Just turrible

[Warfire80]

Trying to find a mustang that suits my needs. 90% of the dealerships dont have one. Here is a scenario from this weekend:

1. Locate car online at local dealership.
2. Doing errands and happen to be going towards dealership.
3. Stop and ask if car is there (04 GT, 20k miles).
4. Salesman says if its not on the lot its not here. (doesnt even look it up)
5. Get home some time later and call dealership to verify car is not there, salesman on the phone says "ya its here"
6. Drive back to the dealership, different salesman "no its not here

Ya, so the car was sold 3 weeks ago and is still on the website, that dealership was having a bbq that day also and I so badly wanted to go grab some hot dogs and start throwing them at the salesmen. So my search continues.....

[Cajun JungleBoy]

craigslist

[Warfire80]

Quote: Originally Posted by Cajun JungleBoy craigslist

didnt even think of that, but need to go through a dealer cuz of the trade, so private party is out of the question. But I know dealers do post on there. Thanks for reminding me.

[Cajun JungleBoy]

yeap no problem also ebay your zip code, dealers go there to

[SpectorV]

i hate trading in cars... basically they rip you off on taking your used car AND selling you the new one.

[PureVenom]

it's even worse when you look up the value of the car prior and then see what they give you on trade...then look up the trade on the new car and see what they are selling it to you for...

[Warfire80]

Ya, and dealers dont use kbb or nada, they use the nasty little black book which values your car even lower. Plus I am in a double negative since I am trading in my 03 dodge ram hemi 4x4 gas guzzler that nobody wants to buy.

[at7311]

Autotrader.com

[Thomas91169]

Too bad Zim wasnt still a salesman, he could get you Wholesale book and that would be probably within 500$ of what the dealer will offer you for trade in value on your current car.

btw alot of local dealers to me use Craigslist over even Autotrader or Cars.com. btw why does it need to be at a dealership? You can get financed at your bank or credit union for the car, you dont need to use the dealers financing options (not to mention the used dealers usually use the same lenders you can walk into and get a loan through anyways) and you dont have to play their game. find the car you like and settle on a OTD (out the door) price and you can work out payment terms and down deposit with your own lender.

[1234]

Thats shitty i hate car dealers

[ChrissyStang02]

haha, looove the avatar! good luck with the search. it took me a while to find mine, but was definitely worth the wait.

[OsirisGuy]

Yeah I feel those pains. It's been happening to me too. So far maybe three times. I got to sit around a few nice Saleens and Roushs though, even a Shelby.

[Warfire80]

Quote: Originally Posted by Thomas91169 Too bad Zim wasnt still a salesman, he could get you Wholesale book and that would be probably within 500$ of what the dealer will offer you for trade in value on your current car. btw alot of local dealers to me use Craigslist over even Autotrader or Cars.com. btw why does it need to be at a dealership? You can get financed at your bank or credit union for the car, you dont need to use the dealers financing options (not to mention the used dealers usually use the same lenders you can walk into and get a loan through anyways) and you dont have to play their game. find the car you like and settle on a OTD (out the door) price and you can work out payment terms and down deposit with your own lender.

I am going to secure financing through my bank first so I can use that as leverage when I need it..that way I can say I will give you xx,xxx otd, oh and here is the check to prove I am serious. But I am in no big rush and I know that when I find the right car I will know it.

[Zim]

If you want to know how to buy a car and get the best possible deal through a dealer, I'd be more than happy to share that info with you. I worked at a dealer the past year, so I've become pretty familiar with how the whole thing works.

Let me know if you want me to go into it... there's a lot I have to type and I dont feel like doing it at 1 AM

[Warfire80]

Quote: Originally Posted by Zim If you want to know how to buy a car and get the best possible deal through a dealer, I'd be more than happy to share that info with you. I worked at a dealer the past year, so I've become pretty familiar with how the whole thing works. Let me know if you want me to go into it... there's a lot I have to type and I dont feel like doing it at 1 AM

Thanks Zim, I will most definatly take you up on your offer.

[Zim]

Couple things to take into consideration...

I'm assuming you're looking for used? If not... what are you looking for?

Here's something else I'll say... NEVER bring up that you have a trade until you agree on a price of the car you're buying. All a trade is going to do is let them "lower the price on their car", while all they're really doing is killing your trade-in value.

