Car Buying Tips – Getting Started

I should probably give a quick bit of background on myself.

Not much, don’t want to bore you (or me) with it, but you would probably like to know that the information on negotiating car prices in this website comes from several years working in the automotive industry and not just somebody piecing together information on all this and sticking it up on a web site.

I started on the sales floor. Worked my way into the F&I (finance and insurance) office. More on F&I of course later. From there I moved up to used car manager, then new car sales manager, and finally general sales manager. Pretty typical path for those in the business wanting to go beyond the sales floor and get into the management side of things. O.K. hope that’s enough on me.

So, let’s get started….

The very first thing that you must understand before venturing off car shopping, is that you must take some time to do your homework and educate yourself. And unlike not too many years ago, before so much information was readily available on the internet, today this task is really easy to do….

But to do is a must.

Aside from the frustration, headaches, and even heartaches that taking the time to get yourself up to speed on how to negotiate car deals can save you, taking the time to do so is like paying yourself.

That’s right. Paying yourself.

Knowing how to negotiate car prices and knowing what’s going on can save you literally thousands of dollars. So, you get paid to get yourself schooled. Still not sure if you want to put forth any effort in the area of car buying and car negotiating education before you go vehicle shopping?

Some simple math perhaps to shed some light.

Suppose that you spent just 10 hours learning about all the facets and variables about what come together in negotiating a card deal, and let’s say that with those 10 hours with a higher degree of enlightenment and confidence you were able to save yourself $1,000 either on just a purchase price of a new or used vehicle or in trade difference if you were trading in a car.

The math is easy….. you just paid yourself $100 per hour to do that research. Not a bad wage! And now you posses a skill you can carry with you and build on the rest of your car buying life.

First of all, automotive dealers (or any business for that matter) is entitled to make a profit on their goods and services. I am not advocating that with a little practice you can whittle the dealer’s profit down to nothing by driving a hard bargain.

However, the very nature of the car business and car dealings can put the average person at an expensive disadvantage.

Especially if you are a bit of a mild mannered person. You may feel as though you have been taken advantage of during previous car shopping excursions. Perhaps you have. Many people do feel that way.

But if you go and try to ‘wing it’ without understanding what it is you’re doing and how all the pieces of a car deal fit together…….. taken advantage of???? I can’t say that with all certainty. That’s a personal perception.

But, probably paid more than you needed to??? ……. Very likely.

Let’s take a look at some of your prep work with some… car buying basics

Car Buying Quiz: How Many Errors Can You Spot?

We all know that when you first walk onto a car lot it won’t be long before being greeted by a salesperson.

They’ll introduce themselves, and it won’t be long at all before the the idle chat (which is really an inquisition by a trained salesperson) begins to ensue.

Most people tend to believe that this seemingly softball conversation is just that and no harm… no foul.

Not so fast though… this is actually the beginning of the car buying sales process, and here at acarbuyinguide.com we just can’t let you get off that easy. You want to learn how to get your best card deal don’t you? Then you need to know when the sales process actually begins… and it just did.

Never forget… the goal of the SALESperson is to sell you something and you can bet that it their focus on you.

So, I would like you to take this short little quiz over such a scenario as this… are you ready?

• Salesperson: – after the brief introduction…. “What type of car are you interested in?”
• You: “The LX-vr7″ (names have been changed to protect the no so innocent)
• Salesperson: “Do you have a trade-in?”
• You: I do… it’s a (insert year) (insert car).”
• Salesperson: “Do you owe anything on it?”
• You: “I think around $4,000.”
• Salesperson: “How much are you paying per month?”
• You: “Around $300″
• Salesperson: “And how much are you looking at budgeting for your new car?”
• You: “Maybe $350 or so.”
• Salesperson: “Let me ask you… if we found just the right car for you, would you have the flexibility to go say $375 to $400?”
• You: “That would be a little high, but for the right car, I would consider it.”

Okay…

So what is harmful about this very typical type of conversation?

First let me back up just a bit and say that for the purpose of brevity, all of the small talk between each question and answer has been scrubbed out. The point being so you can see exactly what type of knowledge the salesperson is gathering here.

There are six buyer responses to questions just above… how many mistakes can you spot the buyer making as they relate to the car buying – deal getting process?

Take your time………….

Of the six lines that the buyer had just above, they made car buying mistakes in at least 5 of the 6!

The buyer (or you) have just had your expectations bumped and beyond that, you’ve just given out valuable information that can (and will be) used against you later on during the negotiating process and end up costing you thousands of dollars.

If you’re not sure what went so wrong with the innocent conversation and exchange of information, then you need to spend a little time on the website… or fast track your way to saving big on your next car purchasing by ordering a copy of my top selling car buying guide.

Oh… okay… here are the answers to the car buying quiz… seriously though you should at least check out the details of my car buying guide.