolute final cost for the car. If you are told the cost is say $30,000 but somehow they want to tag on some additional fees, that is when you walk out the door without the car.
Best Wishes, | Joe
likegarden
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by likegarden »

Here is another new car buying thread :
http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/1001920/

We noticed last April that the Edmunds price for a Toyota Camry LE was not complete, they did not know an advertising fee Toyota would charge dealers. One salesman pointed that out. But that advertising fee was not an issue in the price given by the internet manager.

The dealer will bring you to their finance man who will try to add undercoating, extended warranty, etc. to your out-the-door price. Simply say NO.

I did sell our 2002 Buick private, did not want to haggle, got it into very good condition including fixing a gasket leak and new tires, got about Edmund Private Party price in 5 days. In case you want to trade in your old car, in your own calculations you must keep that trade in completely separate from your new car price. You might get the Edmunds Trade-in price without all the expensive fixes and all the hassle of a private sale. The dealer would mix the new car and trade-in numbers together to make more profit. So at home you would need to separate those numbers again to see what you really got as new car and trade-in prices, all out-the-door.
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tc101
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

The "out the door price" is the absolute final cost for the car. If you are told the cost is say $30,000 but somehow they want to tag on some additional fees, that is when you walk out the door without the car.
I believe that tax, tag and title is always separate from and in addition to "out the door price". Tell me if I am mistaken.
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tc101
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by tc101 »

Attend a car show and find a few models that fit you and your needs. MAKE SURE that the vehicles are comfortable to get Into and out of.
Sound like a good idea. Actually your whole post was full of good ideas. Thanks.

Except:
Avoid CarMax as the prices are generally higher than most dealers.
That has not been true of the comparisons I have made.
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hudson
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Re: How to buy a new car?

Post by hudson »

tc101 wrote:
The "out the door price" is the absolute final cost for the car. If you are told the cost is say $30,000 but somehow they want to tag on some additional fees, that is when you walk out the door without the car.
I believe that tax, tag and title is always separate from and in addition to "out the door price". Tell me if I am mistaken.
My out the door price quotes from numerous dealers included tax, tag, and title.
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