Buying First Car

[kandeebunny]

I am planning on buying my first car in the next few months, I have saved up, but are there any hints on getting a better deal on a new car? I am feeling a little about the whole thing and I have no male figure to turn to for help with this and my mom is awful at this stuff! Any advice would be super appreciated! I've already called and gotten my insurance quotes, and checked with my CU on financing.

TIA!

 

[missmulan]

Ford Motor Company has a first time buyers program (very lenient) geared toward college students. Not sure if they are still giving away the Dell Computer/Printer with a purchase of a Focus. Also go through Costco/Sams Club for their rock bottom fleet pricing. If you finance directly with the automobile's lender, you'll get the rebates & incentives.

 

[kandeebunny]

I'm not sure I understand what you mean by fleet pricing *scratches head*

I got a really good rate from my CU and don't know if I can get lower from a dealer, but it can't hurt to try!

 

[dixipixi]

Are you looking at "brand new" vehicles, or used ones? If you are thinking of buying a "brand new" one, have you considered a "demo" model? These are vehicles that have been used by the company for a short period of time and have very few miles on them. We sell auto parts / have wrecker service / and mechanic shop. DH will not buy a brand new car. They depreciate immediately! He also believes it is a good idea to go the "demo" route because any problems with the vehicle should have shown themselves after a few months of use.

My current car is an 05 Grand Am. It was a program car. It only had 5,000 miles on it. The "brand new" one sitting next to it on the lot had a price tag over $7,000.00 more than my "demo". I love my car. It gets excellent gas mileage.

By purchasing cars this way, I have been able to get a new car every year without losing any money because my vehicle took its depreciation before I ever bought it.

Just a thought...

 

[kandeebunny]

Awesome! I wanted a new car, not used for a few years. So I was looking at either buying a leftover 2004 or a new 2005, but if I can get a demo that would be awesome!

 

[swilshire]

I'm sorry to say it, but I suggest you find a male to take along with you when you shop. It doesn't matter if said male is totally ignorant of autos. Salesmen (and even saleswomen, sadly enough) will work better with you.

I could go on and on with stories about trying to shop without my husband (who hates the whole process and begs to be left at home). I've left dealerships because of being ignored by salesmen. I've had salesmen walk right past me to shake hands with my husband (I don't have a hand?). I've bought from dealers just because I found a salesman who had a clue that a female could actually buy a car. I've written letters to the owners of dealerships explaining why they lost my business. This has been going on for a couple of decades and I don't see things improving any.

This is really a pet peeve of mine. The other is deals that are "good for today only". When a salesman says that to me, my husband starts chuckling in the background. I actually had one salesman stick to that on my last purchase and say he wouldn't sell me the car at the named price when I called back the next day. I couldn't believe it. We finally worked it out in the end, but it was a real shocker.

Sheila

 

[macs4us]

We bought a Honda Civic Hybrid in August. Since these are in high demand here (California) it was tough to get a good price directly from the dealers. I got pricing from Costco, Sam's Club, AAA and my credit union - the credit union pricing was the winner by $1K. They were great since we financed through them, we signed the papers and our new car was waiting for us just outside the door - we never had to go to the dealership.

I concur about the demo cars. My parents bought a Lincoln Towncar as a demo and saved a ton of $$$$.

Make sure you check out pricing on kbb.com and edmunds.com. They also list any incentives available, and how to calculate what you should really be paying for a car. Also take a look at the true cost of ownership data. Edmund's has great articles!!!

Good luck...

 

[DizzKneeLand]

My suggestion - is to pay the $40ish dollar fee to Consumer Reports for the Car information.

You get to access this information unlimited amount of times for 3 months. You can price compare - look at options .... and see what the best price that CR tells you to start negotiating from.

My second suggestion would be to figure out what car you want - go to the dealers website and work with the internet dealer.

I did that on my purchase of my current vehicle a year ago and it was very straight forward. I had done the research through CR so I knew what the price of the vehicle was - not the advertised price but the invoice / dealer figures.

The internet salesperson - showed me the invoice - explained his forumla to me - which was a small percentage of 'profit' over the invoice price. It was easy - painless and quick.

The internet salesperson told me he does not work on commission (at the dealership I went to) he was a salaried employee.

I also checked a couple other dealerships for the same brand - and they all gave me the same figure and calculation for a car with similiar features.

Was a painless event - even though I shopped without a 'trophy male'.

Hope this helps you in some way ...
DizzKnee

 

[KarenAylwood]

My father helped me purchase a car last May. We looked through Consumer Reports to compare makes and models and were deciding between the Honda Civic and the Toyota Corolla. I agree that you should bring a male along whether or not he knows much about cars. It's important not to be wishy-washy, be well-versed and know what you want. We looked on carfax.com and edmunds to find out what the car was really worth (like someone else previously mentioned). I ended up buying a 2005 Toyota Corolla LE as they had JUST come out at that point and had a few more features. We got an incredibly good price for a car that had been on the lot less than 48 hours when we bought it.

