- 101
- 10
- Joined
- May 1, 2002
i was in the car business for a while and ive experienced a lot of shady things. obviously i cant say all dealerships and salesmen are the same, but this is pretty much what you should expect. if you disagree with anything i have to say, post it and ill tell you what i can but theres just way too much info to post in one shot. i know a lot of you will say "oh yeah, but this is the obvious. everyone knows this" but thats not what ive experienced. here's my car buying commandments:
1. do your homework. people that do not do their homework get ripped off. just because a dealership tells you "this car was the highest rated suv in its class with a 5 star crash test rating" doesnt mean that its true. decide what your number 1 option is in a car and have a few backups. sometimes the car you want isnt the best suited to your needs
2. dont become an emotional buyer. i know a lot of you NTers are young, therefore you dont really have a lot of established credit/bad credit. dont get so excited that you were approved for a $30k vehicle that you just let the salesman dictate how much youre going to pay and dont get so excited that youve finally found the car you want to buy that you let yourself get walked all over in terms of the price/payments. emotional buyers are the ones that get ripped off the most.
3. the saleman is NOT your friend. the job of a saleman is to sell you a car for the most that you can. your job, as a consumer, is to buy a car for the least amount of money as you can. he's there to do his job so if he says "yeah i'll hook you up with a good price" more likely than not, he's just saying that to get you into his office. he's there to put you together (car dealership talk for ripping you off). dont believe what he tells you
4. dont believe the "stupid" salesman. the most effective tactic i used to "put people together" was playing stupid. i had a lot of knowledge on the cars i sold, but i didnt use any of it. when people asked "whats the horsepower" i would reply "i dont know, i'm still new here." if consumers think you know nothing and you're new, they have confidence that they can get a good deal. beware, they know more than you think
5. the lowest they can sell a car at is usually not the lowest. dealerships will take advantage of the fact that they know you want to buy the car. theyre going to try to milk you usually having faith that you will not go anywhere else to buy it. youve already test drove and fell in love with the car, but dont let that stop you from getting yourself a good deal
6. bargain, bargain, bargain. more likely than not, theyll use a sheet of paper called the 4-square to try to bump up the price a little bit. theyre going to tell you with X amount down youre going to need to pay X per month because thats what the bank wants. dont let their price cause you to bump up what you can afford. if you want to pay $200/month then tell them thats what you can pay. dont tell yourself "oh another $20 wont hurt" because it will. $20 over 60 months is $1200. do you want someone to take $1200 out of your pocket?
7. walk out when you dont get the price you want. after you do that theyre going to come after you or call you back 100% of the time offering you a much better deal. remember, the lowest they can sell you the car at is usually not the lowest
8. dont buy accessories as a a part of the deal. i remember one time i sold a car the guy wanted an alarm so we installed that and a few other accesorries, but WE CHARGED HIM $5000. thats what happens when you dont read the contract. you can get better and cheaper parts anywhere else. same thing goes for extended warranties. most of you will trade in your car or sell it so whats the point of extended warranties after the first 3-5 years?
9. read your contract before you sign it. i know youre excited to drive off in your new car, but read the contract. dont initial it if you dont agree with it. unknowingly, i had a customer sign a contract which stated he was buying a car for $19,000 OVER THE STICKER PRICE. theres so many different stories i can tell you about people coming back complaining about their contract, but thats their fault for signing it
10. shop around...dont limit yourself to 1 or 2 places. many will tell you "go to another dealership, they cant offer what were offering." when they say that. call the other dealership and put them on speaker. ask them if they can, but realize they might be pulling your chain too
11. youre in the drivers seat. they need you more than you need them. if you realize that, then youve already won the game
12. wait until the end of the month to buy a car. just like many other jobs, their jobs have quotas. i once sold a car $3000 under MSRP because i had to push one more unit out to get my bonus. better yet, go the last day of the month at night to get the best deal possible. youll be surprised how differently they will treat you
13. MSRP means nothing. sure that BMW says it costs $40k, but thats what you would pay if you had the cash. monthly payments is a whole different ball park, especially if youre going to come in with only $3000 down. once again, take a look at your contract to see what youre really paying. it might be $7k more than sticker.
14. talk to the fleet manager when you walk/call in. you can often buy a car in the range of $300 under invoice depending on how the deal works out. this is one of your best bets if youre looking for a good deal. even if you have to wait for the car to be transferred/shipped in its clearly worth every penny.
15. find the value of your trade-in with kelly bluebook. too many times ive seen the dealership tell the consumer how much their trade-in is worth. many will even print out a false kelly bluebook value sheet to show you. find out how much your trade-in is worth before you go in.
16. dont let the dealership use your credit against you. sure you have bad credit, but dont let them tell you "with your bad credit, this is the price youre gonna have to pay." theyre going to use anything they can against you to make sure you pay the price they want
17. put enough money down to cover taxes and licensing. if you buy a car at $20k in the LA area, your tax and licensing (about 11% combined) will be about $2200. if you dont cover the whole amount, it will be financed into your payments. do you really want to pay taxes for taxes?
18. always get a carfax. enough said.
19. dont fall for the promotions. we used to send out $1k online gift certificates in the mail telling consumers to come in and pick up the prize. it turns out that you could only use it on a designated website that charges $50 shipping for stuff like wine glasses. then we told them they could use it towards a down payment and people would fall for it. if its too good to be true...
