*Follow up qs*-Anyone feeling super patient and want to explain car buying to me?

[SnuggleBuggles]

Follow up q-s
1. so how much info should I give to the dealers that are emailing me back? We do plan to trade in our car but I don't want to tip m hand on that. They want to know things like financing, exactly what color we want...I feel like that is more than they need to know on my follow up email. That seems like stuff to discuss much later. But, I am not sure what I should be telling/ asking. I did test drive the car so I'm good there.

2. Some are pushier than others, should I just disregard those dealerships? I don't want any hard core sales' pressure.

3. I really do care about color. I want the tan interior and it is only on some models. What should I do about that? Edmund's isn't showing the colors I want online locally. Can I go in and say I want X car with C features and they'll order it for me? Am I screwed on bargaining if I want that? Do I have any room to negotiate? I honestly and truly won't buy it if they can only get it in white for me, for example (no offense white car lovers!). I'll just fix up the car we have and re-evaluate our needs.

4. Should I just get pre-approved for a car loan from my bank so I have that as back up? The dealerships around me are running some 0% deals and I feel confident that we'll qualify. I imagine I won't get a better deal than that but I don't want to be totally at their mercy.


Any help with what to do next would be great! I really appreciate the patience!!
**********************************************

Every so often I really get bit hard by the desire to get a new car. But, the need isn't there and the act of it is daunting to me so it never happens. Does anyone have the kid of patience to walk me through the best way to buy a car? Treat me like a small child and explain in detail. :) I am still thinking of a Mazda5. I want a new one or at least a 2010 (could be a demo model...don't care much about that). Want the middle package and I care about color. ASide from that I am not positive what the best way to go about this is.

I know the gist- email dealers in the area for prices (I can look up a previous thread about how to break it down specifically so I can really compare costs), check Edmunds to see what it is going for, but beyond that I feel a bit clueless. What's the best way to figure out financing (we don't have a credit union), how much to put down, whether we should trade in our car or keep it (I think keeping it would be best...I don't think insurance on our '99 Civic is crazy expensive :) and I know to negotiate price w/o including the trade in first). I know my parents are up for helping me figure this all out but I can't say I have total faith that their way is best.

So, if you have the patience, I'd love any help. I hate that I don't know this stuff but I guess it just hasn't been necessary. We bought our last car long ago and I just don't remember the process. We did whatever our family suggested pretty much!

Beth

[codex57]

You got the gist. E-mailing dealers is the easiest way. Saves a lot of time that way.

For financing, it gets a little trickier as it really depends on the car and your area. Basically, check Edmunds and see what incentives are in your area. If the manufacturer is subsidizing and you've got good credit, you can usually beat any financing that you get outside. If not, or if you have less than great credit, then shop around outside first.

There are plenty of car payment calculators. Oftentimes, manufacturer incentives are something like 1.9% financing or $1000 cash back. Plug it into a calculator to see which one saves you more money.

Definitely call up your ins agent to ask about insurance costs if you're still deciding between cars.

Always negotiate each part separately. Never go by monthly payment. Figure out the cost of the car. Then negotiate a trade in if you have one. Still, unless it's not worth much, you're prolly better of selling it on your own but that is somewhat of a hassle and can take a bit of time. I saved about $5,000 selling my last car on my own so it was worth it to me. Took a month to sell tho.

Trade in or keep is up to your own finances. Just look at kbb.com to see what it's worth.

[SnuggleBuggles]

So, aside from my bank and the dealer, where else should I check about financing? Is it a hassle to deal with the dealer on financing? I don't want to deal with the whole "let me talk to my manager" bit that could go on forever, if I can avoid it. But, if that is unavoidable and/ or would save me $ then I'd be willing to do it.

Beth

[codex57]

finance manager does the financing. There's generally not that much wiggle room tho (cept up). Just know market rate. You can ask any bank or look it up online. There are two big online financing companies and many banks have their rates online as well. If the dealer can beat those, great. If not, use the outside places.

