Buying a car online (so to speak)...

[egfmba]

I know I've seen threads here about buying a car using an online quote system. But I can't find them using the search function.

HELP!

We really need to find a new-to-us car. I know you ladies had some tips about using the online system to get quotes from local dealers to reduce the hassle of driving around the city to get quotes, but I'm a little slow on the uptake tonight.

Any advice is appreciated, as well as anyone who's better at searching the archives than I am!

eva

[elektra]

I am a few years out of the loop on actually buying a new car but here are some sites you can browse:
Edmunds
MSN Autos
Autotrader
NADAGuides
KBB
Autoweb
Autosite
Cars.com

I would start with Edmunds and configure your car. It should give you both MSRP and Dealer invoice amounts. (Print it out and take it to the dealer for negotiating if/when you do actually go to the dealership). You can also request a dealer quote online as well, and a dealer will contact you. Just follow the links that have any mention of "quote", and it should bring up all the dealers in your area.
I think Autotrader powers the used car sections of many of these other sites so you may want to check that out directly after browsing on Edmunds.

Happy car hunting!

[SnuggleBuggles]

PP gave great advice (I need to print it out and save it for future reference!). For our one and only car we paid a few $$ to Consumer Reports and got a brak down on how much we should pay based on MSRP and dealer invoice. It sounds like the Edmund's site will do that too. From there I had a target price range for our car. Well, the only place we wound up having to go offered us the car in right at the low end of the price range CR suggested that we pay. Done and easy as can be with no negotiations on our part. Sure, we could have haggled but I didn't feel like it.

FYI- check out some of the rental car companies. Most only keep their cars in circulation for a year and then sell them. My parents have been buying their cars that way for at least a decade (they buy through Enterprise) and have been happy with the quality of the cars they have bought.

Beth

[bt0510]

I've purchased 2 cars "online". For both purchases, I've used autobytel.com. The first was back in 1998. I configured a car, provided my contact info and then submitted a request. I was completely shocked when no more than 5 minutes later, I received a call from a dealer about 30 miles away from my house. The salesman told me he "won" the quote and I should come in to talk. I told him I wanted to know the price and he said, "just come in tomorrow and I guarantee you won't be disappointed". I went in the next day, new the invoice price, he asked, "what price do you want to pay?" I told him I am willing to pay $300 over invoice, he said, how about $500, I said yes, done deal. It was a Wolfburg Edition Jetta, which was a limited quantity vehicle, so I was shocked to get that price. He said it is better for business to just move vehicles, and the internet allows them to do that.

The second time, current car, I submitted the car, contact info and I received an email response about 4 hours later from a dealer about 20 miles away. The email actually had the price in it. The email said if I wanted it to either reply to the email or call the salesman. I bought it the next day. Honda Accord V6 fully loaded. I paid $2000 less than sticker and they also gave me a great price on my trade-in (the Jetta above).

Good luck.

[hillview]

I went to Edmunds. I got dealer quotes via Edmunds. I put them all in a spreadsheet. I then emailed them all back and forth for about 4 days to get the "best offer." Some were reluctant to give a price over email/phone (some I ended up talking to). You must assure them you have already done a test drive and that you are going to purchase soon (I said "this weekend"). I got a price more then 1k less then another dealer's "best offer" and think I did very well.
HTH
/hillary

[egfmba]

Thanks for all the advice! You guys are great!

We haven't bought a vehicle in at least 11 years, so this new way of buying cars is a new experience. We are trying to maximize the cash we have and we are buying a used car to that end, but I was hoping to have some expectations set so I know when things are hinky and when to jump on a great deal.

Thanks again, and I welcome more advice!
eva

[american_mama]

I bought a brand new Ford last summer using "online quotes," which for me meant email communication with the dealers. They all have "internet salespeople," some of whom are regular sales people designated to do this and some are 100% internet salespeople. The 100% internet people were a tad faster at emailing, but both types were very good, in my experience, and I talked to a lot of dealers.

I used the edmunds pricing info, but the Consumer Reports info. (costs $30 or so) was much more helpful. It broke down the dealer prices for each feature, so you could tally up exactly your features to know what to pay. It also listed any dealer rebates and holdbacks, which are profit for the dealership, profit they can cut into to make a better deal for you.

I also noticed that when you go to all the autotrader, edmunds, caranddriver, etc. websites and click on something to find a local dealer, it will automatically notify the internet salesperson at that dealership, so the dealers will come emailing you even if you didn't exactly intend that. It irritated me a few times.

The salespeople were very prompt at emailing, not pushy, and in general easy to work with. There was a little sales pressure and desire to follow up on the phone or in person, but no more than needed to do their job. Check the dealer website too, because some have coupons there. I missed a $100 coupon that way.

I was happy with the process, but I think I got only an average deal. We wanted a very specific set of features that was hard to find, and nobody was offering better than an average deal, so I think I did the best I could. I also made some errors of my own - the missed $100 coupon was due to my disorganization, and I misread the feature list when the salesperson faxed me the sticker and we ended up doing without a feature we really wanted.

Everyone will tell you about their fantastic deals. I will tell you I got only an ok deal, found the process pretty easy, and learned a lot along the way. It could be worse.

ETA: You might double check if used or new is better. We were happy with a secondhand car, but our model had only been out for 2 years, I think, and we had some specific features in find, so we felt it might have been hard to find our desired model plus the price would have been high enough that we still would have had to take out a loan. Ford was offering 0% financing at the time, so we could get a new car interest free or a slightly cheaper used car and pay interest on a car loan. It worked out better for us to get a brand new car. Many car makers are offering deals now, you might look into whether new is a better deal. If you do that, be warned that many dealers will assume you want to get a rebate on the car rather than 0% financing (because they make more money that way and/or many customers don't have the necessary credit rating to get the 0% financing). So make sure any quoted price doens't assume you are taking the rebate.

[Drag0nflygirl]

I'm surprised someone hasn't already mentioned it - because this is where I learned about it - fitzmall.com does internet pricing. If nothing else it's a fair price to give you a guideline. I'm guessing you could do a little better with a bit of work. We have also had good experiences with autobytel. Also I find the various forums on all the auto sites to be helpful. Very often there is one where people post the prices they paid and give advice on what to look for.

[egfmba]

I'm surprised someone hasn't already mentioned it - because this is where I learned about it - fitzmall.com does internet pricing. If nothing else it's a fair price to give you a guideline. I'm guessing you could do a little better with a bit of work. We have also had good experiences with autobytel. Also I find the various forums on all the auto sites to be helpful. Very often there is one where people post the prices they paid and give advice on what to look for.

I did not know about any of this. This is something I didn't even think of! Thanks, and thanks to american_mama for the info on the rebate vs. the 0% financing; I didn't think about that, either.

eva