I don't know your age or situation, but at the time they also were offering a $1,000 rebate for any college graduates (means you had to have proof of graduation within the past two years).

The more you know (or at least, seem to know) the more seriously the dealer will work with you. And I still second the "bring a male with you" idea.

Goodluck! And I absolutely LOVE my Corolla.

 

[weare6travelers]

Edmunds.com has a wealth of information about how to buy a new and used car. It also has ratings and reviews of cars. We are in the process of looking for a used car for our 16yr. old DD. Good luck!!

 

[kandeebunny]

I am 21 so not quite out of college yet, I have a year left. I am debating between a civic and an impreza. I like the fact that civic's are hard to kill, but the impreza comes with AWD and I live in New England so that is a perk. I was debating about consumer reports, but I will look in to that some more. I've been looking on kbb.com at sell back prices and how they cars depreciate and what holds the value the best, and the 2 I've been seriously looking at maintain their value about the same. It's just so overwhelming and a huge financial decision. I have a male friend who will come with me who knows a decent amount about cars, he just looks for different things than I do (if they can go really fast) so getting him to think reasonable responsible and safe may not be that easy!!!

Thanks everyone!

 

[EthansMom]

I'm also a female, bought my first car on my own when I was 24. Very stressful, but I survived. Here's my advice for what it's worth -- get a budget car and buy it new, give it proper maintenance and drive it forever. I've owned both a Honda Accord and a Toyota Corolla -- I highly recommend both Hondas and Toyotas for their reliability. Either a Civic or Corolla might be a good idea for you.

There are a lot of extra charges to beware of when buying a new car -- don't pay extra for undercoating or topcoating (new cars already have these). I think I used http://www.autobytel and http://www.edmunds.com to research my car thoroughly before purchasing it. You can find out what all of the extras really cost and compare that to what the dealer tries to charge you.

Don't let a salesperson convince you to lease instead of buy. Yes, you could get a fancier car if you lease, but at the end of the lease you won't own a car! I actually had a good friend who was preapproved at a great rate with her CU and went down to buy a Civic and came back with with a leased Civic because the salesperson convinced her that she could get a 6-deck CD player for the same payments!!!!

Also, go in and test drive any and all of the cars you are interested in -- let the salesperson know that you are just beginning to think about purchasing a new car and will not be making a decision that day. Be pleasant and get a business card from the salesperson. I drove two cars that I was interested in that I hated when I drove them -- one had a huge blind spot and the other had too little power.

AWD is probably a good thing to have in a car -- we just got it in our last car and plan to get it in the next. You should also think about things you may want down the road -- 4 doors is great if you keep this car for a while and end up getting married and having a child while you still have the car (scary, but I've still got the car I bought).

At this point, you're not going to find a leftover 2004. New cars are generally introduced in the fall, so this fall the 2006s will come out and the dealerships will be cutting prices on the 2005s. If you can wait until late summer/early fall (you know, when you start seeing the ads on t.v. about trying closeout the 2005 models), then you might be able to save a few bucks.

One method of purchasing that I would highly recommend to anyone (and am seriously considering for myself in the future) is to use a car buying service like Costco has. Basically, they have already negotiated the car prices down for you and you contact the dealer representative and get a "no-haggle" price -- depending upon the popularity of the car you want, the "no-haggle" price should be lower than sticker price and probably only $200-$300 more than a good haggler could get on their own. Based on my experience, I would say that it is well worth the extra $200-$300 to have an easier car buying experience.

I hope this helps!

 

[Pooh_Friend#1]

I bought my new car when I was 24 (last year)....do not pay for Dealer Handling Fees, those are junk fees added on for a profit. My family always refuses to pay this and the dealers finally give in to take it off.

I bought a Nissan Pathfinder, if you want to wait a year until you graduate, Nissan had a great college program which offered me the going rebates, plus $1,000 down, plus Tier 1 financing (the best you can get!!!)

Good luck, its a big step and quite stressful but I made it through and now I am in the process of buying a house!!!!

 

[kandeebunny]

I can't wait another year at this point. The AWD SUV I have had since HS which my mom had purchased is now costing more per month to maintain and fix than a new car payment. So holding out for a year won't do me much good at this point.

I am looking at 4 doors though no wedding or kids in the near future for me, but more because I do travel a lot, and when I go out with my friends I am always the one to drive. (I don't trust them driving they aren't all that safe.)

I am glad I live in a state with no tax which will save me some money. I will definatly check out edmunds!!!

Thanks again everyone!