Generally, dealers give you 3 days to come up with the money and cancel their financing. So, you can see what they offer and then go get financing outside later and come back with the money.

I've done it a bunch of ways.

Once, I went and got approval from an online auto financing co. They mailed a check for up to a certain amount. Ended up not using it. Since check wasn't cashed, the online place assumed no deal and I didn't have to do anything to cancel.

I've also signed up for dealer's financing, changed my mind, and brought them the cash (from savings) a couple days later. They canceled the financing without question.

[Penny's Pappa]

So, aside from my bank and the dealer, where else should I check about financing?

In our area, we found credit unions had the best rates. You do have to qualify for membership (though that may be as easy as simply living in the same locality as the credit union) and open up a savings account with them. They require very little to be in the account (ours was <$50) and once the car is paid off you can simply withdraw all your money and close the account.

YMMV.

[KrisM]

I just bought an Odyssey and it's the first time I had to negociate, as I always had employee pricing before that.

I started with forums on Edmunds to see what others were paying for the trim and options I wanted. Then, I checked overstock.com to see what the "easy" price was. They offer a price and will match you with dealers that will sell at that price. No negociating.

From those, I had a good idea of what I thought I should pay. I then emailed many dealers. I emailed all of them in my immediate area + 40 miles or so. I also included some in the next big cities - Chicago and Indianapolis for me. In my email, I wrote what exactly I was looking for - vehicle, trim level, color, etc. I then asked for a quote that was broken down into base price, tax, title, license and an out-the-door price. I did this so I could better compare. Edmunds, etc give base prices, since taxes, etc vary across the country, so I wanted that as my comparison. But, since I knew our taxes I really wanted to know OTD price in the long run.

I received a bunch of replies and all of the local dealers answered specifically with what I asked for. I took the lowest quote, which was good to start with, and subtracted $300 from it and emailed that to a few of the closer responses. I got a bit lower and then emailed my 2 dealers of choice. I had test drove and really liked the salesperson and would go with him if price worked. Fortunately, he beat the lowest by $50, so that's where I went.

I did it all via email. I did go in to verify everything was as it should be and to let him know I was serious and he should get me the vehicle I wanted (they didn't have the color). A few days later, it was set.

I didn't finanace, so I have no advice for that.

[hillview]

I have purchased 2 cars this way.
First figure out what you want exactly. So go to a dealer, drive it (they will ask when you are negotiating if you have driven it and you need to say yes). Figure out what package, trim, etc you want. You may feel bad because you are not going to purchase from this person who is helping you. Get over that.

Email 4-5 dealers (the more the better -- I have found HUGE ranges in prices). Cook up an spreadsheet or a word doc. with a line for each dealer, name, phone number, and price with a comments section. In your email state that you want their ABSOLUTE best price, that you plan to purchase in the next 48 hrs. That you have driven the car and are now shopping for best price. Ask them for drive off the lot price and to include everything (taxes, title etc) you can get screwed on service fees otherwise. DO NOT TELL THEM you are financing to start with. You will get several prices. Pick a few dealers and call them back. Tell them that someone else (name the company if you want to) gave you a better price and can they do better? Tell them that your DH is a total pain and won't do anything other than the best price :) ask them to see what they can do. Wait for better prices. Tell them you need their best drive off the lot price in an email so your DH can see the emails. To make you feel better keep a running tab of how much you saved your self. :)

Once you have the best price THEN talk about financing. I tend to care less about the exact model of car and look for best financing options at the dealer. We got 0% apr on Toyota and 1.6% apr on Subaru.

ETA: We didn't care about COLOR or told them we didn't that took a factor off the table (they try to negotiate on color).

