OT: Buying a car

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JRod
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OT: Buying a car

Post by JRod »

I hate buying a car. Yes it's exciting to get a new car or any "newish car but its something that should be rewarding and less of a fight.

Anyway, two weeks ago I was in a bad accident that did in my pathfinder. I knew the insurance wasn't going to fix it because its the insurance companies.

That takes me to this week. I set off to see what I could find. I have had good luck with the Pathfinder so I settled on the Xterra. The pathfinders are more like tanks these days. It's also hard to find a lot of used nissans in the area.

Right now I've been quoted at $24,950 for an 06 Xterra. And a dealership about 50 miles north have quoted me 20,444 for an 07 Xterra SE non-demo unit. That sounds too good to be true.

Do you guys have any suggestions to getting the best deal. I using most of the car sites out there and reading a lot. I usings like edmunds, autotrader etc. for quotes. I've hoping to get this done soon and get a deal I can feel satisfied with but any advice you have would be greatly appreciated.
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Post by eman »

If you're already using Edmond's and have pricing the only other advice I can offer is to shop around and relax.

Buying a car is a simple process that people make difficult. Quit worrying...

ps- about the dealer that is 4k less than everybody else - if something sounds too good to be true it usually is.

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Post by kicko »

Basicly do your homework, know what your want to pay. Walk in there and tell the dealer what you want, don't let them start the BS, the min. you dont like something tell them, act like your going to leave. They need you, you don't need them....there's always more dealerships.
The fact you have a check and do not have to finance takes much of the "wheeling and dealing" out of the picture anyways. Good Luck.

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Post by pk500 »

John:

Kicko is right: You're in control here. You're the buyer. Make them feel desperate to want your business.

Simply tell them this is exactly what you want to pay, no more. If they don't meet you, walk. It's that simple.

One other tip: Don't show ANY enthusiasm for the vehicle. Be dispassionate, passive, borderline agitated. If you make the dealer feel like you really want the vehicle, then they know emotion will cloud your judgment, and they will pounce.

Buying a car is a simple process, as eman said. The dealer is trying to get you to spend as much money as possible; you're trying to spend as little as possible.

The dealer is not your friend. The dealer does not care about you or your family, despite what he may ask in chit-chat. The dealer doesn't give a sh*t about what you do for a living, despite asking in chit-chat.

Just realize this is a business transaction, nothing more. So don't waste any time falling into the trap of small talk, which the dealers use to soften you up and make you more willing to spend more money.

Be firm and polite. And then kill the motherf*ckers.

As you can tell, I put car dealers just above dogs on my scale of life. :) I know there are exceptions, and some dealers really are family friends or relatives. But the tin business is a savage racket, and only savages survive in it.

Those savages prey on you unless you prevent it.

Good luck!

Take care,
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Post by Sudz »

when i bought my car I had my son with me...he was 2 at the time.

I was trying to get the most out of my trade in....got the deal close then said...sorry...gotta go. I'll be back later....

He called me 20mins later with what i wanted for the trade in and the price i wanted.

so...

don't be afraid to do as George Costanza said..."one more step and I'll walk"

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by XXXIV »

My 2001 Intrepid ES died this week two months short of a miraculous twelve year run.

Currently looking for a 2013 or a 2012. I am looking for a hot tip on a sure fire winner in the 18k-22k range. 8)

Anyone with any love or horror stories?

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by dbdynsty25 »

Kia Optima. Book it. It's my next car once I run my 2001 IS300 into the ground.

We bought a Kia Sportage SUV when we had our kid and have been nothing but happy with it. For the money...Kia or Hyundai cannot be beat. Fantastic 10 year warranty as well.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by pk500 »

Agree with Kia or Hyundai in that price range. Great cars with a superb warranty that is rarely needed.

Don't sleep on Mazda, either. The forgotten Japanese marque might be the best among non-luxury brands from the Land of the Rising Sun. We LOVE our Mazda CX-9.
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by RallyMonkey »

pk500 wrote:Agree with Kia or Hyundai in that price range. Great cars with a superb warranty that is rarely needed.

Don't sleep on Mazda, either. The forgotten Japanese marque might be the best among non-luxury brands from the Land of the Rising Sun. We LOVE our Mazda CX-9.
Ditto on the Mazda. Just purchased a CX-5, my first Mazda, and absolutely love it.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by greggsand »

If your company has a credit union, you can always get approved for a loan prior to even talking to a dealer. A lot of their "negotiating" is in the loan terms (how much can you put down, pay per month, # of months). If there's no loan for them, you can probably get them to sell you a car at $100 over invoice. I've also had some friends buy cars through carsdirect.com. never tried it myself, but they love it,
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by pk500 »

Another tip: Buy NOTHING extra from the dealer besides the car. No detailing. No rustproofing. No accessories. No extended service plans or warranties.

