How to make buying a car less of a chore

[braumeister]

I plan on buying a new car in about 6-10 months, so I've started doing my research. Learning online is great, with so many resources available, but there is still no substitute for actually sitting in a vehicle and getting a feel for it.

I've been driving a small SUV for a long time and want to stay with that segment. So I decided to open my search up to the entire world of small SUVs, regardless of price.

In the last week I've gone to nine dealerships and asked to simply sit in a particular model just to get a feel for it. I made it clear I was only in the initial research stage and not ready to buy for at least six months. What an unbelievable variety of sales experiences!

Is there a reasonably polite way of saying "SHUT UP! Just let me look it over and answer any questions I may ask."? Some of the salescritters (mostly the younger ones) just can't help spewing out such a steady stream of information you can't get a question in edgewise.

My plan is to narrow the field down to two or three finalists and then take them for a test drive. Once I've decided, I'll probably use a car buying service like Truecar or the equivalent to do the negotiating.

Sorry for ranting a bit, but I really wonder if I'm missing something.

 

[travelover]

I'd suggest faking some sign language and holding up a card explaining that you are deaf.

 

[Which Roger]

CarMax is a good place to go if you want to sit in and/or test drive a bunch of different models from different manufacturers.

 

[MichaelB]

I plan on buying a new car in about 6-10 months, so I've started doing my research. Learning online is great, with so many resources available, but there is still no substitute for actually sitting in a vehicle and getting a feel for it.

I've been driving a small SUV for a long time and want to stay with that segment. So I decided to open my search up to the entire world of small SUVs, regardless of price.

In the last week I've gone to nine dealerships and asked to simply sit in a particular model just to get a feel for it. I made it clear I was only in the initial research stage and not ready to buy for at least six months. What an unbelievable variety of sales experiences!

Is there a reasonably polite way of saying "SHUT UP! Just let me look it over and answer any questions I may ask."? Some of the salescritters (mostly the younger ones) just can't help spewing out such a steady stream of information you can't get a question in edgewise.

My plan is to narrow the field down to two or three finalists and then take them for a test drive. Once I've decided, I'll probably use a car buying service like Truecar or the equivalent to do the negotiating.

Sorry for ranting a bit, but I really wonder if I'm missing something.

Bummer. Nothing worse than perstering sales folks at a dealership. Not sure how to ask them questions without giving them the idea that they're free to continue talking after answering.

When I just want to sit in a car and see how it feels I tell the people there I'm passing time while my car is being serviced. That usually stops them from hovering.

 

[jollystomper]

In my experience you get the least interference going to one of those "the price shown is the price you pay" dealers. The salespeople are usually not paid on commissions or quotas so they tend to leave you alone more. Of course they don't negotiate on price, but it is an understandable tradeoff.

I also agree that Carmax is a good place to be able to sit in and test a variety of cars without much hassle.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

your sitting in a someones personal property, ie a 20-50 thousand dollar vehicle, give the salesman a break , he is trying to make a living too,

 

[CountryGal]

Have you considered a new car show? Not sure what time of year they are, but probably much easier to just sit in them without being bothered.

 

[Osprey]

We had a good experience using Navy Federal Credit Union's buying service to get a good price once we decided on the new vehicle we wanted.

 

[Brat]

Costco also has good prices through their network.

 

[audreyh1]

We've been ready to buy a new medium-sized SUV for a couple of years now. DH has done a bunch of research, but somehow we haven't been out to test drive anything. I'm the driver, so I have to go do the test driving.

Oh well, we'll get to it soon.....

 

[bloom2708]

It seems you are overthinking. 9 dealers? 6-10 months out. That means a whole new fleet of new models will be out.

Car salesman make their money selling cars. Some are better than others. I agree with giving them a break. If they don't sell cars, they get paid less and probably lose their jobs after a certain amount of time.

The enemy of a good car buying experience is a perfect car buying experience.

Do you value a smooth ride? A long warranty? 40 mpg? Where is a good location for regular service?

I would narrow your search down before visiting more car dealers. Costco, TrueCar, CarMax, you will get a reasonable deal. If that is ok, they do make the buy easier.

Good luck and let us know what you buy.

PS I think a Lexus RX350 is your next car. I have a 1/1,000 chance of being correct.

 

[braumeister]

Maybe I just wasn't clear. I have nothing but respect for the job a car salesman does; it's a tough job. My gripe is just when I'm trying to look at a feature in a car I'm not familiar with and they keep interrupting and distracting me by pointing out a completely different feature. And another. And another. Makes me crazy because I can't focus on anything. If they would just shut up for a minute or two while I'm looking at something, that would be much appreciated.

I've gone and sat in all the cars I'm interested in, just to get a first impression. In the process, I've reduced my initial list from 10 to 5. Back to online now and I'll eventually get it down to three. Then I'll test drive those.

OK, enough kvetching.