GOOD LUCK!
/hillary

[diamond]

in order to know what % APR you will get for a car loan ( a used car), will they have to check your credit history everytime? If you shop around 4-5 places for the best APR rate, then will it not be like your credit being checked so aften? and will it affect your credit score? ty

[SnuggleBuggles]

You guys rock!! Thank you so much! The personal part is going to be tough- wanting to buy from someone if I like them. Guess I'll have to get over that.

Anyone feel like doing it for me? :) Sounds like Hillary would enjoy it especially. :)

Diamond- I wonder the same thing too about credit score from getting pulled from lots of people.

Beth

[SnuggleBuggles]

posted some follow up q's in my OP. Thanks. :)

[codex57]

Follow up q-s
1. so how much info should I give to the dealers that are emailing me back? We do plan to trade in our car but I don't want to tip m hand on that. They want to know things like financing, exactly what color we want...I feel like that is more than they need to know on my follow up email. That seems like stuff to discuss much later. But, I am not sure what I should be telling/ asking. I did test drive the car so I'm good there.

2. Some are pushier than others, should I just disregard those dealerships? I don't want any hard core sales' pressure.

3. I really do care about color. I want the tan interior and it is only on some models. What should I do about that? Edmund's isn't showing the colors I want online locally. Can I go in and say I want X car with C features and they'll order it for me? Am I screwed on bargaining if I want that? Do I have any room to negotiate? I honestly and truly won't buy it if they can only get it in white for me, for example (no offense white car lovers!). I'll just fix up the car we have and re-evaluate our needs.

4. Should I just get pre-approved for a car loan from my bank so I have that as back up? The dealerships around me are running some 0% deals and I feel confident that we'll qualify. I imagine I won't get a better deal than that but I don't want to be totally at their mercy.

1) You want the info they need to find your exact car. The money stuff you should keep as much to yourself until you get a price for just the car. EVERY step is to be negotiated separately.

First, figure out the exact combo car you want. If you have some leeway, you can let them know. For example, on my Lexus, I wanted a white exterior. That was a must. I told them I was open to the interior color (but apparently 90% of them came in one particular interior color which happened to be the one I wanted anyways). It needed a particular option package. I wanted a spoiler, but that was negotiable since it could be dealer installed. So, I had them give me a price with spoiler and without.

Never let them know if you're financing. You can say you haven't decided yet, but to give the cash price. You can work out if you want financing later.

2) I tended to blow off the pushy ones. In the end, two had exact quotes and were acceptable to me. However, one was supremely pushy. The other was what I considered to be fair. A little aggressive in trying to get me to commit, such as putting down a small deposit, however, I consider that reasonable since he doesn't want to waste time setting the car aside if I'm not gonna commit to buying it. All in all, I considered him to be reasonable and professional so I went with him.

3) I don't care if you don't like white. That's a personal preference thing. No offense taken. However, this is a "must have" thing for you. This is your deal breaker. Like I mentioned earlier, I would really only consider white. Had one other color I would consider, but it wasn't a favorite. This is one of the easiest places to start narrowing down. You don't give away your bargaining power. Your power is to say yes, I will give you a large amount of money if you do what I want. So, try and figure out your exact ideal car. Let them know what colors you want, starting with the your favorite. At most, give one or two alternative colors you'd consider. If you have a "must not have" list, definitely supply that so they can immediately rule it out. In my case, the dealer I bought from actually traded with another dealer to get the car I wanted. I don't think the original dealer that had the car ever responded to my e-mails so their loss.

It helps everyone waste less time if you can figure out the exact car you want. I wanted a white exterior with an Option X package and preferably a spoiler (not that big an issue cuz it could be added at any dealer). So, with those specifics, dealers could just log into their computers and see what inventory the region had. If they didn't have that exact combo, they could try and get it which is what my dealer ended up doing in order to get the sale.

