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Selecting and Buying My First Car

764 messages,  Last post on Aug 17, 2009 at 12:29 PM

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#31 of 764 Hi Dawn by hest88 Nov 13, 2003 (2:00 pm)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) We first figured out what we wanted and figured out our price range, and got financing. Then we hit upon what price we wanted to pay using Edmund's TMV and other sources. Then we made initial contact with dealer via phone and email. We found that phone worked best and was the fastest. When a particular dealer had exactly the car we wanted, we told him how much we wanted to pay. He called us back with his counter price. When we reached a mutual agreement we asked him to email or fax us with the out of door price. Then we just went into the dealer armed with the paper, test drove and checked out the car, wrote our check, and that was that.   Since we ended up with a used car, I asked for VIN numbers so I could look up the car on CARFAX. Also, we ended up with only one dealer who had exactly what we wanted, but if that hadn't been the case we probably would have just asked our favorite dealer to match the lowest offered price.
#33 of 764 For what it is worth by bobst Nov 14, 2003 (5:21 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) We bought a car a month ago, and I wrote about it under the topic, "Hey guys, Bobst actually buys a car". Look down the list of topics and you should find it easily.   Reading my posting and the comments from others might help you a little.
#34 of 764 And for real answers, just follow this... by prodigalsun Nov 14, 2003 (12:01 pm)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) Here it is, the definitive list of what you should do to keep from getting ripped off. ordinarily you would have had to hang out on the edmunds smart shopper board for 2.3 years to get the level of knowledge I am about to impart to you in one post. The following strategies will guarantee the lowest price and the best possible experience.   1. Do not research the vehicle at all, it's best to unfetter your powers of intuition by keeping the clutter of "facts" and "figures" to a minimum. When you’re asked by the salesman how you arrived at your figures, just say “I cannot reveal my sources, nor will I upon pain of death”.   2. Understand that the car salesman is there to rip you off, take you for a ride, lead you down the primrose path, and then drop you like a bad habbit. Little known fact, Most car salesman are directly descended from south sea island cannibals. If you see shrunken heads dangling from the rear view mirrors of the service loaners, RUN! How do you best combat these godless fiends? Regardless of what ever spell they try to cast when they open their mouth, shout repeatedly "I'm only paying 4K under invoice!!!"   3. Pack a lunch, and while negotiating repeatedly offer bites to the salesman, while making wet smacking noises with your lips.   4. Remember, the Car Salesman will lie to you worse than Ann Coulter on peppermint schnapps, so the only way to combat this is to lie about everything. If your name is Rob, tell them it's Steve. If you want a sports car, tell them you want an SUV, and if you're married, single. You get the idea. If you're a payment buyer, tell them you'll be paying in cash.   5. Don't bathe for a week prior to shopping.   6. To ensure best service, Walk into the middle of showroom floor, spread your arms wide to the heavens, and bellow at the top of your lungs: "WHO WANTS TO SELL A CAR TODAY?!?!?" This will result in all salesmen who want to sell a car today to converge on you like hobos on a meat sandwich. Of course, you may see older members of the dealership heading in the opposite direction. This merely means that they probably want to sell a car tomorrow, not today.   7. Start giggling like a giddy school girl every time the salesman says the words "Trade Allowance", "Parsippany" or "the".   8. Present your offer in the form of a quadratic equation.   9 One of the standard tactics of the car dealer is to make you sit and stew while they “present” your offer to the sales manager. Don’t let this throw you. To counteract this insidious approach, bring some novelty glasses with pictures of naked people on the lenses. When the salesman gets up to take your offer, whip them out and announce “Take your time, I’ll just be using my X-Ray vision goggles while your gone.” Put them on and begin leering at other patrons and dealer employees, while whistling appreciatively.   10: Ignore the previous 9 tips. hang out and listen to the good people here, read the voluminous guides on this site, and then go and make the best deal you can.   Well, there you have it, your 10 steps to success. Knock yourself out
