Take a car seat and doll with you when car shopping to test how hard it will be to get a kid in and out of the car. It is not uncommon for people to do this. With some large cars it can be real hard to get a kid in their carseat in the middle of the back seat especially if one of you is short.Anything else we should be aware of? Neither of us have bought a car before. All suggestions and advice is welcome.
If you are financing the car then have your financing set up ahead of time at some place like a credit union with decent rates. The dealership will take advantage of you if you try to finance through them unless there is some special promotional finance rate.
Always focus on the "Out the door" price which includes everything. Say Out the Door price, the salesperson is used to that. They may quote a price in an ad or in person but when you get to the end they can try to tack on thousands in add-ons and fees.
Let the dealership have your phone number and do not be afraid to walk out of the dealership. Once I got the deal I wanted in the doorway as I was walking out. Another time I was helping my Mother in Law buy a car so we left to have lunch and called the dealership back after from the restaurant lunch to give them one last chance to take my deal and they took it. A few months ago a dealer called me up the next day to give me the deal I wanted.
Do your research so that you know what a good price is and do not be afraid to take it of they will agree to it. If the sales person thinks you are just shopping and not ready to buy they likely will not give you their best price. When you are ready say, "I will buy it now for $X out the door." so they know that they have a done deal if they agree to it. Your goal is to get the car you want at a really good price but you need to accept that someone else will likely get the car for a few hundred dollars less but that is not significant and if you fight for that last couple of hundred dollars you may lose out on the deal at a really good price.
Once you have the deal set up they will take you into a back room to meet the finance person to do all the paperwork. Part of their job is to sell you junk like maintenance plans and extended warranties. Do not buy anything they try to sell you. As you walk into the back room the first thing you should say to the finance person is that you will not be buying a maintenance plan or extended warranty or anything else they may try to sell you. If they know you have already made up your mind they will try to get it done as quickly as possible. If they still try a hard sell then get up and start walking out and your will see lots of people panic and try to calm you done to get the deal done. They will still need to briefly tell you about these just so that you cannot claim you were never offered it and that is OK but they can do that quickly once they know that you will not be buying anything.
Never ever buy a non-manufacture's extended warranty, they are little more than a scam which are very hard to ever use and those companies regularly sell a lot of warranties then go out of business. It is not recommended but if you do buy a manufactured extended warranty you can buy it at any time until your full warranty expires and you can buy it from any dealership. Decide if you really want to buy one or not in about 2.5 years. Especially if you are financing the car do not buy an extended warranty when you buy the car because you will be paying interest on the cost of the extended warranty.
When doing all the paperwork be sure to read and understand all the numbers to make sure they are right. It is not unknown for dealers to change the numbers at the last minute and hope that you do not notice.
Car keys are crazy expensive now because of the security features and dealerships have a huge markup. When you are negotiating and close to the deal you can ask for extra keys as part of the deal. I once got two extra keys for $75 (which is likely their cost) which would have cost many hundreds of dollars to buy from a dealer.
When shopping for a car one of the first things I look at is which cars got a top safety pick preferably with a plus rating.What car to buy/research?
https://www.iihs.org/ratings/top-safety-picks
With so many cars on that list it would take a compelling reason to buy something that did not get that designation. One exception is that occasionally when a car is redesigned it may not be on the list because they have not tested it yet.
You can also pay for a one month online subscription to consumers reports for $10 or likely maybe use it at your local library for free.
https://www.consumerreports.org/
If I was in your situation I would be tempted to try try car shopping before the end of the year to see if you can find a really good deal with some dealership who is trying to make their year end numbers. The last couple of days of the year can be a really good time to find a good deal especially if you find any 2024 model still on the lot.
Statistics: Posted by Watty — Mon Dec 23, 2024 12:34 pm — Replies 22 — Views 1037
