Tips on buying a new(er) car

[barbd00]

I don't remember where I got this information but I am happy to pass it on: I haven't had a chance to use it since I haven't purchased a car in years but I will be soon and plan on using these tips:

We all know that brand new cars are a rip off, first of all. Try to buy a year old car, lease turn in or something like that. With these you can usually still get a warranty. (However according to my husband who is a mechanic companies will get out of over 80% of warranty claims or find a way to make money anyway)

Rental agencies sell their cars after a certain amount of miles and you can usually get great deals through them.

Best time to buy a car: when there is a sale or seasonal clearance going on. Remember that the "car year" does not start in January and end in December. Each year they move it up and up it seems but it seems summer is good for them to get rid of the "old ones".

Best week to buy a car: last week of month. Sales people are on quotas for their sales and profit. They will probably have their profit quota but not their sales quota. So that means for you they will probably drop their commission to make the sale.

Best day: slowest is mid week. Another great thing is rainy or nasty weather. You don't want to be out and neither does anyone else but you can get great deals.

Best time: near closing but not too close if you are going to have to go through financing and all that. You want to be done before they close.

Here is a great tip I read:

Look through (either online, in books or in person) at the types of cars you want.

Narrow it down to something pretty specific. (if there are a lot, even narrow the color)

Test drive it somewhere but do not buy it yet!

When you are sure you know what you want, get the fax numbers to all the dealers within a decent radius of where you are.

Fax a proposal (sort of) to the dealer asking for the best price of this car (descirbe it in as much detail as possible.

In the letter let them know that you will accept bids up until whatever day and you will be purchasing the following day.

(If you are going to do this, make sure you have good credit, cash in hand, or a pre-approved loan)

In the letter let them know you will only accept bids back by fax (so they can't try to call you and talk you into something)

When you get responses (and you will if you let them know you are buying within the week or so) take the best two or three.

Fax the higher ones back with a letter letting them know what your price at another dealer is.

Continue until the day before and then fax a letter confirming that you will be there the next day with your bid in hand.

I read about this and the author swears that the dealers will all but jump at the chance. But this biggest thing is to do all this by fax so that they can't pressure you to come in.

Hope this helps.

[Momof3grls]

Also another good idea is dont trade in your old car you will get a better deal by selling your old car yourself.

[nobodyspecial]

Buying a car that is for sell by a rental company may not be the best purchase you have ever made.
Do you remember the last car you rented> How well did you take care of it?
How about all of the people before you? Was the car damaged in the past?
Do you really know who well or how bad this car was treated so far?
Used rentals are a BIG risk.
Buying a car at the lowest possible price:

Do all of your research on-line.
Go drive the car you want at a dealership.
Get a list of the seven closest dealers concerning the exact car you want.
Email all seven delaers. Give them the exact specs on the car you want and ask for their bid. Let them know that you will be accepting the lowest bid you get.
You may want to email and hold a second round to get the dealers down even further,
Now and only now are you ready to go to the dealership.
The above has proven to work many times.
If you go to any dealer to buy a car, you are in their territory and they know everything that works on humans. Stay away at all costs until you are ready.
You can win at this as long as you take control of the process.

[tinapbeana]

Originally Posted by barbd00

Best time to buy a car: when there is a sale or seasonal clearance going on. Remember that the "car year" does not start in January and end in December. Each year they move it up and up it seems but it seems summer is good for them to get rid of the "old ones".

Best week to buy a car: last week of month. Sales people are on quotas for their sales and profit. They will probably have their profit quota but not their sales quota. So that means for you they will probably drop their commission to make the sale.

Best day: slowest is mid week. Another great thing is rainy or nasty weather. You don't want to be out and neither does anyone else but you can get great deals.

Best time: near closing but not too close if you are going to have to go through financing and all that. You want to be done before they close.

I bought my car gently used (hey, it was new to me!), but check out when I bought: Walked on the at 8:30 at night on Wednesday 9/27. Seasonal clearance, last week of the month, mid-week, and right before closing with financing already arranged. Wish I'd seen this article ahead of time, I wouldn't have felt quite so bad going in so late!

[kealina]

Originally Posted by nobodyspecial

Buying a car that is for sell by a rental company may not be the best purchase you have ever made.
Do you remember the last car you rented> How well did you take care of it?
How about all of the people before you? Was the car damaged in the past?
Do you really know who well or how bad this car was treated so far?
Used rentals are a BIG risk.

i was about to post this but i guess somebody beat me to it... my DH used to work for a car rental company and told me he wouldn't trust a used rental car... they take tons of abuse from everybody and generally aren't as well maintained as private cars... i'd rather take a private car that has been taken care of (it helps if they have a log of maintenance and repairs) by somebody like my DH... he's had his 94 since 99 and it's still running well because he babies it...

[ren]

Another good time for bargaining power is just before they have to count inventory for taxes. Car dealers don't like paying taxes anymore than the rest of us.

[SaraHope]

Sell your car on-line as you get a much bigger audience. We got 60% more selling our car recently using an on-line auction site.

[CreditExpert]

Consider using ebay motors. This is a great place to sell your old car, and also to lookfor new cars too.

[ScrimpAndSave]

Great info...thanks everyone!