Buying a new car is a major investment, but some people go shopping without any serious preparation or research; and car salespeople just love these types of individuals because they don’t know what they want and can be steered towards higher profit cars.
The next time you decide to visit a car dealership in search of a new car to buy, these tips may help you to get a better deal and not to get cheated.
Research the Cars Months AheadKnowledge is power, as the saying goes, and this holds very true when you are about to shop for a new car. But doing your research months before you show up will actually make your time at the car dealer shorter.
The reason why is you automatically have eliminated cars that you don’t want to see, and narrowed it down to just one or two models.
Being prepared early also has a psychological effect on you. Because you are prepared and know the facts, pricing, and deals on the car you are interested in, you’ll come to the car dealership with more confidence and will know if the staff is stretching the truth or not.
If a car salesman says the car you are interested in gets “fantastic mpg!” and you have the real information at hand, you can say “That’s not true, it gets decent mpg at around 24 city/highway driving."
This automatically puts you in control because the salesman knows he cannot feed you misinformation and will have to be very careful about what he says to you. He’ll know that you are prepared.
Figure Out Your Financing Months AheadIf you know how much you can afford, what sort of monthly payment plan you can handle, and what a good APR rate is, you are way ahead of the game.
The reason why all of these things matter is to not only give you a good idea of your financial standing in taking on a new payment for a car, but it also helps you to know what sort of deals you should avoid.
If you understand that your budget will only allow so many dollars a month towards a new car, you won’t be caught off-guard when the finance person at the car dealer tries to increase your APR or payment schedule.
Figure Out How Much the Dealer is MakingIf you know how much the car dealership hopes to make on the sale of the car you are interested in is, the better chance of you making a good deal there. The Internet is full of information on what car dealers make on cars and what their profit margins are. This usually works out to about 2-3 percent of the MSRP.
Do your research and find out what a reasonable profit is for the car dealership, and negotiate your way to a great deal.
Timing Is EverythingSome car experts say that visiting the car dealership about an hour before it closes will give you more leverage in getting the price you want.
That’s because car salespeople hate to see a customer walk out the door, and if there’s only an hour left before closing, they’ll have to hustle to strike a deal that will make you happy before they close shop.
It’s most busy during nighttime and weekends so try to avoid these time slots. If you can swing it, you can also try to visit during a weekday when business is usually very slow.
Source:
Yahoo Autos