Know how much your car is worth... take it to 3-4 dealers and have it appraised. Get a printed appraisal sheet so you have written proof of it. Dealers thrive on people being uneducated... don't be that guy. With that, also do your research on the car you're buying. If you find a 04 mustang, get on KBB and check what trade-in value is. I'd consider buying a used vehicle for 500-1k over what KBB's trade-in value to be a pretty decent deal. Try to find out what they did in the reconditioning stages, look at the tires, look under the hood and see if they did a thorough cleaning, etc. Ask them if it had any body repair (dents, dings, scratches, that sort of thing)... because they actually pay their service department for work like that. Putting new tires on still costs the sales side the 600 bucks it costs to put new tires on the vehicle as well, so all these costs will be added on to what they gave for the vehicle... then it gets marked up. At our store, we would mark anything up 4 grand regardless of what it was. After 30 days, that gets chopped in half down to 2 grand. After 60 days... there goes another grand.

You have to remember used cars on lots are VERY susceptible to what the markets doing. Anyone that had a bunch of trucks and SUV's on their lot when gas hit 4 bucks/gallon is likely losing a lot of money having them sit there. They also still depreciate when they're sitting there. It actually costs the dealership money to be insuring everything there as well, so bottom line is they want to get rid of them... so use this to your advantage.

Another thing, dealers don't care whatsoever that you're paying "cash". It gets you nowhere as far as getting a better deal. In fact, they'd rather you finance with them because they actually get money from the lender for sending them business, so you can usually play with that money a little bit as well. However, the finance side of things is a whole other negotiation deal in itself, I'll get into that later. You will want to know your credit score, and also have been approved at big lenders like Chase, Wachovia, or whoever has the best rates. Definitely do your research on the rates that banks and credit unions have right now, because guess what... a dealer goes through those exact same banks to borrow money for you, and they get an even better rate because they send the banks so much business. Basically, part of your deal needs to be "you need to match X.XX APR for the next X years in order for me to finance with you, otherwise I'll use my own sources"... trust me, it works. They'll try to get you that low rate to keep your business.

Sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. Basically make sure you know average values of the car you're looking at... they didn't pay anything near what the price in the window is, so you shouldn't have to either. Let them make a little money, but don't take it in the arse like a prisoner.

When you've finally settled on a deal that you'll do RIGHT NOW, let him write up his little buyers order thinger, then before you sign it and commit to it... tell him, "OK, now that we've agreed on 1 car, I need you to look at mine and we need to agree on the value of it". True story, he's going to hate you... but you're going to get more money out of it this way, as well as get the car for cheaper because they're not throwing money into one vehicle or the other. If you have a carmax around you, take it there for a free appraisal... that will give you a good idea what wholesale value on the car is (or a little under). Also, take it to whatever the manufacturer is and have them appraise it. I think you said it's a Dodge, so take it to a Dodge dealer and have them appraise it. THey're not going to want to waste their time, so act semi-interested in a new one too and get "their bottom dollar, and your best trade value" Tell them you're shopping all the dodge dealers for the best deal, and they'll likely send you out with stupid high or low numbers that you can use to your advantage.

Back to your Mustang deal... now you're sitting their with a pissed off sales man cause you already beat the shit out of him and now you want a super good deal on your trade in. Perfect... bust out that super high bid and say "if you can match this, I'll be happy." He's going to come back with some lowball number... just tell him to go back to his manager and tell him this is not the number you asked for, and that you're ready to do the deal at your specificed number. Hold your ground, be polite, and be firm and you'll eventually get what you're looking for. Worst thing to do is be an asshole, cause that will get you kicked out. Just be educated, it goes a long way.

Another thing to be careful about, don't let them get you focused on payment... that's the biggest way to get screwed. Know what you want to pay for the car, you can worry about payment when you get in the finance office. You'll need to have a rough Idea, like a 15k dollar car will be roughly a $300 payment for 5 years with no money down.

20k dollar car = 400/month no money down. These are high estimates with a high interest rate, but it gives you a general idea of what you're getting into without having to get focused on a monthly payment. Get the price of the car as low as you can, the payments going to be what the payment is going to be... regardless. You might as well end up trying to get the lowest PRICE on the car.


Does this make sense? I'll let you go through that and throw some questions at me and I'll try to respond to those... hope this helps.

[Warfire80]

wow, lots of good info. I knew about not telling them you want to trade until after but didnt think of going to other dealerships to get quotes, awesome idea. My one question is do you have them secure the financing prior to you telling them you want to trade or after the deal is all set and done?