20. check your credit union for a loan. usually if you finance through a bank that the dealership provides it will be more than if you try your local credit union
oh yeah, and this is my signature.
1. do your homework. people that do not do their homework get ripped off. just because a dealership tells you "this car was the highest rated suv in its class with a 5 star crash test rating" doesnt mean that its true. decide what your number 1 option is in a car and have a few backups. sometimes the car you want isnt the best suited to your needs
2. dont become an emotional buyer. i know a lot of you NTers are young, therefore you dont really have a lot of established credit/bad credit. dont get so excited that you were approved for a $30k vehicle that you just let the salesman dictate how much youre going to pay and dont get so excited that youve finally found the car you want to buy that you let yourself get walked all over in terms of the price/payments. emotional buyers are the ones that get ripped off the most.
3. the saleman is NOT your friend. the job of a saleman is to sell you a car for the most that you can. your job, as a consumer, is to buy a car for the least amount of money as you can. he's there to do his job so if he says "yeah i'll hook you up with a good price" more likely than not, he's just saying that to get you into his office. he's there to put you together (car dealership talk for ripping you off). dont believe what he tells you
4. dont believe the "stupid" salesman. the most effective tactic i used to "put people together" was playing stupid. i had a lot of knowledge on the cars i sold, but i didnt use any of it. when people asked "whats the horsepower" i would reply "i dont know, i'm still new here." if consumers think you know nothing and you're new, they have confidence that they can get a good deal. beware, they know more than you think
5. the lowest they can sell a car at is usually not the lowest. dealerships will take advantage of the fact that they know you want to buy the car. theyre going to try to milk you usually having faith that you will not go anywhere else to buy it. youve already test drove and fell in love with the car, but dont let that stop you from getting yourself a good deal
6. bargain, bargain, bargain. more likely than not, theyll use a sheet of paper called the 4-square to try to bump up the price a little bit. theyre going to tell you with X amount down youre going to need to pay X per month because thats what the bank wants. dont let their price cause you to bump up what you can afford. if you want to pay $200/month then tell them thats what you can pay. dont tell yourself "oh another $20 wont hurt" because it will. $20 over 60 months is $1200. do you want someone to take $1200 out of your pocket?
7. walk out when you dont get the price you want. after you do that theyre going to come after you or call you back 100% of the time offering you a much better deal. remember, the lowest they can sell you the car at is usually not the lowest
8. dont buy accessories as a a part of the deal. i remember one time i sold a car the guy wanted an alarm so we installed that and a few other accesorries, but WE CHARGED HIM $5000. thats what happens when you dont read the contract. you can get better and cheaper parts anywhere else. same thing goes for extended warranties. most of you will trade in your car or sell it so whats the point of extended warranties after the first 3-5 years?
9. read your contract before you sign it. i know youre excited to drive off in your new car, but read the contract. dont initial it if you dont agree with it. unknowingly, i had a customer sign a contract which stated he was buying a car for $19,000 OVER THE STICKER PRICE. theres so many different stories i can tell you about people coming back complaining about their contract, but thats their fault for signing it
10. shop around...dont limit yourself to 1 or 2 places. many will tell you "go to another dealership, they cant offer what were offering." when they say that. call the other dealership and put them on speaker. ask them if they can, but realize they might be pulling your chain too
11. youre in the drivers seat. they need you more than you need them. if you realize that, then youve already won the game
12. wait until the end of the month to buy a car. just like many other jobs, their jobs have quotas. i once sold a car $3000 under MSRP because i had to push one more unit out to get my bonus. better yet, go the last day of the month at night to get the best deal possible. youll be surprised how differently they will treat you
13. MSRP means nothing. sure that BMW says it costs $40k, but thats what you would pay if you had the cash. monthly payments is a whole different ball park, especially if youre going to come in with only $3000 down. once again, take a look at your contract to see what youre really paying. it might be $7k more than sticker.
14. talk to the fleet manager when you walk/call in. you can often buy a car in the range of $300 under invoice depending on how the deal works out. this is one of your best bets if youre looking for a good deal. even if you have to wait for the car to be transferred/shipped in its clearly worth every penny.
15. find the value of your trade-in with kelly bluebook. too many times ive seen the dealership tell the consumer how much their trade-in is worth. many will even print out a false kelly bluebook value sheet to show you. find out how much your trade-in is worth before you go in.
16. dont let the dealership use your credit against you. sure you have bad credit, but dont let them tell you "with your bad credit, this is the price youre gonna have to pay." theyre going to use anything they can against you to make sure you pay the price they want
17. put enough money down to cover taxes and licensing. if you buy a car at $20k in the LA area, your tax and licensing (about 11% combined) will be about $2200. if you dont cover the whole amount, it will be financed into your payments. do you really want to pay taxes for taxes?
18. always get a carfax. enough said.
19. dont fall for the promotions. we used to send out $1k online gift certificates in the mail telling consumers to come in and pick up the prize. it turns out that you could only use it on a designated website that charges $50 shipping for stuff like wine glasses. then we told them they could use it towards a down payment and people would fall for it. if its too good to be true...
20. check your credit union for a loan. usually if you finance through a bank that the dealership provides it will be more than if you try your local credit union
oh yeah, and this is my signature.