#35 of 764 Thank you all! by dawnstorm Nov 15, 2003 (7:06 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) That was very good advice, Prodigalsun. Maybe I should take my two Dobermans with me? My husband has selected a used car from a dealer just up the street. He's selected a 2000 Mitsubishi Galant w/ 70,000 on it. He's checked it out, and likes what he sees. Trust me, when my husband checks out a car, he doesn't just kick the tires. He opens the hood, checks the hoses, fluid levels, etc. He was on that car like a big dog. He plans to test drive it today. We stopped by the dealership last night and got some interest rate/monthly payment figures, which we then compared to our own bank's interest and the calculator on this site. The Dealership is offering a 7.9% interest compared to our bank's 8% and Capital One's 4.6%. Seems like Cap One's rate is the best bet, but we did have the dealership calculate our monthly payment and it's something we can live with. The salesman we talked to told us there in car loans there was not a huge difference between 8% and 7.9%. True or false?
#36 of 764 Dawn by dbgindy Nov 15, 2003 (7:12 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) Are you asking if there would be much of a monthly payment difference on the Galant between 8.0% and 7.9%? If that is the question the difference ( depending on how long it's financed for) will be small. Less than a dollar a month. If that's not your question please rephrase. BTW if you can get the Cap one rate go for it.   Duncan
#37 of 764 Dawn by steine13 Nov 15, 2003 (7:32 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) If you're going to go used, you might want to check out a web site I posted; address is in my profile.   You should wander over to Real-World Trade-In Values and ask what this sled is worth; Galants are ok cars, but have the resale value of beer, to quote Bill of blessed memory.   "[...] have the dealership calculate our monthly payment and it's something we can live with"   Oooh, a Payment Buyer. Why is the hair on the back of my neck standing up?   Don't buy based on payment. It's a 4-year-old car with a ton of miles, do you want to owe money on it when it's seven years old? Nine years old? "Low Down Low Payment" my foot.   You'll own this one for a while -- they're sale-proof -- so make sure you can get it serviced by someone competent. Indies are the way to go, the dealer HAS to use Mitsu parts, that can get expensive.   Talk to your mechanic first, and have the car inspected. I'm pretty good at this myself, but I can't test compression with my thumb and forefinger... I can tell if it's a junker, but I can't tell for sure if it's good. Neither can your husband.   You were doing so well, coming here and asking advice... now you're sitting down and talking PAYMENT? Oh dear. FWIW, $1k over 3 years at 7% is roughly $30/month; over 5 years its just under $20/month. You can use the Edmunds calculators for precise numbers. But negotiate PRICE not payment.   FWIW, No Way would I pay over $6, for a 2000 Galant with those miles. $7 would be all of it if it's really nice. I think. I'm not a pro.   -Mathias East Lansing, MI
#38 of 764 Dawn by dbgindy Nov 15, 2003 (7:41 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) Mathias is not a pro but he is a very gifted amateur. He just gave you some great advice. My advice is to heed his.   Duncan
#39 of 764 hi dawn by tblazer503 Nov 15, 2003 (8:33 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) you've already got some great information here, so i'm going to but in and try and give you some good info(at least i think it's good)... =oP   It seems as though you folks buy cars and drive them until they poop out on you. If this is the case, I would probably be looking at 1 or 2 year old cars with 20-40k or so on it. Of course, if your husband is in love with the Galant, then so be it, but I would probably consider looking at the '01 or '02s since they should be the same design, may have less miles, and are roughly the same price range...
#40 of 764 Dawn by hest88 Nov 15, 2003 (9:50 am)
Replying to: qbrozen (Nov 20, 2003 12:17 pm) Sounds like your husband loves that car? Make sure you get the TMV and see if you can get the price as close as possible to that. Also, have you run a Carfax on it yet? And checked it for any recalls?   Personally, I'd rather aim for the lowest interest rate as possible. If you just look at monthly payments instead of overall costs you'll be losing money in the end. We used Capital One and it was very easy. They even called us to confirm on a Sunday! If you apply immediately and pay an extra $15 you'll get the check early next week. (No I'm not affliated with Cap One, but I was impressed at how simple it was.) If you aim for the lowest rate on your credit card, why wouldn't you with other financing?

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