How To Buy A New Car
- Thread starter Midpack
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Senator
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Yes. The dealer actually ordered it from the factory for me. It was ordered on ~7/20, built on 8/19 and arrived 8/31.
I also used the Fleet department, who's original price was beat by all the other quotes. The fleet department matched the price of one of the other lower dealers, and I was able to use my built-up dealer money. Other dealers were at a disadvantage, as I could not bring my dealer money funds to them.
I financed $12.9K and paid $12K as soon as I had an account number to apply funds to. The $900 ran out with normal payments. I paid ~$75 in total interest and received a $750 Ford Financing cash back. I joined the America Quarter Horse Association for $45 and got $500 back.
What kind of truck are you getting? Mine was a 2017 F350 Platinum ultimate. 6.7, CCLB, 4x4.
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Floridatennisplayer
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This is me as well. The MB dealer here in Ohio and in Florida know me. I do my homework. I call the manager, tell him what I am looking for. I let him know not to waste my time or I will walk. He will let me know he has them on the lot. I let him know to have them ready to look at with pricing. We agree on a time and I show up. I put my checkbook on his desk and tell him I am a very impatient person, don’t waste my time with negotiating..we are adults, just give me your best price and I’ll write the check. I’m usually in and out in an hour or less. I enjoy it.
I hear stories all the time about people being at a dealership all day long trying to buy a car. I don’t get it.
I'm looking at vehicles now and I hate the negotiating game. Not at that point yet. I do think the negotiating range has been reduced over the years. Years ago when I worked for a major car manufacturer, I was able to purchase a new car for about 25% off the sticker on a luxury car. Not so any more. I still get a manufacturers discount but you are lucky to get 10% off so I think you can negotiate something better than that 10%.
JoeWras
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Many, many $600 "brake jobs" that consist of one axel's worth of pad replacement go a long way to profitability.
Hermit
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I'll be looking for the heaviest capacity I can get with single rear wheels. I want to put a slide in camper in it and be able to drive in snow. I'm partial to Ford and there is not much difference in capacity between Ford and Chevy. My experience with my Jeep has soured me on Chrysler. The number of things that have had to be repaired on it is amazing and never seems to stop.
Your info will be quite helpful.
Big_Hitter
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3.6R with starlink?
Thanks to all you folks, this thread helped me save about $5200 off MSRP on a new car! And it made it a lot less painful than it has been for me in the past.
Maybe I should send you the $5200 in consulting fees? Ha! Ha!
I have been retired for 3 ½ years, spending 1.5% of portfolio a year, and driving around a 2003 Toyota Corolla. The Corolla served me well. I paid it off quickly, it was less car than I could have bought, it was very reliable, and I invested the money saved for early retirement. I wanted a better car, wanted something more reliable on a long vacation trip than a 15 year old car, and used the advice in this thread to help save money. At 63, I figured this was our time to enjoy a nice car, if we were ever going to do it.
I really didn’t want to haggle with salesmen, or have a lot of pain over buying a new car.
1. I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted, narrowed it down to a Honda CRV and Subaru Forester, and went on test drives. I eventually chose a Subaru Outback.
2. I joined Costco, and sent quote requests out with their auto purchase program, and got a quote for an Outback $3300 below MSRP+TTL.
3. I looked up price data on truecar.com and Nadaguides.com, and compared the Costco price to the truecar.com price distribution. According to truecar data, the Costco price was good, but some people were still paying $1000 to $1500 less in my area.
One thing I noticed was that TrueCar showed only $1800 difference between what was an above market price and an exceptional price, so I saw there were limits to how much I could shave the price, and I knew when to stop chasing price.
Also, based on my reading IMO dealerships don’t really make a big profit on new cars – I’m thinking 1% - 2%, so I didn’t need to feel that dealers were making a huge profit, and I could have gotten a lot lower price.
4. I selected 6 dealers within 1 ½ hour drive of my home, and sent them emails describing the exact vehicle build I wanted, and asking for a drive off the lot cash price quote by the next day. They all responded within a few hours.
5. I sent another email out telling dealers the low bid from the first round, and asking if they’d be willing to adjust their numbers. They all sent me back lower numbers.
6. I went to the dealer around the corner from my house, and he agreed to pay the lowest number, offered by a dealer across town. This was an exceptional price according to TrueCar.
So in summary,
1. MSRP+TTL was $39040
2. Costco+TTL was $35822 <$3218> savings
3. Round 1 email $34999 <$823> savings
4. Round 2 email $33800 <$1199> savings
5. Final out the door price I wrote on the check was $33,800 and I saved $5200 off of MSRP.
I took the old Toyota to two used car dealers, CarMax and TexasCar direct, got offers for $1000 and $1200, took the highest, and left with a check the same day. It was sad to leave my old faithful friend on the lot, but it was starting to need more repairs and had 178,000 miles. I think I got my money out of it.