All of those extras are HUGE profit sources for the dealer and are terribly overpriced and/or unnecessary.
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by DChaps »

After my 1995 Honda Accord finally packed it in after 220,000 miles last summer, I spent 3 months looking at the Kia Optima, Hyundai Sonata, Volkswagen Passat, Mazda 6, 2013 Ford Fusion, 2013 Nissan Altima, and the 2013 Honda Accord (waited until it came out before I made my final decision). I have owned 3 Accords in my lifetime (would have probably only been two if not for totaling one). Anyway, the good news is that all these cars in this price segment seem to be really good, reliable, reasonably priced cars, so it ends up being the little things and kind of depends on your preferences. The Kia, Sonata, and the Altima I was actually able to drive for a week at a time as I can get rental coupons at work due to the volume we do. The Passat is the most roomy on the inside and has the most open cockpit. I would have probably passed on the Ford Fusion, but a neighbor of mine works for Ford and he convinced me to give it a test drive. It was actually a pretty nice drive. After waiting for the new Accord, it was the biggest let down. Not that it is a bad car, it just was more expensive for less options than the other cars I was looking at, and I guess I was maybe tired of Accords. Ultimately it came down to the Kia Optima (great styling, great price, great options) and the Nissan Altima. I ended up with the Altima as it had the most features that I wanted for the least money, along with best gas mileage of the bunch (not by much), 2nd most roomy next to the Passat, and the most quiet ride but with a surprisingly fun feel to it. The Kia Optima and the Hyundai Sonata still probably look the best out of the bunch, but have a little bit of a floaty feel when driving. Again, completely depends on your preferences. All these cars new start at about 21K for the most basic model and 30K or so with all features maxed out. Most are 2.5l engines, but the Altima, Passat, and I think the Optima all offer 3.5l if you want the extra power. Definitely gets you to the 30K mark for those. I went with the mid line 2.5l Altima, and 5000 miles into it, I am still really loving this car. It is the first car I ever bought new (something I swore I would never do), but this was basically my mid-life crisis car (sadly no Porsche, Ferrari, etc.) so I splurged. If you go used, all these cars are still pretty good, but the 2013 Altima was completely revised from previous years, and I would not go back more than a couple years on the Optima and the Sonata. They greatly improved those models in the last couple years. If you are interested I have links galore from my research that I could PM you. I also ended up using the Consumer Reports/TrueCar service and was very happy with it. I also used a service through my credit union, but the TrueCar was better. Good luck!

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/ca ... an_Altima/

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/ca ... size-Cars/

PS - Of course the Toyota Camry has been the highest selling car in this segment several years running. While you probably can't go wrong with a Camry, the average age of the buyer is like 60. Plus, once I decided against the new Accord, going to the Camry seemed like dating my cousin or something. While all the cars in this segment are your basic family sedan, the Camry was just a little too basic.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by greggsand »

The easiest thing to do: ask your family/friends if they know anyone who works in the car sales biz. Offer a $100 to that person to come by the dealership when you're ready to close the deal. You'll be amazed how easy it all goes down when you have someone with you that knows what's up. The dealership & 'your guy' will cut through all the BS. My Dad is a finance manager in IL. I actually flew him out to CA once to help with a new car. The plane ticket cost me about $230, but he worked the dealer to give me an extra $1400 in trade-in on my dying civic along with some other incentives out there. Money well spent. It literally went like this "you're a finance guy?' "Yes" "Ok, here's what I can do." Even the dealership seemed relieved that didn't have to their normal song & dance. Ask around.
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by pk500 »

I guess I'm weird: I LOVE every second of the haggle. It's a challenge to see just how far I can grind down the salesperson.

I'm the anal type who does probably far too much research and digging on the car, dealer invoice prices, trade-in values, financing, etc. So I'm always ready to play the game to kill when I walk into the dealership.

It's my money, and the salesperson's job is to take as much of it from me as possible. I don't like that. :)
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by dbdynsty25 »

pk500 wrote:I guess I'm weird: I LOVE every second of the haggle. It's a challenge to see just how far I can grind down the salesperson.

I'm the anal type who does probably far too much research and digging on the car, dealer invoice prices, trade-in values, financing, etc. So I'm always ready to play the game to kill when I walk into the dealership.