 

[powerplay]

Maybe I just wasn't clear. I have nothing but respect for the job a car salesman does; it's a tough job. My gripe is just when I'm trying to look at a feature in a car I'm not familiar with and they keep interrupting and distracting me by pointing out a completely different feature. And another. And another. Makes me crazy because I can't focus on anything. If they would just shut up for a minute or two while I'm looking at something, that would be much appreciated.

I've gone and sat in all the cars I'm interested in, just to get a first impression. In the process, I've reduced my initial list from 10 to 5. Back to online now and I'll eventually get it down to three. Then I'll test drive those.

OK, enough kvetching.

I think an auto show would be ideal. It happens once a year in my area and is a great opportunity to look at and sit in many different brands and models without any hard sell. The only downside is waiting in line ti sit in some of the popular vehicles because many other people are checking out the same vehicle.
My recent experience buying a new car through AAA was a very good experience.

 

[Bamaman]

You were very brave going to so many dealerships. Now you should be aware that they all have different business methods and personalities--most being slam and jamb operations.

As a 24 year auto business veteran, I still prefer to deal with individually owned local dealerships. Those big national chains will all knock your heads off on add on's--including ridiculous documentary fees. They eat customers' pocketbooks in many cases and the dealership chains will now allow normal profit margins on cars sold.

My family currently owns a big city luxury car dealership--after owning minority ownership in a couple of Honda dealerships. I'm fortunate to personally know dealers of many car brands and they cut to the quick with me.

I like dealing online. I'd first tell the online salesman I'm going to buy, and I want a straightforward bottom line price without playing any games. On my last Honda purchase on a Civic SI, I beat all the dealers for 250 miles around wanting list price plus $699 doc fee. I tried to buy locally, but our Honda dealer's a slam and jam bunch. Good luck to you in your search.

 

[Ready]

I have never had this experience at a car dealership. But I tend to do all of my preliminary research online, using sites like Edmunds. I find reading reviews and looking at photos to be far more effective than driving around to a bunch of dealerships. By the time I'm ready to buy, I usually know exactly what I want. At a minimum, I've narrowed it down to two choices.

I've never negotiated the price of a car inside a dealership either. Every dealer has an internet sales department that is used to quoting prices online. And you can use car buying sites to get bids from these dealers before you talk to any of them to get a sense of what the range is. I usually provide a fake name and an email address I use just for these types of inquiries so that they don't clog up my main email inbox. When I'm ready to buy, I enter the real information and begin the discussions.

Of course, my next car will be the Tesla Model 3. So all of the above gets thrown out the window, and I pay list price and wait (years) for my car to be ready for delivery.

 

[capjak]

Maybe I just wasn't clear. I have nothing but respect for the job a car salesman does; it's a tough job. My gripe is just when I'm trying to look at a feature in a car I'm not familiar with and they keep interrupting and distracting me by pointing out a completely different feature. And another. And another. Makes me crazy because I can't focus on anything. If they would just shut up for a minute or two while I'm looking at something, that would be much appreciated.

I've gone and sat in all the cars I'm interested in, just to get a first impression. In the process, I've reduced my initial list from 10 to 5. Back to online now and I'll eventually get it down to three. Then I'll test drive those.

OK, enough kvetching.

why not test drive all 5?

 

[RockyMtn]

figure out the car you want and then let AAA buy it for you. The get fleet prices and do the haggling.

 

[Blue Collar Guy]

we got some kind of pricing from USAA they sent us 3 quotes, we prepicked all the options and they emailed us 3 dealers with 3 decent prices, one dealer in Manhattan swore he had the car, we go and bingo all lies we wasted 5 hours, the next dealer not on the list said he would lose money on the car if he sold it to us at the price, we went to the second dealer that emailed us and he had "sold" the car , before we drove to new jersey to see the last guy we cold walked into an old time dealership in a horrible part of town, we showed him the prices he said will you buy the car today?, we said yup, he located the car in Connecticut, 2 days later we got the car, . i called usaa car buying service and told them it was far from hassle free and the liars that said they had the car at that price, but in the end we saved far more on it then if we had to haggle.

 

[FlaGator]

Don't know if you're doing it "right", but I've taken the same approach.

Started out with a list of 15, both coupes and mid-size SUVs. On line research, reviews and sitting in many. Didn't want to drive anything unless I knew I could actually live with it every day. Sat in the front seats, back seats, and carefully eyeballed the trunk/storage space to ensure it met the requirement of getting the groceries home and could accommodate a reasonable Costco run.

Ended up driving 3 and selected the one I thought was the best value . That Infiniti coupe with 300 HP sure was nice, though

My experience with the sales people was similar, even when I made it clear I wouldn't take any of their time nor wanted to drive anything. Figure it's the nature of the retail car business.

 

[Fedup]

I've always haggled for the price online and then do the final test drive and pick up the car. I've done that many years already. I just don't have the patience to sit through any sale pitch.