4) Yes, talk to your bank and get preapproved just in case. As PPs have mentioned, credit unions tend to have good rates. Check online too. However, if you have good credit and can get approved, those dealer rates (actually it's more like manufacturer rates) tend to be way better than market rates cuz they're subsidized by the manufacturer. Remember tho, read the fine print. Oftentimes, it is either that great rate OR the cash back. So, if the price includes that cash back amount, you can't get the teaser rate. On some cars you can get both, but generally I've only seen them on domestic cars.

You talk about the price of the trade in only AFTER you've settled on the price of the car.

The financing doesn't come into play with the salesman EVER. That's between you and the finance manager.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Thank you!! :) That is really helpful. I want to keep as much close to the vest as I need to but still allow them to do their job.

Beth

[tarahsolazy]

I did what everyone is describing, emailing around, doing research, etc. We figured out exactly what we wanted to pay. I also told the sales guy we were working with that I wouldn't tolerate the 'talk to the manager' thing more than one quick check. I told him we'd just walk, and go to the next town's dealer. I was polite about it, but firm. We basically told him what we wanted to pay, and asked if he could do it. (We had the exact car picked out, trim, color, towing package, etc). He did it. Same thing with financing. I told the guy before we signed that I wanted approval for whatever they could do, and if it took more than 45 minutes to pick up the car, we'd walk. Did not want to talk about warranties, told him that too, if we were forced to hear about them, away we'd go.

We'd had a bad experience where after doing all the email negotiating, and getting a price in writing (email), we went to pick up the car and were kept hostage for two hours. We did get everything they'd agreed to by email, but it was heck doing the deal. Never again.

It was a relatively painless transaction, although I think the dealer guy missed doing all his typical crap, lol.

[niccig]

When you go to the dealer, take the spreadsheet you've made with you. Don't let them see the numbers on it. If they start to pull any "have to check" or "can't take the extra $300 alarm off" tell them that it is a deal breaker, and check your spreadsheet "X dealer has the car in blue and you really don't care about the colour, so if they won't take the alarm out, you're leaving."

By knowing the inventory of other dealers and what price they'll sell it out, you'll be in a position to go elsewhere if they won't honour the deal. We told them we were buying a car that weekend, either from them or another dealer, so they knew we were serious.

I like Tarah's suggestion of letting them know that when you turn up, you expect to sign the papers as per agreement, and you're not sticking around negotiating anything else.

When you get there, insist on speaking to the person who was emailing you. They tried to switch us to another salesman and I refused, as I wanted the person who agreed to the amount etc.

I didn't get any accessories with my car as I read that they include an installation fee for car mats etc. I buy all those later - often online is cheaper.

[AnnieW625]

Follow up q-s
1. so how much info should I give to the dealers that are emailing me back? We do plan to trade in our car but I don't want to tip m hand on that. They want to know things like financing, exactly what color we want...I feel like that is more than they need to know on my follow up email. That seems like stuff to discuss much later. But, I am not sure what I should be telling/ asking. I did test drive the car so I'm good there.
I would let them know the color you want up front, that way they can let you know if that will even be a possibility. Let them know you are looking into financing and will discuss the final matter once you have agreed on a deal.


2. Some are pushier than others, should I just disregard those dealerships? I don't want any hard core sales' pressure.
I would get their quotes just to have them as leverage for the dealers you really want to use. It's better to have more.


3. I really do care about color. I want the tan interior and it is only on some models. What should I do about that? Edmund's isn't showing the colors I want online locally. Can I go in and say I want X car with C features and they'll order it for me? Am I screwed on bargaining if I want that? Do I have any room to negotiate? I honestly and truly won't buy it if they can only get it in white for me, for example (no offense white car lovers!). I'll just fix up the car we have and re-evaluate our needs.
Go to the manufacturers web page and see if what you want is even an option. If it's not then I don't think you can get the car that way. You might be able to order it, but then who knows if you'll even be able to get a decent discount on it.