It's my money, and the salesperson's job is to take as much of it from me as possible. I don't like that. :)
100% agree. I love the chase. I love writing my cell number down and walking out of the dealership. Only to be told to sit back down. A few times I've actually left and they've called me back a few hours later, knowing that I wasn't bluffing. It's all in good fun. :) At least for me.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by DivotMaker »

dbdynsty25 wrote:Kia Optima. Book it. It's my next car once I run my 2001 IS300 into the ground.

We bought a Kia Sportage SUV when we had our kid and have been nothing but happy with it. For the money...Kia or Hyundai cannot be beat. Fantastic 10 year warranty as well.
October 2011, my daughter bought a Kia SOUL and absolutely loves it coming from a 2003 Jeep Liberty Limited that was costing her a great deal to maintain and service. She is getting fantastic mileage and has been completely trouble-free. 5 year/60,000 mile Bumper to Bumper warranty is nice and should last her until she is ready to upgrade.

My wife traded in her 2005 BMW 325i with 50,000+ miles on it last April because we were getting concerned about the factory warranty expiring with various things on the car breaking. She picked out the Kia Optima and says it is the best car she has owned (so far). Incredible features, same warranty as the SOUL along with a 100,000 mile powertrain warranty. Kia are making very good cars with a great deal of bang for the buck IMO. She also saved $240/month on the note and the interest rate was 0.9%.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by Rodster »

Kia and Hyundai make some really nice cars. I'm amazed how Hyundai went from making cars that you only bought if you had a little more money than what the Yugo cost.

The South Korean cars are well built, stylish and very dependable. Out of all the cars I work on, the Kia's and Hyundai's are the ones I see the least. The new Kia Optima is a very stylish car. Kia did a real nice job with it. Ford also makes a nice car too. The new Ford Focus is a good American car.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by RobVarak »

pk500 wrote:I guess I'm weird: I LOVE every second of the haggle. It's a challenge to see just how far I can grind down the salesperson.
Amen.

I literally made the finance manager at a dealership cry when I bought my last car. I want that on my tombstone, as it was easily among the proudest moments of my life. :)
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by bdunn13 »

I am still driving my 2000 Trans Am.. I still love it and it is still pretty fast, though the gas mileage is not what it use to be.
I also have a 1993 S-10 truck that catches people's eye since it is not very nice anymore (got it new too)....

My wife has a 2007 G6-GT which I got her right before our son was born... she needed a 4 door....

Well, when we lived in Huntsville, we went looking at other smaller SUV type cars.. I liked the one made by Kia... I don't like being pestered by dealers but one came up to me asking me all sorts of questions... Within about 3 minutes he lied to me 3 times, I knew then I would never buy a car from him.

The Sorento's stickers had a 1800+ market adjustment on the price.. I asked him what that was (I really didn't know at the time but I went home and looked it up).... he said that had to do with monetary exchange rate... of course the correct answer was the fact the cars were "hot" in the area so they were saying they were worth more... Of course there were 20 on the lot and no buyers...

He then said, "it doesn't really matter... it doesn't matter what you pay for a car, it matters what your payments are..." WTF???? He already asked what I did for a living, he knows I am an engineer so I can't be completely stupid and he says something like that to me??

That was over 2 years ago and I don't remember the other lie, but it was along the same lines....


I have been saying I was going to get myself a new car for three years now, but I am still driving and enjoying my TA.. New cars are such a waste of money if your current car does the job....

I will eventually get a new sports car, but who knows when that will be.
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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by XXXIV »

Thanks for the tips boys.

I am going back to the hunt in a few minutes.

Will be taking serious looks at Hyndai Sonata, Kia Optima, Ford Fusion, Honda Accord and Civic...Oh yeah and the Nissan Altima.

I liked them all on saturday. Going to get into some serious haggling today. :twisted:

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by fsquid »

count me in the Hyundai camp too. Have a 2012 Sonata that I'm enjoying. No bells or whistles, just a good car.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by XXXIV »

Its rough out there!

One of these guys tried to bait me into a five minute major and a ten minute game misconduct but hard as they tried they failed. They should be investigated.

I took the night off to recharge 8) ...Car dealers make gary bettman seem almost human..... I did say almost.

Im down to three makes from five....but still open for a shocker.

It is heating up! :P

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by fsquid »

Last car I got I found at CarMax. Was a pretty easy process at those places. You give up the negotiating part, but lose the "I want to kill a mother f***er" part at the end.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by XXXIV »

dbdynsty25 wrote:Kia Optima. Book it.
We have a winner.

Id love to say I kicked the dealers ass but I cant....I can say I love the car. Its sweet.

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Re: OT: Buying a car

Post by Rodster »

Looks like I maybe buying a work vehicle later this year. Right now it's between the Nissan NV 200 and the 2014 Transit Connect.

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