Anyone have any personal experiences? Good or bad? I know you can find lists online of what to say and do, but nothing beats what folks actually see on the frontlines of car buying.![]()
Anyone have any personal experiences? Good or bad? I know you can find lists online of what to say and do, but nothing beats what folks actually see on the frontlines of car buying.![]()
If you have USAA you can get $700 or more discount on new cars if you go through their preferred dealers. But Always haggle your price down before you bring the discounts into it with the dealers otherwise they won't be as easy to haggle with.
I know this isn't "personal experience" but I read this before I went and purchased my last car. It's a long read of sorts, but crazy informational and funny to learn what really goes on "behind the scenes" There are 9 parts to the story but it's only like 15min's and funny at parts.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html
A few personal tips: Don't EVER talk trade in before you negotiate the PRICE of the vehicle NOT the payments. I've seen dealers use the 4 square method they mention in the above article. They can and will try to "screw you 4 ways from Sunday" was the joke that was always passed around.
Pre-approval is the best but having your credit score/reports printed out always helps. Don't EVER give your keys to the car you drove in and don't EVER be afraid to walk away. IF a salesman lets you leave either you are shopping at a Porsche dealership or he's about to get fired.
On this side or the other, we will meet once again.
these are also not my personal tips but my dad does it and has pretty good results due to it.
My dad is a captain of CALFIRE (formerly known as CDF or California Department of Forestry aka firefighter lol) so he makes a decent amount of money and has phenomenal credit. He does not let the salespeople know this though, he plays with their head instead.
He dresses very casual; camo cargo shorts, old t-shirt, river sandals with socks on.... in no way looking like he has much money to spare.
next, he ALWAYS does his homework before hand to the point where he already knows exactly what he wants, which accessories he wants, technical specs on the vehicle, how much the real MSRP is and what is a good price to pay for it, even if the particular dealership has the exact one he wants and in the right color before he gets there. He searched all over online before he tracked down a particular Mustang he was looking for.
now when he gets to the dealership he plays completely dumb. He walks around looking at random cars until a salesperson approaches him and then they start their usual pitches. As the salesperson shows him vehicles he asks random questions but pretty much just small talk. Once they get to the one he is looking for, he asks questions that he already knows the answers to and you'd be surprised how much crap they will make up if they don't know the answers lol. Then he schools them by informing them of the proper answers and the true technical specs of the car, even if the window sticker says otherwise. At this point they are usually at a loss for words and he has them right where he wants them. He'll talk down the price a bit and then just when the salesperson thinks they may make the sale after all, he says "you know, i don't really know about this....perhaps i'll think about it over lunch"
The salesperson ALWAYS suggests some place right near by, across the street if there is something, but my dad goes on about his day and tends to whatever else he needed to do, and we eat lunch no where near the dealership. A few hours later he'll come back and they are already sweating because they figured they almost lost the sale and are now much more co-operative in bringing that sale price down. Then they run the credit check and see how much he makes and all that and they probably realize that he was toying with them the whole time![]()
i've been with him 3 or 4 times and it is always hilarious to watch because they really start sweating when he starts correcting them and calling them out on their lies
Gaming is staying up 'til 3am to earn a trophy that isn't real.......BUT IS
If you got tons of cash, bring it. it will lower the price dramatically.
i got a bad one for you guys. i got this car at this place in Jacksonville, NC. And I dodnt have much of a credit score cause i usaly pay cash for my stuff. Well i went and got a 2000 Buik Lesabre Custom for 4699. Well will the paper work was being done they explaine that since i didnt have any credit and i was financing through them my Intrest rate would be high, 29% yeah 29%IPR but the payments were only 288 a month but i needed a car then. Well i was makeing my payments they only excepted cash or money order or electronic checking, well i PCSd to Fort Stewart, GA. Wehn i moved i had to pay electronic becasue of the mailing sytem took to long. so wen i got paid on the 1 of each month i made my payments. there system took so long to get the money from the back that it would be after my due date. so every month they charged me late fees because they recieved the money after the 5 of each month. I paid the car off in a year and a half i had two years to pay it off. Now because of their crap my credit now shows that i had late payments and no i cant even get approved for a car loan even if i have 3000 down. The car place im not even sure if it is still open but it is called HOme Credit it si near the jacksonville high school. their cars are crap and i would hate for a marine or any other person get riped off. My step dad got a bettle from them and the car ended up haveing engin and transmission issues so he took it back to them and got a truck well they trade the car for the truck but they put in the system that they repoed the bettle and no that is on my step dads credit. point that i am making, if you get a car get it from legit lot not a buy here pay here place yeah it might be good but the car and service may be crap.
Always go at the end of the month. Salespeople who have not made their goal will work whatever they have to work to make a sale when they haven't made their monthly goal.
I also take my wife with me. Uncharacteristically, as opposed to all the shopping she normally does, she's a beast with the car shopping. I haggle the guy down as low as i can and then she hems and haws around like she thinks it's too much.
I tell her it's a good deal so she tells the guy if he can knock "x" off the price we'll get it.
When he comes back with approval, she says if he can give us "y" for our trade in we'll take it.
When he comes back again with approval she tells him we'll think about it.
When we get up to leave they usually agree to take the license and registration fees off the price of the car, then we buy it.
Makes me crazy but always works.
Don't be mad. Everything I post is "lol."
that... is what teamwork is all about... i wish my wife was more into the debating field... most of the times it's just up to meOriginally Posted by squidfamily1
"Kill one man, and you are a murderer. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill them all, and you are a god."
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