Car Buying Tips - Don’t Invest

Car Buying Tips

It drives me crazy when people use car buying and investing in the same sentence.

O.K… excluding antique and classic cars, I’m talking about basic everyday car buying. So, here’s the number one tip… cars are not investments… in fact they are quite the opposite.

Your car begins to depreciate the before the ink is even dry on all those papers you just signed.

How much you ask?

On average both cars and trucks will lose more than 20% of their initial value in their very first year!

Ouch!!!

If no other reason you should now be convinced it is in your very best interest to get the best possible car deal you can when you buy your car… with that kind of depreciation hit, you sure don’t want to overpay for your car right out of the gate.

Using nice, round numbers to illustrate this hit you’re taking… if you paid $20,000 for your car; after but two years of driving your $20,000 car might now be worth about $13,000! In case you are wondering that works out to about $300.00 per month to the negative… nice investment eh?

If your house or your retirement account offered up to you those types of ‘investment’ numbers, you’d probably feel like jumping off a cliff… So, again… car buying tip number one… all together now… a car is not an investment…. it’s a major expense in your life.

Keep this at the forefront of your mind the next time you feel that itch to buy a car feeling… if you do, this type of reality will be the the cold bucket of water for you.

If you’re driving a car that is getting you around and is paid off, chances are it’s older and as such you’ve already paid for the depreciation, so get some good use out of your money and keep driving your car for as long as it will stay reliable and get you to your job and back.

If, however, you just can’t stand the thought of driving your current car and your going to scratch the proverbial car buying itch, at least get the best deal you can… so that’s where we’ll start our next set of car buying tips.

Getting the Best New Car Deal

Ah yes, the car buying experience.

Whether it’s working on getting your best new car deal or your best used car deal for that matter.

It’s an event, a project, a day out amongst friends we all enjoy. You just can’t beat it!

The whole car buying experience….. a day of rest and relaxation.

Assuming you’re the type that feeling of confusion, occasional anger, and constant frustration is a source of relaxation for you.

Ok, maybe not… So let’s take a look at what you’ll be up against.

O.K.

Before we jump in and get you started, I want to take a brief moment to tell you what my website is about.

I’m all about helping you buy a car and all the basic pieces of putting together to get the best deal on a vehicle you can for yourself. How to, when to, what to, what not to… and all that.

There are certainly many good car buying advice and research websites out there. But with this website, unlike many of the others, you’ll get information and articles written by someone who spent years in the car business.

I’ve been on the sales floor convincing people to buy. I’ve sat in hundreds of sales meetings both good and the one’s where we were basically told our jobs were on the line this month if we didn’t make our projections.

I’ve managed the finance and insurance department selling not only F&I, but security add on’s, glass etching add on’s, extended warranties, and anything else the dealers saw potential profit on.

Used cars… you bet. Done that too. Primary financing, secondary financing, going to auctions every week to buy inventory. Working wholesalers to get every penny out of car that I could possibly get.

For the purposes of this website I have tried to keep each page as standalone as possible so you can jump around to the various areas of topic and all will still flow and make sense.

So take a look around and come back later… or roll up your sleeves and learn how to save yourself some big bucks on your next car buying excursion.
Are dealers and salespeople in the car business to make a profit and support their families and enjoy the things in life they like to do?

Of course, they are. Aren’t you? Isn’t that why you work hard everyday?

Are there good, honest dealers and ….. well not so good, honest dealers…. well yes. Are there good, car salespeople… and not so good, honest automobile salespeople? Well, of course there are. Doesn’t that seem to be the case no matter who you deal with in life?