I’m wishing you all good luck on your car shopping in the future.
Maybe I should send you the $5200 in consulting fees? Ha! Ha!
I have been retired for 3 ½ years, spending 1.5% of portfolio a year, and driving around a 2003 Toyota Corolla. The Corolla served me well. I paid it off quickly, it was less car than I could have bought, it was very reliable, and I invested the money saved for early retirement. I wanted a better car, wanted something more reliable on a long vacation trip than a 15 year old car, and used the advice in this thread to help save money. At 63, I figured this was our time to enjoy a nice car, if we were ever going to do it.
I really didn’t want to haggle with salesmen, or have a lot of pain over buying a new car.
1. I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted, narrowed it down to a Honda CRV and Subaru Forester, and went on test drives. I eventually chose a Subaru Outback.
2. I joined Costco, and sent quote requests out with their auto purchase program, and got a quote for an Outback $3300 below MSRP+TTL.
3. I looked up price data on truecar.com and Nadaguides.com, and compared the Costco price to the truecar.com price distribution. According to truecar data, the Costco price was good, but some people were still paying $1000 to $1500 less in my area.
One thing I noticed was that TrueCar showed only $1800 difference between what was an above market price and an exceptional price, so I saw there were limits to how much I could shave the price, and I knew when to stop chasing price.
Also, based on my reading IMO dealerships don’t really make a big profit on new cars – I’m thinking 1% - 2%, so I didn’t need to feel that dealers were making a huge profit, and I could have gotten a lot lower price.
4. I selected 6 dealers within 1 ½ hour drive of my home, and sent them emails describing the exact vehicle build I wanted, and asking for a drive off the lot cash price quote by the next day. They all responded within a few hours.
5. I sent another email out telling dealers the low bid from the first round, and asking if they’d be willing to adjust their numbers. They all sent me back lower numbers.
6. I went to the dealer around the corner from my house, and he agreed to pay the lowest number, offered by a dealer across town. This was an exceptional price according to TrueCar.
So in summary,
1. MSRP+TTL was $39040
2. Costco+TTL was $35822 <$3218> savings
3. Round 1 email $34999 <$823> savings
4. Round 2 email $33800 <$1199> savings
5. Final out the door price I wrote on the check was $33,800 and I saved $5200 off of MSRP.
I took the old Toyota to two used car dealers, CarMax and TexasCar direct, got offers for $1000 and $1200, took the highest, and left with a check the same day. It was sad to leave my old faithful friend on the lot, but it was starting to need more repairs and had 178,000 miles. I think I got my money out of it.
I’m wishing you all good luck on your car shopping in the future.
Reading this thread with interest because I am wanting to buy a new car. I contacted Costco about their program and none of the participating dealerships are close. I am one of the people who absolutely dreads car shopping. That is one of the reasons that I prefer to keep my cars for along time.
If you are buying a "top 10" vehicle, F150, Silverado, Camry etc...
One additional strategy is to look at all of the inventory on the lots and their birthdate. Each vehicle has a sticker stating what month of the year the vehicle was actually put together.
The dealer has incentive to sell the "oldest" vehicle first. I was able to get a ton of money off realizing that the vehicle I actually wanted...was a couple months older than the exact same model but different color. Since I was fine with either white or black, and the white one was older, I got the white one. And by ton I bought a MSRP 42k 4x4 with options for just under 32k. so on top of the 10k in MSRP savings, I also saved like $750 in taxes... too bad registration was through the roof.
I also sort of eye the salesman when he starts going through all the entertainment, bells and whistles.
If anyone has any advice on cell phone purchasing, please shed some light...I feel like I am financially assaulted every time my phone is upgraded.
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Midpack
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Costco is just one way to get (way) past MSRP and lesser deals. If all the participating dealers are too far to even drive to, then just move on to edmunds.com or any of the many internet dealmakers. Even then, it's just a place to start - you can do better from there. It's not hard, it just takes some discipline, and a willingness to wait them out for the best deal - only takes a few days.
I started this thread, and actually put it to work again here http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/how-to-buy-a-new-car-88109-7.html#post2006255
Saved $4900 off MSRP, in less than 24 hours with a couple hours work all told...