 

[ckoncurat]

Car buying made simple:
1. Check out consumer reports buying guides at the library. Get an idea what kind of car you would like. Test drive a few without making any commitments.
2. Once you've decided which car you like, PAY for consumer reports detailed info to get an idea what a good price would be. Or if its a used car, use kelly blue book.
3. Find at least 2 dealers with the car you want. Go to one. Get a quote. Then go to the other and say "ABC moters will give me the car for $$$ price. Can you beat that offer?"
4. Don't get too picky about color or other external things. You spend most of your time INSIDE the car. You want reliability, performance, and comfort, in that order.
5. Don't buy undercoating, extended warrenty, or other add-ons. They are usually not worth it.

Good Luck.

PS- I dont neccesarily agree with the advice to take a guy, unless its a guy you really trust. Girls can DO THIS TOO!

 

[buckeye]

www.edmunds.com is a MUST. You can learn so much from this site. Spend several hours on this site and get on the discussion boards for the car you want to buy.

Good luck! Hondas and Toyotas are great---we have one of each.

 

[vanyel]

After much research, we just bought a Hyundia Sonata and my daughter, just graduating from college, bought a Hyundia Elantra. We both got great interest rates, and they're rated highly at quite a few sites for reliability and (in) frequency of repairs.

I hate to say it but cars like the hyundia, toyota, honda, nissan have much longer "lives" than the traditional American cars - Chevy & Ford. My other daughter loves her Saturn but it's resale value isn't as much as the honda.

Don't let them pull the "what will it take to make you buy this car today" and "this deal will be gone tomorrow" It's a scare tactic used because many car salesmen work on commission. If you don't know what to do, remain confident, and go home and think about it.

Check out rebates and other deals. Go to the library and read the car reviews - consumer reports and the others mentioned.

Agree with the others - leases get you in a revolving door that's difficult to get out of. STay away from them!

Good luck and have fun.

 

[KarenAylwood]

I haven't read all of the replies since I first posted, but one mentioned that you should look in late summer/early fall to get deals on 2005's as the 2006's are coming out. Check when the model you are looking at actually comes out. I bought my 2005 Corolla in LATE MAY of 2004! Crazy huh? Over the summer (not even just late summer) there were deals on 04's because the 05's had been moving in since May.

Check out when the car(s) you're interested in change over from year to year to get the best deal. I agree that the 2004's will be gone by now.

Also, one thing I found was that with the Civic you couldn't pick and choose options (ie if you want ABS you HAD to get the best model which is LOADED). The Corolla options are not segregated by model. In late May and early april there were base models (CE) with just ABS added (when I was purchasing this was the only criteria I absolutely HAD to have). They were all out of these by the time I went to buy in late May and had to go with an LE to get ABS.

Goodluck!

 

[swilshire]

If you want AWD, you should definitely check out Subarus. I have been driving them since 1986 (used after the first, which was a demo). My most recent one is an AWD Outback. Lots of room for luggage for trips.

I reluctantly traded my 86 model in on this one, which was still running like a dream after 239,000 miles. Very little maintenance costs in 20 years of driving. The Outbacks seem to hold their resale value very well.

JMHO.

Sheila

 

[manticore]

I am 21 so not quite out of college yet, I have a year left. I am debating between a civic and an impreza. I like the fact that civic's are hard to kill, but the impreza comes with AWD and I live in New England so that is a perk. I was debating about consumer reports, but I will look in to that some more. I've been looking on kbb.com at sell back prices and how they cars depreciate and what holds the value the best, and the 2 I've been seriously looking at maintain their value about the same. It's just so overwhelming and a huge financial decision. I have a male friend who will come with me who knows a decent amount about cars, he just looks for different things than I do (if they can go really fast) so getting him to think reasonable responsible and safe may not be that easy!!!

Thanks everyone!

If you are looking for AWD another car to look at would be one of the Matrix/Vibe twins. They are wagons similar to Impreza but are a little bigger. Both use Toyota mechanicals and are reliable cars, they are built off the Toyota Corolla platform and use Toyota engines. They are also very safe cars(check their crash ratings @ www.nhtsa.gov. I owned a Vibe GT up until 6 mos ago, traded it for a bigger car with DVD player for DS. I want my Vibe back. It was a fun car to drive with tons of room. They look small on the outside but really can carry a lot and IMHO look good doing it. I personally like the looks of the Vibe better, but just because it is a Pontiac it is likely not to hold the value the same as the Matrix. The Vibe is also a little higher in price but that is because GM builds in room for rebates. After rebates prices are pretty close. It also helps to know someone who has a relative that works/worked for one of these companies. Often they are allowed to give discounts to friends and family. My father worked for GM so we get to give discount coupons for Supplier Price (invoice) to friends. You could probably get that price on your own with a bit of hagling, at a desperate dealer. With the certificate it is automatic and no haggling is required. I am not sure if Honda or Subaru offer such plans though and neither has a large workforce in this area (other than dealers).

I also recommend taking a male with you, I have gone with many female friends and relatives to buy cars and know there is often a big difference in the way they are treated.

Good luck on your car buying adventure.