How to find the best price when shopping for a new car
How do you find the best price for a new car? Well, that depends on how much time you have. Hopefully you have not waited until the day before your vacation to buy a car to take on your vacation. You should give yourself at least 45 days to shop around for the best deal. That way you'll be able to shop at the end of the month, when many actually do cut the best deals since they're trying to "make their numbers" for the month.
A word of caution, if you're looking for a "high demand" vehicle such as a Toyota Prius or a Mini Cooper, you should expect to pay a price near or even above the M.S.R.P. (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price).
Sources of best prices:
Newspapers - Car dealers have advertised in the newspaper for many years. They'll usually run their full page ads in the Sunday edition. Here's something you may not know, the Sunday edition of most major newspapers is available on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Go buy one and get out your scissors and cut out all the ads for the cars you're considering.
Dealers advertise their best deals in the newspaper in order to get you to their store. Unless you're desperate for a car, you ought to search the ads for four or five weeks so you can see a pricing pattern. You should start to get a feel for how low dealers will go in their ads. Be aware that dealers will sometimes run ads for "loss leaders."
If possible, find papers for major cities within a few hundred miles of your home and get those papers as well. You can usually buy them at news outlets or bookstores like Barnes & Nobel.
Always read the fine print - A very common tactic among some dealers is to advertise a vehicle with a bunch of "special incentives" to make the car cheaper. In most cases nobody will ever qualify for all the incentives. Some of the most common ones are "recent college grad" and "mobility,"
Recent College Grad - the fine print from a recent ad stated the following:
Online Sources
Online sources of car pricing include CarsDirect which offers a "target" price for a car in your market and Edmunds "true market value" which is supposed to be the actual transaction price of cars in your market. Each of these prices is an estimate of the price you should be able to buy the car for. When comparing prices in either of these to the newspaper ads, make sure you match the options on the vehicles as closely as possible. You can also get free dealer quotes at MotorAlley.
Telephone/Visit dealerships
Once you have target price in mind for the car you want to buy and you've received your free dealer quotes, work the phone. Call all the dealers in your area and tell them exactly what you want and how much you want to pay. If they will match or beat your price, then you have a deal. Just be aware that certain salespeople at a dealership may tell you just about anything over the phone to get you to come in to their store. Keep detailed notes of your conversations including the time you called and the name of the person you talked to. If the actual deal differs from the one you discussed on the phone, be ready to walk. You should be ready to do this at least three times before you find the price that suits you.
Conclusion
Finding the best price for a new car is work. All in all, you will probably spend at least 20 to 40 hours doing your research and actually shopping. Depending on the specific car you want, that may save you $500. to as much as $3,000.
Tags Car - Selling - Buying - Shopping - Tip
A word of caution, if you're looking for a "high demand" vehicle such as a Toyota Prius or a Mini Cooper, you should expect to pay a price near or even above the M.S.R.P. (Manufacturers Suggested Retail Price).
Sources of best prices:
Newspapers - Car dealers have advertised in the newspaper for many years. They'll usually run their full page ads in the Sunday edition. Here's something you may not know, the Sunday edition of most major newspapers is available on Thursday afternoon or Friday morning. Go buy one and get out your scissors and cut out all the ads for the cars you're considering.
Dealers advertise their best deals in the newspaper in order to get you to their store. Unless you're desperate for a car, you ought to search the ads for four or five weeks so you can see a pricing pattern. You should start to get a feel for how low dealers will go in their ads. Be aware that dealers will sometimes run ads for "loss leaders."
If possible, find papers for major cities within a few hundred miles of your home and get those papers as well. You can usually buy them at news outlets or bookstores like Barnes & Nobel.
Always read the fine print - A very common tactic among some dealers is to advertise a vehicle with a bunch of "special incentives" to make the car cheaper. In most cases nobody will ever qualify for all the incentives. Some of the most common ones are "recent college grad" and "mobility,"
Recent College Grad - the fine print from a recent ad stated the following:
Any student who has graduated from an accredited college, graduate school or Jr. college between May 1, 2003 and January 2, 2006 or currently is enrolled in an accredited college. Must finance through FMCC [Ford Motor Car Credit]. Not available on Mustang, Ford GT & Fusion.Mobility Customer Cash - the fine print:
Provides financial assistance for the adaptation of vehicle for physically disabled drivers up to a maximum of $1,000.
Online Sources
Online sources of car pricing include CarsDirect which offers a "target" price for a car in your market and Edmunds "true market value" which is supposed to be the actual transaction price of cars in your market. Each of these prices is an estimate of the price you should be able to buy the car for. When comparing prices in either of these to the newspaper ads, make sure you match the options on the vehicles as closely as possible. You can also get free dealer quotes at MotorAlley.
Telephone/Visit dealerships
Once you have target price in mind for the car you want to buy and you've received your free dealer quotes, work the phone. Call all the dealers in your area and tell them exactly what you want and how much you want to pay. If they will match or beat your price, then you have a deal. Just be aware that certain salespeople at a dealership may tell you just about anything over the phone to get you to come in to their store. Keep detailed notes of your conversations including the time you called and the name of the person you talked to. If the actual deal differs from the one you discussed on the phone, be ready to walk. You should be ready to do this at least three times before you find the price that suits you.
Conclusion
Finding the best price for a new car is work. All in all, you will probably spend at least 20 to 40 hours doing your research and actually shopping. Depending on the specific car you want, that may save you $500. to as much as $3,000.
Tags Car - Selling - Buying - Shopping - Tip
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home