How To Save Money On A New Car

The price of cars these days is just out of this world. You can figure on spending upwards of 30,000 for a family van. No wonder a lot of people are opting for used cars. Even with prices creeping up and up there are still ways for you to save money if you have your heart set on a new car.

The first advice I’ll offer is to do your homework before you approach a dealership. There is an endless amount of information available on the internet. Every car manufacturer has a website, dealerships have web sites. See what deals they are offering on what models. Check on the edmunds.com website for information on retail prices for new and used cars of any make and model. You should, before you even pull into the dealership, have a ballpark figure of what your new car should cost, including any special packages you may want.

A lot of dealers have taken the haggling and pressure out of new car buying, which many of consumers like. Remember the days when you’d ask what the price of a car is and the salesman would reply “how much can you afford to pay a month?”. You never knew exactly what you were paying for your new car until you were at the desk ready to sign the contract. Today we are educated consumers and those days are gone forever.

You will be able to get a good deal during the end of model year sales. The dealers will make just about any deal to get an older model off the lot to make room for a new one. Also, go into the dealership at the end of the month. Your salesman will be doing his best to sell a few more vehicles to up his commission payment.

Get the bottom line price for that new car before you talk about a trade in. Generally the first thing a salesman will ask is if you have a trade in. Say “no”. If your salesman knows you have a trade in it will affect the price you pay for your new car, no doubt. If he makes you a ridiculously good deal for your trade in you can believe that the price of your new car will reflect this. Make sure you know what the value of your trade in is. Again you can check edmunds.com. Take you car to a variety of dealerships and get an idea of this price from them.

The bottom line is to do your homework. Get a price for the new car from several different dealers. There is nothing wrong with each of them vying to give you the best deal.

Consider your finance charges. Get a quote on the interest rate you’re offered from the dealership, then check with your bank or credit union to see what type of interest rates they offer.

Helpful Tips For Buying A New Car

Buying a new car can be fun and exciting, but it can also be very stressful. After all, it is a very big decision. If you are organized, armed with knowledge, and understand the game, youll find the experience a lot more enjoyable so here are some tips for buying a new car.

Start with the basics. Decide what type, size, and price range meets your needs; then move on to the details of the deal.

The invoice price is what the dealer paid for the car, not including any incentives from the vehicle manufacturer. The sticker price is the price the dealer wants you to pay for that car, including any optional packages that may be on that particular vehicle.

Find out the invoice cost of the car. This is the key to what type of deal you can get. Once you know what the dealer paid, you can better negotiate with the dealer. The dealer typically isnt going to give you this information, so youll have to play detective and round it up yourself.

You can easily get this information by spending less than 20 and calling the Consumer Reports New Car Price Service. Its a good investment because it usually results in about a 1,200 savings.

Now its time to get ready to bargain. Ask the salesperson to deal on their base markup over cost. Never bargain off the sticker price. Youve got the invoice price and thats what you bargain off of. What type of deal you can get depends a lot on supply and demand.

If the car you are looking at is in high demand, but there arent a lot of them available you could end up paying the full sticker price. On other models, you could land up paying just 500 over invoice and that would be a good deal!

Be wary of the for just a few game. Its a game of up-selling for services and items you often dont need undercoating, fabric protection, rust proofing, windshield etching, extra warranties, etc. Some of these services are nice; but most arent needed. Be careful because they can very quickly add a couple thousand pounds to your costs. So dont get caught up in the for just a few pounds more you can have

If you have a vehicle you are going to trade in, dont disclose this information to the salesperson until the price of the new car has been established and agreed upon. That way the price you are given for your trade is the true amount that is being offered rather than some inflated figure on paper. Then you can decide if you really want to trade your vehicle in. Often, selling privately is a better choice.

Keep your stress down by knowing what you want before you begin. When it comes time to get your financing in place know what size payment you are comfortable with and then work your terms to meet that payment size. Again, dont get caught in the up-sell game.

These tips for buying a new car will have you smiling and relaxed through the entire buying process.

Choosing A New Car

Buying a new car is a big buying decision, and you want to be sure that you make the right choice.

First of all, you should make a list of what you need your vehicle to do be have. For example, when I bought my vehicle, my list included:

– 4 wheel drive
– towing capacity for a bass boat
– a nice stereo
– etc

Making that list will help keep you on track to choose a vehicle that meets your needs. Once you have your list made, you can pretty quickly narrow the options down to several vehicles that have the features you need, and that you like.

Now is where the work begins finding out which vehicle is most likely to give you the most reliable, safe use. Here are several important factors that you should check and consider.

Safety Ratings
Your dealer can probably provide you with safety data on the new cars you are looking at. Remember that there are multiple safety tests front collision, side collision, rollover, etc and you should take every test into consideration.

Reliability Ratings
If you go on MSN or other car websites, you can get reliability ratings on past year’s models based on customer feedback. While there will be variation between years, it should give you some idea of a model’s overall reliability.

User Feedback
If you know people who own the model you are considering buying, ask them for advice. They may not only be able to tell you if they are happy with the car, but give you information on which features are hot and which are not.

The bottom line is: the more data you can gather from different sources, the more likely you are to make the best buying decision. Your dealer is an excellent source of information, but it’s important to gather data from other, un-biased sources, as well.

Happy new car shopping!