I have been in Finance at dealerships for about 7 years now. And Have spent over 17 years total in the auto industry. ( body shops, dealer sales, dealer finance )
If anyone has any specific questions regarding the purchase/leasing of a vehicle, ask away.
This is just a friendly thing I like to do for people in the car community. I believe in fair profit, but hate dealerships that rape people. I am not trying to sell you anything, matter of fact, I currently work for a motorcycle shop . . So I can do nothing for you car people.
So for starters . . .
Tip #1 = Get your own financing before you begin to look for a car. If the dealership can give you a better rate than you got for yourself . . . use their financing. This will give you a reference point to make sure the dealer is not trying to make too much 'back end' money on you.
Tip #2 = Trading in a car is not always for the best. It is just another place you can get screwed. I have seen salesmen make more money on 'trade ins' than on selling new cars.

 

Great advice.

 

Very true... When I was in negotiations on Sunday, they tried to do monthly payments but just say that the monthly payments are not what we're really talking about and they will fall into place when we agree on the whole price of the car.

 

Same for leasing. Negotiate the price first.

 

I was just wondering what you thought would be a good price on a rx8 Grand touring?

 

Not on the steaming pile of crap I traded in.

 

you traded in your Crossfire?!

 

Tip no. 4 - do not use finance to buy a car . This is the quickest way to become a slave to the bank .
If you really have to get finance to buy wheels - get the absolute cheapest car you can have that is reliable .
Now - find out what the payments would be on the car you really want and sock this amount away in your interest bearing "car fund" & consider it untouchable . Work out how many years of sacrifice there will be not having the car you want vs how long it would have taken to pay the car off using finance .
Now when you have almost the amount you need go and offer cash on cars you cannot quite afford .

Then come back on this board and thank me for just saving you many 1000 s of $ and years of pain .

apply this same rule to every major item you buy except ones that gain value over time (like a house) .

Oh- BTW when you are rich - come back and thank me again .

That is all

 

There was a Crossfire on the used car lot the day I bought my car. You have to figure someone got rid of it for an 8.