Automotive Forums

For the past two weeks I have done far too much research, test drove dozens of cars, read all the 'tips and tricks', read stories on dealer sneakiness, priced out similar models, read reviews, negatives, positives, road tests, 2009 sneak peaks....everything. And I think I'm going to make the plunge on Friday.
 
I've narrowed it down to the one car that I want to buy, will buy used only if the milage is right, otherwise going new. There is a reason I'm not naming the car and model here, I would hate for someone to chime in and say "oh, THAT car model, my brother in law's babysitter works for the manufacturer and did you know that if you wear an orange sweater to the dealership you'll get another $300 off, but only on odd calendar days in August and if you greet the salesperson with a limp handshake?"
 
OK, so this is why I'm freaking out:
 
For round numbers, let's say the MSRP is $18,500K, the Invoice Price is $17K. The fun starts when I see people in forums claiming they paid $18,225, $17,300, $16999 and on and on infinitum. I'm getting stressed out that I won't be able to nickle and dime these dealers into the lowest bragging price. I figure with that invoice price be happy with $17,500, pay my taxes and registration and get out of there knowing they won't fart in my car when I bring it in for service. But I'm losing sleep over the negotiation process and not getting the 'best deal'. Worried about the doc fee, the 'oh this has lojack' and '$40 for putting air in the tires' scam and everything else I've read about.
 
Wrinkle 2, the Edmunds appraised 2007 value of this exact car used is coming up as $16K. Say what? I thought cars lost 20-30% of their value immediately, which should put this car somewhere in the neighborhood of $14K. Why the discrepancy?
 
Lastly, I have $20K in the bank saved up for this car, I want to just swipe my credit card and be done with it, but at one dealership they said I can only charge $1,000, the rest has to be a check. No big, but I want the miles on my card!
 
So dear readers, can you give me an e-zanax?  

Hey Hoboken,

Take a deep breath.  In fact, take another one...You are, in my opinion, stressing yourself out way more then needed.  First thing that comes to mind is that it's OK to not get the record breaking, best deal of the century on a vehicle.  I personally bought a car from my dealership and I structured the deal myself with an $1100 profit for the store.  I have no problem letting the dealership make some money on me.  I realize that if all car dealerships sold cars for break even, or for a loss, then you'd find a lot less car dealers out there, which would in turn create a supply and demand issue, ultimately being bad for consumers.

One thing that will make a big difference in how cheap you're trying to buy a vehicle for is whether or not it is a domestic vs. an import.  Imports will always be stronger and I've found that most import car dealerships will not do the whole invoice pricing thing, whereas domestic dealerships will.  Also, if you're looking at an economical car vs. a truck, or SUV will make a big difference right now.  For instance, at the Phoenix auction used cars are selling for over wholesale value, while trucks and SUV's are selling for "many" thousands of dollars back of wholesale book.

As for paying with a credit card, that could hurt your chances of getting top bragging rights to how cheap you buy your new vehicle.  Credit card company's can charge up to 3% of the transaction value as a fee to the dealer.  On $20k that's $600 dollars right there.

To sum this up, if you want to have that record breaking deal, you'll probably need to prep yourself for some serious grinding with the dealership.  On the flip side, if you're OK with the car dealership making a little money (not an extreme amount), you'll probably find that your stress level will decrease substantially and probably get better overall customer service.

Whichever way you decide to go with this, let me know and I can help you to alleviate some stress with some more specific information...Of course, at some point in time I'll need to know what kind of vehicle you're looking to buy!

In the mean time,

Take care and beware,
J the Car Guy
www.insidercarbuyingtips.com