Posted by Moneyman/TX on 3/15/11 1:31pm
Msg #376212

OT? - Car buying tips that saved him $5K

Thought about posting this in Leisure but since some have recently posted about getting new business autos thought it would be appropriate here. Using some of these tips might help with lowering the business expense of purchasing a new car.

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First Person: I Saved Over $5,000 on My Last Car Purchase
Brian C. Hopkins, On Wednesday March 9, 2011, 4:58 pm EST

Anyone who's ever been in the financing office of a car dealership knows that working through the purchase details on a new car is no fun whatsoever. The dealer is not only trying to make the money listed on the sticker price, but he's also trying to put a few bucks in his and the loan company's pocket as well. The thing that these retailers fear most is an educated and prepared consumer.

Here are four simple things that I did during my last car purchase that saved me over $5,000.

Research

Before I ever stepped foot on the salesman's turf, I pulled up the Internet and found out everything that I could about the make and model that I was going to purchase. I also looked up what private sellers were asking for the same vehicle that I was looking at. Using this knowledge, I set a firm budget for the car which just happened to be $1,400 less than the sticker price that the dealer listed. We ended up settling on a price that was $2,100 less than sticker price, and we got here because I never told him what my maximum budget number was. When he gave a price, I told him "too high."

Reading

When I sat down in the financing office to discuss the financing of the vehicle, I took the itemized listing of fees and made the loan processor define every single item that was listed. There were so many fees that were "administrative" in nature it would make your head spin. I argued every single cost that was listed that wasn't tax, tag or title related. The dealer was assessing me a whopping $600 in unnecessary administrative costs. I know that this seems very small when financing a $30,000 car, but would you carry $600 in unnecessary interest on your credit card for five years?

Perks

People have often told me that I go too far with this one, but I don't think so. In this economy, it is up to the consumer to stretch his or her dollar as far as possible and that's what I did here. First, never drive a car off the lot with anything less than a full tank of gas. At these gas prices, believe me it's worth it. Also, make sure that your car is perfectly detailed. Also, I got my dealer to agree to give me a free oil change every 5,000 miles for the first 50,000 miles. At $30 per oil change, this comes to a savings of approximately $300. He also agreed to give me my first vehicle inspection and standard maintenance care scheduled for that inspection for free. That's another $200 saved.

Financing

That's right. I haggled with the lending team at the dealer and got all of these perks agreed to in writing and then informed that I was going to use my bank for the financing. Yes, it did tick off the financing group. And yes, I had already figured I was going to do this before I even walked onto the car lot. I still wanted to hear what they were offering and I knew that during the financing negotiation I would learn all the fees they had lumped in and that this would be the best time to get the perks I wanted. My bank's lower rates saved me an additional $2,000 over the term of the 5-year loan.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/First-Person-I-Saved-Over-5-ac-2707816995.html?x=0

Reply by RedBaron/IN on 3/16/11 9:24am
Msg #376318

I use my local savings & loan for all of my banking needs. House, car, bank card & all other services. All lower fees than local banks.

Reply by Jayhawk/KS on 3/16/11 11:04am
Msg #376337

Also, if you happen to have a GM credit card, don't forget to use your earned GM card points. They will usually bump them up to the next thousand. If you belong to a credit union, make sure you go online at GM and apply to get the extra credit union discount. It is substancial. I always purchase our cars, have for 34 years. My husband says I can beat the last dime out of them, and I always get a better deal out of the dealers than he does. He's given up and just hands it over to me. I also do all my research prior to going to the dealer as mentioned above. I also negotiate, for an extra set of keys, never hurts to have those, including a remote. The dealers get those dirt cheap. You have to do this all before you sign any papers, after you have signed one single piece of paper you are screwed. We got a leased vehicle once, and they had no floor mats and one set of keys. They said, just go over to Wal-Mart and get what you want and bring us the receipt, I said, no, I want factory mats. We were literally ready to sign papers. He said, I can't do that, so I stood up, grabbed my keys and headed towards the door. I said, 2 sets of keys and remotes, and factory mats all around or no deal, you have my home phone, call me with the decision. He said, have a seat, I'll see what I can do. He was back in about 2 minutes, and said, you drive a hard bargain. I had already negotiated 5 free oil changes and a tire rotation. I was pretty happy. Plus I got a great price on the car.