For the past couple of weeks my wife and I have been looking for a used car. My old car was getting up there in miles, and after having it for 5+ years I was ready for something different. Was it really time to get a new car, and was it a financially sound decision? Probably not.
If I had followed my own advice I probably would have kept stringing the car along, fixing any problems that came up and drive it until 200,000+ miles. I’m sure it could have made it that far. Having a car with no payments is a powerful thing, it allows you to take that money and do other things with it, like investing it for the future.
On the other hand, my wife wasn’t comfortable with the car any longer, and she really wanted me to move on to something newer with more safety features. So I broke down and we compromised. We bought a used car with low miles, but still at a decent price. Plus, we had planned for this day, and had saved up enough money to pay for the car in cash.
We did a ton of research, and test drove a bunch of cars. After two weeks of searching for a new car we finally bought a 2006 Chevrolet Impala LT, silver in color with 30,000 miles on it. I’ve heard good things about this car, and I liked how it is a practical car for everyday use, but at the same time it’s a little sporty. I was impressed enough with the overall package that we bought one on Saturday.
Used car shopping tips that we’ve learned
We learned a lot while looking for a used car. Some of the things we learned include:
- Don’t fall in love with a car before you buy – it’ll make you an easy target for a quick sale. Remain non-committal until you’ve test driven the car, researched pricing, and maybe driven some competing models. You may change your mind! If you don’t get the price you want, be willing to walk! (we walked on this purchase when they wouldn’t take another $500 off the price. We called back later and they broke down and gave us $500 more on the trade.)
- Don’t tell the car dealer how you’re paying (financing or cash) until you’ve actually negotiated a price. If you do they’ll have the upper hand, and they’ll often give you a better deal if financing because they know they’ll make money on the back end.
- Don’t tell the dealer if you’re going to trade in your old car until you’ve worked out a price. They may give you a different deal because they know you have a trade to work with. Get the best deal you can on the car first, and then get as much as you can for the trade. Don’t do them together.
- Do a ton of research online for the different makes and models you’re interested in. If you don’t, you may end up buying a car with a ton of maintenance problems and headaches, or end up paying more than you should. Research using sites like edmunds.com
- You don’t have to negotiate in person. Use an online used car shopping site like carsoup.com, cars.com or autotrader.com to search for and find a car you like. Try negotiating a price over the phone or by email before you even step on the lot – and do it with multiple dealers. We started the process this way, and chopped $500 off the price on the car we bought before even going to the dealer.
Links
Here are some more links related to cars, car maintenance and more that have been useful in the past couple of weeks.
- Saving money on car maintenance @ cleverdude.com
- Irritation thresholds & a car squeak @ getrichslowly.org
- How cars affect your financial freedom @ christianpf.com
- When to replace items on your car @ gatherlittlebylittle.com
Congrats on the new car! Best of luck.
FFBs last blog post..6 Ways Eating Out Less Has Made Our Family Better
Congrats on the car and thanks for the mention!
Nice car! We’ll be doing this soon, too, so I’ll keep your suggestions in mind when we go shopping.
That One Cavemans last blog post..The Rush of Paying Off a Debt
Enjoy the car! ;)
I’ve also found that “fixed price” dealerships often give you a far worse deal. For example, with our last car, the “fixed price” dealership was offering an OK price on the car, but came in at $1700 for our trade-in. We went up the street to a dealer that is not fixed price, and they offered to pay $3500 cash for our trade-in. (It’s one of the dealerships that will actually buy your trade-in for their offered price if you buy a car there or not.)
It was hard to walk away from the car at the fixed-price dealership, but we did, and got a much better deal because of it.
Slight difference!
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We found the same thing – fixed price stores make it sound like you’re getting a good deal because you don’t have to negotiate, but you can usually do better somewhere else.
We went to a store that allows negotiation, and because we did we were able to get an already decent price down, as well as getting $1750 for our trade instead of the $1000-1500 offered by other stores. It pays to shop around!
It is interesting to note that many times you can actually negotiate a better deal through a private seller if you tell them that you are paying in cash. Sometimes they are just more motivated by actual dollars and lack negotiating experience.
Joshuas last blog post..Stewardship: What does it mean?
that is true – private sellers and dealers are two very different beasts.
Ya! What you mentioned before buying a car is very important. I have something to add:
“Never say the price we want first”
That’s something I learned from a negotiation expert. He always get the sales person to start with the price first and cut it 50% or more. Whoever start with the price will not benefit a lot from bargaining!
Alex Lius last blog post..Is PageRank Important In Ranking?
Peter nice ride! Thanks for the mention!