Buying a car in this market

Put that last sentence on a t shirt and wear it everyday.

Good for you, Toyotas are nearly bulletproof an$ hybrid drivetrain is best out there. Enjoy.

 

That's a tactic I hadn't thought of. It's a good idea, assuming you did get a better price on the vehicle than you would have without leaping at the dealership's financing bait.

The last time I bought a vehicle for myself (> 20 years ago), I foolishly tried to buttress my offer with, "I'll put 60 percent of the price down as a down payment, so you should accept my offer."

 

Bought my Civic last February with 6,900 miles on it.

Got my first oil change free with the purchase. Don't drive it a ton, so that took seven months.

I had to go in for my inspection today so I got an oil change, even though it was about 1,000 miles early.

The $66 for the (synthetic) oil change was the first maintenance expense I've had with this car. I've gone about 10,000 miles, and that's including a couple out-of-town trips.

Unless something drastically changes, I'm never buying American again.

 

Better late, than never. My parents have been ultra-Buy American (in 1988 they were helping me buy my first car and said it had to be American, well there went the Integra/Supra/Celica/Prelude so I had to "settle" for the Mustang GT) but once I got married its been all Japanese for the past 25 yrs before I just got my first German car and every one has been a great car with minimum maintenance costs.

 

I know where you can get a hot deal on some Volkswagens and Porsches.

https://www.thedrive.com/news/44330...and-vws-is-on-fire-and-adrift-in-the-atlantic

 

My wife keeps asking me when we’re going to get a new CR-V hybrid we had agreed to buy pre-pandemic. Not in this market. I’m nearing 350,000 miles on my 2008 Civic, but I’m crossing my fingers it can outlast the computer chip shortage. We have the cash to buy one outright, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to pay above sticker price for a car.

 

Same, on the American thing. I had terrible luck with Dodges. Bought a used Altima in 2012 at 31K miles (was a previously leased car), got it to 180K miles, then bought the CR-V last year. And to your point, I've had no maintenance on it save for oil changes and one recall issue that was taken care of. I do need to get the rear differential fluid replaced in the next 4K miles or so, but that's normal maintenance for a new vehicle. Zero complaints. Love this car.

 

You can probably get one *at* sticker nowadays at the right dealership. Just no need for a dealership to sell them under.

 

A decade ago, we cut from two cars to one.

We had a 6-year-old Town & Country with 100,000 miles and a Camry with 140,000 miles. We sold the Chrysler. It was dead by 140,000. I got almost 200,000 additional miles from the Camry.

 

Yeah, we negotiated the price down as far as I think we could, but we weren't at the number that I wanted. So I asked if we financed through the dealership at their top rate would they give us our number. Saleswoman "checked" with her manager and came back saying yes. When we went into the finance office and went over the terms, I asked and checked the contract to make sure there was no early payment penalty and we went ahead and signed the paper work. Paid it off two months later and saved a few thousand dollars.

We also never mentioned the idea of paying in cash. I think that would probably change their calculus because they'd probably figure out what you're up to. We had been talking about financing at their lowest rate.