Car Buying Advice

[Borg]

To all the knowledgable Toyota enthusiasts out there in cyberspace, I decided to start a thread to offer advice to people looking to buy a new car.

After buying a couple of cars recently (one for myself and one for a friend in the last 2 months), I have searched forums like this and other websites to gather information to give myself a "fighting chance" in obtaining the best deal possible when up against an expert in extracting as much money out of a potential buyer as possible, the car salesman.

As I have read through various threads about people buying cars and some of the advice given about how to haggle etc, I though it would be a lot easier if there was a thread dedicated to this......so here it is.

So post away, share experiences and offer advice, so that next time someone decides to buy themselves a car they have a fighting chance against someone who knows all the tricks and sells cars every day!!!

To start off I found a site that offers plenty of valuable information called Car Buying Tips.

Link

[jps137]

A few pointers I found from recent purchasing experiences

1) Get quotes for the car with the accessories/options you want when comparing dealers as the car with the cheapest price for the base vehicle may be more expensive than others when you start optioning. I found one dealer was 20% more expensive on genuine accessories than two others.

2) If you are trading in get your quotes as "change over price" (new vehicle less tradein) as some dealers offer gret trade-ins others offer low prices.

3) Check the detail to be sure you are comparing like with like. A friend purchasing a Ford Territory was quoted $1350 for a roof mounted DVD player and thought he had a bargain as the Genuine Ford item was around $3k he was a bit disappointed to later find that it was an after market

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4) If you are approaching the luxry car tax threshold ($57,123 for 2007-2008 I believe but check for yourself) consider if you need to get those extra dealer fitted accessories at time of purchase (and therefore subject to Luxury Car Tax) or can you get them a week later (afterall do you really want to pay 25% more for floor mats). Of course you need to consider your financing arrangments as this may not be possible.

5) If you wan window tinting contact a window tinter and get a quote before getting dealer quotes as it may be cheaper to take it to the same tinter yourself (have seen $100 saving by taking it yourself)

6) the most important thing ....... have a good read through the Toyota website, this forum and others before going to the dealers to ensure you know as much as you can (and probably more than the salesperson) and if in doubt have a chat with the spare parts counter as they tend to be a bit more knowlegable than the salesperson on technical issues

Edited August 25, 2007 by jps137

[Borg]

Here are a few things I have picked up over the years.

1. If a car is in stock, you are paying cash, and the car is not a brand new model, you have the upper hand in negotiating a good price. This is especially true if the dealer has a number of cars in stock in the same colour, or in an unpopular colour, and you buy that colour. Sometimes you can do a good deal on brand new models if they aren't moving as quickly as anticipated or if head office wants to get a few cars out on the road.

The carsales website comes in handy here as it is possible to find out what cars/colour/trim that some dealers have in stock. The phone is your friend here too.

2. Test drive many vehicles. When you do "test drive" the sales people. Spend some time in the showroom, maybe go a few times, and see which sales people are busy and which are standing around twiddling their thumbs. Have a general chat to a few of them. Once you have decided on a car and a dealership, make an appointment with a sales person that knew what they were talking about and you felt comfortable with. There is no guarantee that they wont turn into Count Dracula when the sale game begins, but at least you should have weeded out the ones that dont know their product, or treat sales as a mundane job and not a passion.

An example of a question I often ask is what safety features a car has. Mr Mundane will answer something out of a brouchure. Mr Passion will not only know all of the obvious ones, but also how they work and why they are important whilst demonstrating them.

3. When you arrive at the dealership to do the deal, take along a notebook or folder with all of your research notes. This should include the exact make, model and colour that you want with an estimate of RRP plus dealer delivery, quotes from different dealerships (most will supply these by email these days), a list of accessories that you want with the RRP, so when the sales person quotes $250 for mats that they sell for $85 you will be ready, some newspaper/internet ads of other rival cars (even if they are not on your short list, a printout of the Red Book and Glass Guide estimate of your trade in's worth if you have one, and details of your car loan if you need a loan.

Every time I have bought a car the first price quoted is ALWAYS* above my estimated RRP + ORC, and the price offerred for my trade in is always lower than my estimate. Sometimes I have been quoted a trade in value below the Red Book estimate for a car still under factory warranty, with low to average kms, full service history and in excellent condition. If it is possible, sell your car somewhere else, whether it be privately, to a different dealer, or to one of the on line car buying services. You will save money. Just like when you buy a car, shop your car around. This is a lot harder, if not impossible, if your new car is being imported from overseas and you need the money from the old car to pay for the new car.

*Once I bought a new car from a salesman who had just sold a car to my dad. This is the only occasion when all the early haggling was skipped and he gave me close to a bottom line price. I still managed to get the price down a little more......patience and persistance are the keys.

4. Before you are ready to buy, have a short list of dealers with the car you want in stock (if possible), so that if negotiations are going nowhere you can have a plan B. If you need to, get up and leave....but leave a mobile number. Say you are heading to a rival and watch that price fall. If it doesn't, you know that you have reached the bottom line (or close to it). Go to the 2nd dealer on your list with the price you just negotiated and see if they will beat it.

5. If all of this sounds to hard, use a car broker. There are a number of good ones on the net.

6. Do you research before you buy, not after. It is too hard to get that deposit back if you change your mind or find a better deal. Just get a price that you are happy with and can afford, and forget what price someone else negotiated. You cant compare apples with oranges, so why beat yourself up because someone else saved an extra $1000. They may have got a car that had been sitting in the dealership for 12 months that the sales people were desperate to move.

7. Read and research. The link I provided in my first post will give you enough ammunition alone to save your hard earned money (unless you won Tattslotto, then IMHO you should pay extra and get every option the after sales person offers LOL).

8. Don't forget the aftersales person. Once you have signed you will get a visit from another sales person who will try to sell you everything from paint protection, rust protection, window tint, extended warranties, fabric/leather protection, and land on the moon! If you have done your research you will know that the dealership makes massive profits from these....just listen and politely decline. When I picked up my new car last week I overheard the aftersales person talking to the boss as they were leaving. They were having a good old laugh at someone who had just paid sticker price on a car, and then got every protection possible.....maybe they had won the lottery??? More than likely they were a noob and hadn't done their research.