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/how-to-buy-a-new-car-88109-7.html#post2006255
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ncbill
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If you already know the vehicle you want here are some brokers from over on leasehackr:
https://forum.leasehackr.com/c/reviews
https://forum.leasehackr.com/c/reviews
GTFan
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If anyone is in the market for a compact SUV the Toyota RAV4s are a good deal right now, seeing offers of 20% or more off of MSRP. New model is coming out later this year, salesman for a dealer here in the ATL is quoting $6500 off of list for 2018 LE's and XLE's.
https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=116151795&postcount=32
If you can deal with domestic the Chevy Equinox is also heavily discounted, seen some going for almost $10k off of list (around $17k for a $27k model). Think you have to finance some portion with GM to get all the rebates here.
http://www.bomninchevrolet.com/Vehi...maxYear=true&maxPrice=true&sort=salePrice|asc
Please post deals like these if you see them, I'm in the market but not sure what to get at this point. If you're willing to fly in and drive out the whole country is available IMO, as long as you can get a solid deal confirmed upfront.
https://slickdeals.net/forums/showpost.php?p=116151795&postcount=32
If you can deal with domestic the Chevy Equinox is also heavily discounted, seen some going for almost $10k off of list (around $17k for a $27k model). Think you have to finance some portion with GM to get all the rebates here.
http://www.bomninchevrolet.com/Vehi...maxYear=true&maxPrice=true&sort=salePrice|asc
Please post deals like these if you see them, I'm in the market but not sure what to get at this point. If you're willing to fly in and drive out the whole country is available IMO, as long as you can get a solid deal confirmed upfront.
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meierlde
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I live 60 mi from one major metro area and 100 mi from another, and the truecar and AAA services would not look at the second area but only the first, which proved to be a problem because dealers in the second area had more cars with the safety system than the dealers in the first. (blind spot detection, lane departure warning ....) Short of lying about the zip code I could not figure out how to tell the services to look at both areas. (When buying a car an additional drive of 80 total miles is nothing)
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Midpack
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zinger1457
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I'm in a similar situation as you, we have a few small local dealers but the two major cities are 80/200 miles away. I didn't have much luck using TrueCar, had better luck just working directly with the dealers Internet manager and playing the offers off among them. I prefer to buy local and have had good luck getting them to match any offers from the dealers in the two major cities, they seem use to it and even expect it.
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Midpack
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I can’t say I was motivated by the ‘new safety systems,’ but when I bought in Feb I chose a car that had every new safety system short of semi-autonomous driving assistance. It’s been fun to use them over the last four months - some features are very worthwhile, some are more gimmicks for our use, might be considered more valuable to others.
DW just bought a new Kia Soul , probably one of the hottest cars selling today . List price was 22880 .00 She got the car for 16600 .00 after everything was complete . For years I have not been able to buy a Ford or Chevrolet because they do not deal real good around here . For 2017 and 2018 Kia was ranked as the number one auto manufacturer. BUT Gullo Ford in Conroe has a few Base model 2018 Mustangs ,6cyl ,6spd manual for 18880.00 this to me Rocks !
Oh by the way the backup camera and lane sensors are std. with Kia. love to get a Stinger !
Oh by the way the backup camera and lane sensors are std. with Kia. love to get a Stinger !
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Midpack
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My post from another thread http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f27/car-safety-features-92002.html#post2049823
I know this sounds funny , a guy that is not up on things . In DW car she wanted backup camera , 17" chrome premium wheels , automatic headlights , automatic trans.
Bluetooth. 2litre engine. The car came with much more but this is all she wanted . Some features are overrated .
Bluetooth. 2litre engine. The car came with much more but this is all she wanted . Some features are overrated .
W2R
Moderator Emeritus
Thanks for the information and link! VERY interesting and useful. After reading this, I also checked YouTube and there are several video reviews of the 2019 Rav4. I have been considering the Rav4 among the top 3 "contenders" when I buy my new SUV later this year (I am in no rush to buy, but will eventually).
It is possible that I might prefer the 2019 Rav4 to the present Rav4 because apparently it has more cargo space. Definitely one to think about, when I decide to buy my new SUV.
I agree! My list of what I want is,
(1) Two rows of seats instead of 3 rows
(2) remote entry
(3) push button ignition
(4) moderate to ample cargo space (not tiny/cramped),
(5) remote power tailgate operation (preferably using the key fob as with my Venza),
(6) excellent expected repair record, and
(6) Given the above, the least amount of excess electronics possible.
Not possible anymore.
The computers in the car control everything these days--even the interior lights. The darn thing even monitors the steering wheel and if you hold it completely steady for 30-60 seconds it thinks you have fallen asleep and makes a beep noise and flashes "STEERING REQUIRED" on the instrument panel.
If any enemy country explodes an EMP weapon over the United States, the only cars that will still work will be a '58 Chevy and the like.
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The RAV4 really needed an update. We loved our 2010 RAV4, but when we decided to buy a new car last year the 2017 model was not much different than the 2010. The Honda CR-V beat it hands-down, in features.
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