Jeff and I decided to go ahead and buy a new mini-van. A big purchase to be sure, but we figure that he has four years until retirement, and we could have it paid off by then. We figured we travel a lot and this would make traveling more comfortable. So why not? We did a lot of shuffling but we thought to find the money we would take a bit from here and there, various savings plans, and tighten up our extra spending.
I did a great deal of Internet research about which is the best minivan and how much they cost. We decided that Saturday we would look at our top ten choices, see what they have on the lots and narrow down our options to maybe one or two. OK, so you all see the humor there right.
I have never bought a new car before. Jeff has. He kept telling me that we don't want to get out of our vehicle that we should just drive by slowly and see what they have and hope we can see the sticker price from our car. I was thinking, why not just ask someone? So we got to the first dealer, Lily in tow. We get out of the car and tell the gentleman who was on top of us before we even shut our doors that we were interested in a minivan. We specifically asked if they had the make, model, year we were wanting in stock. He took us in his office and started asking us questions. A half an hour later, we still didn't know what was in stock, he went to talk to his manager. He comes back and tells us he has a van to show us that he will go and get the keys. Finally he comes around and shows us a van. It is a 2007 model with 36,000 miles on it.
He kept asking us how much we wanted to spend per month on the vehicle. We would have to calculate in our heads, how much the Manufacturer's suggested price for the vehicle was, minus our down payment, minus what we wanted for trading in our little car, divided by how many months we wanted the loan to be... Then he would do the same calculations with his calculator to determine how much we wanted to spend on a car. I was getting confused. Wish I had brought a calculator or that they guy could have spoke to us in English, this is how much the car costs...And the 0% interest, I asked how much would it be if we got the money from our bank and paid him cash. I mean obviously a bank wont give you money for no interest so the interest had to be put into the price of the car, so why not give me that discount and I would see if I got a better deal based on the interest rate the bank quoted me. No they wouldn't tell us anything.
We test drive this car and he wont tell us the price. We notice a lot of stains and dings in the vehicle, but ever the bargain hunter we think, I wonder how much of a discount for this dinged up vehicle. He offers us a bumper to bumper lifetime warranty and 0% interest, but will not tell us a price. He takes Jeff back to the office to discuss price. Lily and I wonder around the lot. I notice quite a few minivans, they are cute. Not like the one he showed us. I am getting pretty upset by now. I go into the office where he and Jeff are discussing price. The guy is typing numbers in the calculator. I ask what the price is?? They inform me that they are still working on that.
Jeff gives me the keys to our car. I take Lily and we go to the car. We wait and wait. Jeff comes out to the car, and asks me what I think. I tell him there is no way I am paying a new car price for that piece of crap we test drove. That I didn't really like it very much and having a monthly car payment for a car I don't really like, doesn't seem like a good idea. By the way, what is the price? Still no clue, we have been at the place for over an hour being dicked around with no clue what they have or how much it costs. So we leave. I don't think we have the proper car buying skills, are you supposed to yell at them or punch them in the face?
Jeff and I decide that we are too exhausted to look at other minivans today. We go to lunch. We have a long chat and we decide that we would rather not buy a new car. Dealing with the salesman is too much. I don't really like to parted from my money and having somebody be so rude and then giving them a commission? Makes my blood boil. Besides it is nice to have the extra money for fun and being safe. So life will continue with our 10 year old vehicles at least for now.
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7 comments:
I'm sending my husband right over to you. He LIKES buying cars and he knows how to out-asshole the assholes.
You can also look up the dealer invoice on the car you want on the internets, walk in and loudly offer them $500 over that.
That worked for us (him) once.
USAA has a great program to help you buy your car. They will tell you exactly what the car should cost you and all that. We have always used it when we are buying a car. It has helped us when it came to negotiating. Also look on line, the dealers have their cars on their websites. When you go to a dealer, tell them right away you are just looking and if you have any questions you will come to him. Be sure to ask what their name was again, so that they know you will get them if you need their help. The ones that are on you like a parahna (however you spell that) are evil, tell them if you have to that you need to think about this and would mind a few minutes alone to talk about what you see with your husband. Be strong!!! You can do it. It helps having Lily around because that is a great excuse to leave too! HA Good luck.
oh you poor thing. i HATE car salesmen. i had one back me into a corner once with a very pushy "what can i do to make you buy a car today" spiel. i couldn't run away fast enough.
when we bought our last 2 cars, we relied heavily on edmunds.com. you can compare all the mileage, safety ratings, cost of repair, etc., for each model/make/year. we found that for the price we wanted to pay for the car we wanted, we needed to get it at 3 years old. they calculated how much that should cost with the right mileage, and we looked until we found one within $500 of that price. it was remarkably easy. good luck to you!
As everyone else said, the internet is a wonderful resource for car buying. We just recently bought a new car and used Edmunds.com. We put in the make, model and year of the car that we wanted, and they sent all the information we needed including who to call at 3 different dealerships. We called and got the car we wanted at the price we wanted. Of course, you need to know what you want. Although, if I were you I might just take Meno up on her offer.
Argggh! Car and furniture sales people. They're, um,..challenging.
If you wait until late August, you can save boo-coo bucks. That's because the next year's models are rolling off the assembly lines so they discount all the current year models. Want to save even more? Locate dealers who have previous year's models on the lot (you could even do that now). We bought out last 2 vehicles that way, so they were "brand new, previous year." Full warrenties, big discounts.
Blessings,
~Toni~
We bought a new car in October, a 2007 Toyota Camry (Motor Trend car of that year!), and I love it. We had investigated on line. We took all kinds of print outs from the internet. We had a plan. We would test drive different makes and models first. When we determined the exact car we wanted we would plan our attack for the purchase. Enter agressive salesman. It was much as you discribed. So, we went home and regrouped because we weren't as prepared as we thought we were. Good luck.
My husband and I just purchased our first BRAND spanking new car together this past July. He did a lot of research on the internet first (much like these other comments suggested) AND he set up an appt with a dealership through the internet which was offering a $1500.00 "coupon" for doing so. We went into the dealership knowing we were not paying more than 1500.00 cash down, we were not paying more than 400.00/month and we were trading in our 1996 Jimmy. If they couldn't work with us on that then we were leaving. The salesman tried to play hardball by bringing out something WAY out of our price range and not telling us the price but letting us test drive it and fall in love with it - then tell us the monthly payments would be 700.00!!! WHAT!?? When we told him absolutely not, he said he didn't understand because we could afford it! I told him that wasn't for him to judge and if he wasn't going to work with our price range we were leaving. He said "Well, I can put you in something that doesn't have any upgrades or anything...I mean, no automatic windows or locks or nothing." I told him he was out of his mind if he thought I was going to write a check for 400.00/ month and have to handroll up my windows?! Anyway, he FINALLY came around and we got into a 2007 Nissan Frontier for $440.00/month (extra for the extended warranty) and it only had 23 miles on it when we drove it off the lot. We are thrilled with it!!
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