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Smart Shopper Choosing a Dealer - What to Look For
97 messages, Last post on Mar 16, 2009 at 1:54 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: herbvictim (Aug 30, 2008 8:58 pm) tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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This is about a new car purchase as I don't buy used cars anymore. If I want to test drive a vehicle, I tell the salesman I am looking at a number of different cars and I am just test driving today. Once I know which vehicle I want to purchase I do my research for pricing, colors, options etc. I go to Autotrader.com and CARS.com. I check what's advertised on these two sites. I put in the distance I am willing to travel to purchase the car. I try to buy from the dealer that has the car I want in their stock. I try not to have a dealer search other dealers inventory because usually they have to charge you more. All manufactures have web sites and you can check inventory at different dealers. Most of them you can also download the MSRP which you will show you the color, interior and factory options that are on the car. Once I find a car, I then ask them to get me their internet quote. If you have done your homework you should know if there are any factory rebates. I like to do a country wide search on Autotrader.com. If there is a certain model I put that in the description to only bring up what I am looking for. There are not a lot of dealers that have a discount price on Autotrader but there are some. This will give you an idea what a dealer can do. I then either use the internet pricing or I will go to the dealers web site and ask for a price from there. Normally if I get a high price I don't bother responding and ignore that dealer.A good internet salesman will give you a great price up front. Most dealers will meet another dealers price if you have it in writing ie: e-mail quote. If you want to buy the car and you are financing get a interest rate from your bank or credit union and be prequalified before you go into the dealer. Have the dealer e-mail you a work sheet showing you the cost plus tax,license,doc fees etc. Make sure he has them all on the quote. If you have a trade-in see if they will give you a price over the phone. Some dealers will some won't. Usually if I had a trade-in I would try and sell it to a private party first before going through the dealer as you will be lucky to get half it's value. Remember there are several ways the dealer can make money on the car. The price of the car,your trade-in, the financing if you let the dealer handle it, and extras like extended warranties and other stuff that is usually sold by the finance guy. Don't let them get you into monthly payments and what you can afford. That's where your bank or CU come in. You should know what the payments and financing time period. Be very carefull because let's say you want to finace for 48 months and you tell them you have your own financing, they will ask you what you are getting and they will say if they can beat that will you use them. I have had them come back with a $25.00 per month lower payment, but when asked, I found out it was for 60 months. Before you go see the finance guy have them put it in writing. I don't buy extended warrantys or the other stuff the finance guy is pitching. If you don't either just say no! Just remember that a dealer will try and make as big a profit as he can from your sale. Remember at every step, selling price, trade-in, financing,add-ons be in control, and you do this by knowledge!
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Replying to: bar20 (Dec 26, 2008 10:24 pm) Ya, because the bank or CU don't care about making money. They are completely different than the dealership. 
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Replying to: madmanmoo (Dec 27, 2008 7:00 am) One of the fezo rules on dealerships is if the flag out on the pole is larger than the dealership itself this is a bad sign. For the most part the bigger the flag the worse the dealership.
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Replying to: fezo (Dec 27, 2008 9:28 am)  I wish I could build a meter to measure the level of depression / or contentment of the sales force in a dealership.
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Dec 27, 2008 10:00 am) Of course if you look at the papers (what are those?) you can tell ahead of time who will have the biggest flag because they have the biggest screamer ads. |
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Replying to: madmanmoo (Dec 27, 2008 7:00 am) Thats funny!!!!!
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Replying to: joel0622 (Dec 27, 2008 1:51 pm)  I am shocked...SHOCKED...to hear they are only interested in a profit!! |
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Replying to: joel0622 (Dec 27, 2008 1:51 pm)
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Just about sealed the deal on a new car but one thing bothers me. The dealer where I finally decided to buy the car didn't have the car on the lot in the color or extras that I wanted. He is at this moment having one brought in from another dealer, he wanted charge me extra for that but I refused and got the same price that we had agreed on if he'd had one on his lot. While we were doing the paperwork I found that I would be paying sales tax on the price that the car was selling for at this other lot. Not on the final price that we had agreed on for the car. Does this sound right or is there room for argument here. Thanks
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