Car Buying Tips
& Advice
Now, with all
your notes, facts, and figures in hand your are ready to begin the
steps to buying a car (at least as ready as you'll ever be).
I will
couch these next couple of sections on car buying tips and advice from the perspective that you
have a trade-in to deal with, and you are looking at having the
dealership arrange the financing. Take each part of the three basic
areas as it may apply to your situation.
As you head into
the deal, if you remember nothing else, remember the three basic
pieces of the deal that must be kept separately that you must work
to negotiate a good car deal.
-
Negotiate
and settle on the selling price of the new car.
-
Discuss and negotiate
the trade-in allowance on your car.
-
Then discuss and if
necessary negotiate the finance terms.
Presenting
your figures:
Remember when you first present your off for the new, don't
discuss the trade-in price of the car you are trading. Keep that
discussion at bay until you have arrived at a firm selling price for
the new car. The amount that the used car department is willing to
allow for your trade has nothing to do with the selling price of the
new car. If the salesperson keeps directing the discussion toward
your trade, then take this piece out of the discussion and let them
know that you are going to sell the car yourself. Or, better yet
leave the potential trade-in at home while you work on the selling
price of the new car.
This is
probably the toughest piece to accomplish. Sales managers and sales
people won't get too excited about laying down firm offers unless
they are relatively certain you are indeed a buyer and not just
noodling for a price quote to take to another dealer. So, be
patient and be fair, but be serious about getting
to a selling price. And be serious about buying the car if the
dealer negotiates in good faith. Don't be in a hurry this part of
the process can take some time to get rolling. Again, you haven't
offered up much information for the sales manager to get excited
about so it may take a while for them to warm up to you.
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If you have
to introduce your trade into the deal to move things forward, all is
not lost. You must still remember that from a dealer perspective
there are still two very distinct parts going on now. The price of
the new car. And the value they put on your trade. And the bottom
line that you are looking for is the trade difference which is
ultimately the amount you'll finance.
In other
words, you've done your homework. You know what the dealer cost is.
You know what rebates and incentives are out there, and you know
know the market value of your car. So before you've even gotten this
far, by virtue of the math you used with the aforementioned, you
then also know the target trade difference you want to negotiate to.
And here is a key point. Always, always, always, negotiate from your
number up... not the sticker price down. Don't let the waters get
muddy on you. Very quick
'car buying tip ' scenario to illustrate the point.
You've gone back and forth
negotiating your car car deal with the salesperson and the sales
manager. And let's say you want $1000 more off that trade
difference. Keep serving back to them. It's a $1000 dollars to you,
but it may only be $500 from the new car side and $500 from the used
car side.
See... remember new and used car departments are separate.
If you stall out on this $1000, remember you can tell the
salesperson... "go get $500 more for my trade and take $500 off the
selling price, or get $200 more for my trade and take $800 off the MSRP. It doesn't matter to me. But, do that and we'll have a deal.
Let the new car department negotiate with the used car department it
happens on almost every trade-in. Many was the time, I had to ask
used cars to ante up to help make the deal. And many times as
a used car manager I was asked to put more on the trade.
Psssssst....
remember the dealer is still going to get the holdback. Don't let
them tell you they won't make any money on the deal. If they truly
(bottom line) aren't going to make any money on your deal....
they
wouldn't have you still sitting there about to sign the paperwork.
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