 

[ghsebldr]

I recently was at our local ford dealer looking at a rental return e450 truck gas engine with a 16' box on the back and a 12,400 pound gross vehicle weight. The sticker was 33.6k so I brought in one of my other work vans for a trade as it's getting a little tired but not worn out. I was offered 4k for the used 2007 express van ( worth 6500 t0 7500) and nothing off of the truck. I offered 32k for the truck and asked for 5k for the van or a total of a $2100 difference to the dealer. I heard his sales manager laugh, the salesman came back smiling and said lets go sit down and get some coffee. I said I don't sit down at a dealership and walked out.


Went home and started researching basically the same type of truck only a diesel Isuzu one year newer 2014 and 40k fewer miles and a lift gate from Penske's website. I called their sales arm they gave me the price and a 100k warranty for $26.5k. Made the deposit and bought it sight unseen in about 20 minutes. No haggle no sitting down for coffee and no pressure. 30 day 100% warranty until the 2 year 100k one kicks in.


That's the way to buy a truck, a pleasure rather than a chore.

 

[W2R]

I plan on buying a new car in about 6-10 months, so I've started doing my research. Learning online is great, with so many resources available, but there is still no substitute for actually sitting in a vehicle and getting a feel for it.

I've been driving a small SUV for a long time and want to stay with that segment. So I decided to open my search up to the entire world of small SUVs, regardless of price.

In the last week I've gone to nine dealerships and asked to simply sit in a particular model just to get a feel for it. I made it clear I was only in the initial research stage and not ready to buy for at least six months. What an unbelievable variety of sales experiences!

Is there a reasonably polite way of saying "SHUT UP! Just let me look it over and answer any questions I may ask."? Some of the salescritters (mostly the younger ones) just can't help spewing out such a steady stream of information you can't get a question in edgewise.

My plan is to narrow the field down to two or three finalists and then take them for a test drive. Once I've decided, I'll probably use a car buying service like Truecar or the equivalent to do the negotiating.

Sorry for ranting a bit, but I really wonder if I'm missing something.

Salesmen are going to be salesmen. I don't think there is anything you can do about that.

If you know what car you want, and if you can afford it, car buying is quick and not such a chore. But the problem is in knowing what you want.

From your online explorations, you could probably narrow it down to 2-3 models. Doing three test drives doesn't have to take very long, if you tell the salesman (or salesmen) right from the start that you aren't going to negotiate or buy that day. Once you know what car you want, and that you can afford it, then all you need is to locate the best price.

You can do it!

Personally, after saving for a "retirement car" during accumulation phase, when the time came I bought my Venza on an impulse after getting a haircut. Previously on other days I had done test drives on two cars that were in second and third place in my mind. It only took 1-2 hours for the Venza test drive, negotiation, and purchase, IIRC. It really appealed to me online, but I never thought I'd like the test drive. The test drive was fantastic, the money was not a problem, and so after a little negotiation I wrote a check for it. Boom, it was mine. I am a fairly decisive person, to put it mildly, so that helped. Haven't regretted buying it for even one moment. Even though it isn't perfect, I haven't yet found a new car that I would like better.

 

[Aerides]

With a new car I find there's less haggling. Especially if you (like me) are very set on things like which options, colors you want. Unless you are picking one of the 25 white ones they have on the lot, you might find you have only 1 or 2 to pick from that actual meet your specs without adding thousands in silly options. Best to check local dealer inventory before you go in to know what they have.

It's usually very quick to get in and out of the test drive. It's the "let's go inside and sit down" after part that can add an hour or more to your visit. That's where you do yourself and the saleperson a favor by being up front. Don't just leave, s/he will take some heat from their manager if they don't have you in their chair for at least a little while.

Make it clear you are only interested in exactly your specs, and that you are not going to buy "today", and that "what can we do to make you drive away with this car tonight" will not work on you, you would never make that sort of decision without sleeping on it at very least.

I basically go in bullheaded like that, they see they are wasting their time trying to talk me into the blue one, or the one with heated rear seats, or the extra packages.
If they don't seem reasonable, and/or you don't like the car, then simply stand up and say "thanks for your time" and offer an handshake, and you're done.

 

[Which Roger]

Three things I've learned that have made my car buying experiences better:
1. Be prepared and informed, and make sure the salespeople know you're prepared. That will reduce the slick and/or misleading sales pitches.
2. Shop at dealers where the clientele tend to be informed. This will also reduce the slick sales pitches. "If you buy a car from us today, we'll give you free oil changes for life".
3. If the salesperson offers you something you know you don't want, just say "no". Don't leave the topic at all open to negotiation. Best example for me was when the sales guy went through his required fabric protection sales pitch. Starts with a high price, I say no. Comes back with a lower price, I say no. Comes back with an even lower price, I say no. He smiles and thanks me for letting him do his spiel.

 

[Racer X]

If you happen to belong to a credit union, check to see if they have any deals. Mine has a $500 over invoice deal. Sometimes you can negotiate better than that (with incentives, rebates, etc.) but it's nice to go in to the dealership knowing you have a "worst case" price that is decent.