Celica Forums General Discussion General good tips on buying a car?

anyone have any tips on how to buy a car from a dealership and not end up getting ripped?

Do ur homework before goin out...take someone that knows about cars with you to check it over...run the VIN number for a report

make sure you see it clean (sometimes you have to request it) and in the daylight at least once. I did neither when I bought mine also do a carfax report but dont rely on that as the truth because a lot of people dont report accidents to insurance companies or police.

Start at KBB.com and get private party and resale value of the car you want. Then you know what the dealer paid for the car so you have a price to start with. Being a little agressive on a price always helps. I had my last dealer promise me that when he dies he could tell God I got the best deal possible.

Don't let the dealer hustle you.

Know the dealer holdback number, and tell them if they want to sell you the car, they are not going to make more than $500 profit on the deal.

If they don't want to sell you the car for that price, walk away.

Nothing makes a car salesman squirm more than a person with the balls to get up and walk out of the dealer.

I bought mine online using CarsDirect - couldn't be happier. No hassle whatsoever. I'm considering writing up a report on how the whole process went.

I think that buying a car from a dealer and not getting ripped is an oxymoron. Try looking for one privately. That way you know why the person is selling it, where and how it was driven, and you will walk away with a little more money in your pocket. Dealers often don't know more than jack shit about used cars. If you are buying new then thats a whole new story.

my bf had a 01 gt celica and he blew it up, well for some reason it would burn oil. anyways he also hit a tree head on when it snowed. he traded it in. and when i was looking for a car i got a memebership for 20 days of free car fax reports and we looked up the vin to his old celly and none of that stuff was on there...kinda scary.

anyways i have bought 4 new cars from dealerships..basiclly what i did was make sure that you get what you want for your trade(if you have one) you dont want to get another car starting off up side down.
also i would tell them this is where i want to be on monthly payments exp: $200-$250 and i only want to put this much down $$$-if you want to put money down(my celica was the first car i ever put money down on)
then of course test drive the car check out the motor n all the fun stuff!

look at what you're paying for...
look over the car for anything that bothers you and they should take it into consideration

Wait till there is like 3-4 days left in the month they usaly want to sell more before the new month starts (thats when the bealers have to make another payment on the cars on the lot) also if you cant make a deal they will prob have you name and phone number walk away letting them know you want the car but, then the sales person will most likely call you before the month is up. I used to sell cars for a living and these are unknown facts. I bought my car brand new at 11pm on the second to last day of the month =2001 GTS with TRD kit (not action package) and every option for 21k

one way to get a good deal is compare prices. if this guy gives you a deal, you say that the other dealership was better. for certified cars, since they are limited, there are a lot of ways to get them cheaper. all you have to do is be straight, aggressive and a little down.
be straight and aggressive. tell them you love the car, but hate the price. a nice thing to do is NOT give numbers to them. let them try their best and you say no, sometimes they go down more than the price that you were thinkin to pay. if that doesnt work out the way you want, just give them numbers you want to pay and start agreeing on it by going a little up or down. another thing to do for certified is complain. bring an ad and show another dealer is giving the same car cheaper. say the mileage is too much nomather there is warranty or not, and the price doesnt match the mileage. say you expected a body kit with it, or the rims arent anything good looking, or you wanted the interior leather or cloth seats. the color is bad. they can give you little discounts on this kinda stuffs. everything is worth the try to rip them off. good luck. go with a mechanic to check the engine, suspension, etc... if the suspension is worn out or anything else, thats another discount. and ask them to change the lift bolts for no charge and belt tensioner.

Always ask for an accident report if buying a used car

Lots of good tips here for buying used...

If you are buying new, go to Edmunds.com and lookup the [bb]invoice price[/b] on the car. Print that page. That is the average price that the dealership pays for the car. Walk onto the lot knowing that you won't pay more than $500-750 over the price on that piece of paper, no matter what BS the dealership gives you about having paid more than that or not selling that low.

You may not be able to work with the first salesman. Try coming back later that night with the same deal and talking to someone else, or if need be try a different lot. I paid exactly $500 over the invoice price on my GTS w/action package, which was around 23k before tax/title. I think the price on the car was 25.5 or something crazy like that.

depends on new or used. new, don't add any options they offer you, like paint protection tapes/strips. used, check everything, and then the KILL the price to bare bone!!! bitch about the mileage, color of the car, tire wear, ugly wheels(if you have to), any noises, anything...good luck...

if ur buying from a private check your local lemon laws

when you go look like a professional
ask to test drive the car
dont say stuff like "I wolve this car" or "I've always wanted this car"
always have a face like there are other dealers
and try be a professional
when the you dont get the price you want just leave there is about 100% chance that he will be running back to you

never discuss monthly payments. if you discuss monthly payments the dealer will just adjust your interest rate and price of the car to meet that monthly payment, usually to your disadvantage.

only discuss the total price you are willing to pay for the car. here is a tip. usually for every $1000 dollars in the price of the car you will pay $20 toward your car payment. ex. $20,000 car. 20 x 20 = $400 dollar car payment. or $20,000 car. minus $3000 down. $17,000 total. 17 x 20 = $340 dollar car payment.

tell the dealership you are pressed for time. that you only have an hour to make a deal happen.

do research and find out how much the dealership payed the manufacturer for the car.

if you go to any dealership, the dealership doesn't work for Toyota, Honda, Nissan, the dealership works for itself.

never be afraid to get up and walk out for anything. the dealership needs you to buy that car more then you need the dealership.

Here's one for ya - Car Buying Tips [carbuyingtips.com]. Read the entire thing, you won't regret it.

Just bitch slap the sales person and say 'I pity the fool who don't give me a good deal'

I bought my 2004 about 3 weeks ago here in Glendale CA. I walked in the dealer, asked for the fleet manager and oferred not a penny over invoice. I said "I'm not in a rush to buy a car but if you can sell it to me at invoice...you have a deal right now." They printed out the invoice from Toyota and I compared it to the invoice I got from AAA. Theirs was $50.00 cheaper. So there it was. Done deal. I walked out with the car with $5000.00 down and 302/month payments. Hope that helps.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I did. Always work with invoice as your reference point, not the BS number they have on the window sticker. Also along the lines of what someone else already said, NEVER give an actual dollar figure for what you are willing to spend on the car either monthly or total. You'll just end up limiting how low they'll go to that number.