4. Should I just get pre-approved for a car loan from my bank so I have that as back up? The dealerships around me are running some 0% deals and I feel confident that we'll qualify. I imagine I won't get a better deal than that but I don't want to be totally at their mercy.
We bought our car through the fleet dealer and did not get pre approved through the credit union. Had we not gotten top tier best offer through American Honda then we would've had to go to our CU before we finalized the deal. I would check and see if the manufacturer is having any good deals on financing too. We got a better deal through the manufacturer's finance company than we would've gotten through the CU.




Always negotiate each part separately. Never go by monthly payment. Figure out the cost of the car. Then negotiate a trade in if you have one. Still, unless it's not worth much, you're prolly better of selling it on your own but that is somewhat of a hassle and can take a bit of time. I saved about $5,000 selling my last car on my own so it was worth it to me. Took a month to sell tho.

Trade in or keep is up to your own finances. Just look at kbb.com to see what it's worth.

Agree with both of those tips. We've sold two cars using Auto Trader magazine/online and it worked like a charm. My Accord sold in two weeks, and our large Chevy truck took a little over a month to sell, but we did much better selling on our own vs. trading in.

[codex57]

I didn't get any accessories with my car as I read that they include an installation fee for car mats etc. I buy all those later - often online is cheaper.

I've never seen an installation fee for car mats, etc. That's pretty crazy? Which dealer(s) tried to pull that? I say name names so we can avoid them in the future.

But yeah, I usually buy accessories later cuz you can get them cheaper online. My local Lexus dealer sells parts really cheap on eBay actually. Go into their parts department without ordering thru eBay and it's regular inflated price.

[SnuggleBuggles]

Annoying reply from one..."I hope this answer your questions thouroughly! I tried to provide as much detail as I could with the limited information available to me. When would you like to come in so that we can proced forward for you?"

In fact, I was pretty thorough in the information I wanted from them/ provided to them. I( said exactly what I was looking for in a car. I asked to see the price totally broken out (which he did not do b/c "there was information missing from me" [trade in?? who knows]). I also asked if there were any promotions. Nothing too crazy or that reallyneeded more info at this time, right? All I want now is the car I want.

Should I really be bothering with this? There is only one color combo available in our area according to all the dealers and Edmunds/ Should I just call that dealership? It's btw model years so I have to select from what's out there. Seems like I could cut out the middle man and go to the dealer w/ the car. Or, even if I change my mind on color (which I already am a bit...feeling less like it's a big deal), should I just see the inventory on Edmunds, see the price there and proceed? I know how much the car should cost so I could just email them, say I am interested in that car and what price can they give me. If it's fair, call it a day?

Beth

[codex57]

You could call directly. However, some dealers, if they're really interested in the sale, will trade their own inventory for that car. Mine did.

However, I had in mind what a "fair" deal was based on the forums such as Edmunds. I wasn't interested in dragging it out and scoring the best deal ever reported. So, once two of them finally hit that price, I went with one of them. You could try it with that dealer, but if there really is only one, be prepared to walk away from that color combo if you can.

Is it a really unique color combo? I find it a little hard to believe there's only one in your area. How big is your "area"? Generally, car companies split the company into regions so a true "area" is pretty large. Even a large state like California doesn't have it's own "region" for most companies. It includes a few other states too, altho for marketing, the "regions" are a lot smaller. But in terms of inventory, in CA, the region should pull from beyond CA as well. Is it cuz it's between model years and there's just not much left?

[SnuggleBuggles]

It is a unique color combo, sadly. There is just one that matches it. And, the end of the model year is really the problem...just not a lot of inventory to choose from.

Beth

[niccig]

I would look for a forum like the BBB for the make and model of the car. When I bought our Honda CRV, I went to the Honda Forums and under CRV there was a section for buying your car. You could post and get advice from people who had already bought their car. I also found the accessories sections useful - I wanted a tow hitch and the Honda one wasn't rated high enough for what we needed, but the forums had listed aftermarket tow hitches with reviews and best deals to buy online.