Let’s look at the next car buying review topic; the sticker price.

4. The sticker on the window of the car is the “asking price” or the manufacturers “suggested” retail price.

Who cares? You shouldn’t.

You want to know the invoice or what the dealer has paid for the car.

And that’s easy enough for you to get at by visiting Edmunds, Great New Cars, or Value Pricing. Always work your negotiations from the invoice price up NOT the sticker price down. Forget the sticker price.

NOTE: Keep in mind if you are going after a car that is very popular in the market place the dealer will be less likely to negotiate. Remember your research and your best time to buy cars.

5. Holdback: I get a lot of questions on this little topic and have taken a shot at explaining it. Here’s a review on dealer holdback for you. Holdback is a bit of a sacred cow for dealers. You won’t see it advertised… unless it’s the fine print blurb at the bottom in the fine print telling you that in order to get this fabulous price…

“offer good for a limited time only with approved credit. Dealer retains all incentives, customer cash back, and holdbacks associated with this vehicle.”

It can be tough to get at the holdback during the course of your negotiations but don’t let that stop you from trying. For more on the actual holdback dollars and dealer incentives visit Edmunds, Great New Cars, or Value Pricing.

6. Get yourself pre-qualified for your loan at Automotive.com or Great Car Rates and know how much, how long, and at what interest rate you’ll be borrowing the money for.

In recent months, manufacturers have offered zero percent financing on many of their models. Granted this does sound like a great deal. And in many cases it is, but this shouldn’t preclude you from running the numbers for yourself and doing the math.

First of all know that these great rates may only be applicable to short term financing (which would mean significantly higher monthly payments), and your credit will pretty much have to be spotless in order to even qualify. Even if you can (and don’t mind) afford the higher monthly payments, still you must run the numbers.

For example: If your bottom line amount finance is $15,000 (after your trade, taxes, fees, etc) for 48 months at an interest rate of 4.25%, you will pay $1,337.59 in interest over the life of the loan.

Now let’s say that the car you are looking is enticing you with zero percent financing for the same period and a $2,000 rebate. As you can see, if you take the 4.25% financing and take them up on their $2,000 rebate you’ll actually come out some $600 plus ahead.

Certainly worth about the two minutes it takes to plug the numbers in a monthly payment loan calculator and find.

Car Buying Review wrap up next…