Car Shopping

and i recently learned that "new" is a relative term. if the manager drove it for a few weeks, suddenly it's "used" (ok, actually "pre-owned") which means it's cheaper. so the moral is not to reject all pre-owneds.

 

If possible, a loan from your 401(k) might be a good idea.

The only interest you pay is to yourself.

Not possible for everyone, of course, but something to consider.

Not junk --- and certainly more reliable than just about any Mercedes or Jag (the most overpriced and unreliable pieces of metal on the planet) --- but simply not as reliable as Japanese.

My Japanese car is at 197,500 miles and still going great.

 

My Ford van sure is. I can see why the Lions suck, given the performance of that van. But that was my fault -- we bought it quickly at CarMax as a low-priced, last-minute buy when my wife was pregnant with our fourth child, and fitting everybody into a Toyota Corolla was no longer an option.

Still, I have bought twice at CarMax, and would never go anywhere else. The Toyota was a great car, but I felt personally violated by the time I was done with the dealer, who (and this was before kids) told my wife and I all the problems he and his wife had conceiving -- and for emphasis, had the picture of him and his wife facing our side of his desk. The Ford is crap, but the experience was much better at CarMax. We also bought a Mercury Villager at CarMax that has lasted quite well.

Plus, if you have two small kids messing up your car, it might not be worth spending big bucks to buy new. At least that's been our attitude. (To be fair, I probably mess up the car a lot more than my kids.)

 

Check Edmunds for the manufacturers price. The minimum mark up is 10% on the car and 20% on the options and packages. Edmunds will all tell you what rebates exist. Sometimes the manufacturer kicks back hundreds of dollars to the dealership on each car sold, this should fit into your equation.
On the last purchase, the salesmanager gave us a price 1,000 dollars less than the sticker, thinking we would be impressed. When I looked disinterested and unimpressed, he asked what would it take to make the deal. I told him 1,500 less than his last price. After some back and forth, they came down another 1,300. I'm sure they still made money.

If you want actually intend to buy a car they will not let you leave. I have gotten up and walked out of dealerships a few times, but they have always followed me out and came down on the offer.

Dealerships don't make their real money on the sale of cars, but on the service and repairs.

 

Well, I believe I have narrowed the actual car choices to the Subaru Outback, Isuzu something or another and the Suzuki something or other. All are relatively close together on price, but one company is offering a deep discount. The strange part is that all three local dealerships are basically on the same lot. That bugs me because I was going to haggle with three different people before making my choice between the three cars.

 

Actually, that'd be a program car. Not pre-owned. For it to be used or pre-owned, the title has to change hands.

For example, my Jeep Wrangler had 221 miles on it when I took it for a test drive. To me, that's a brand new vehicle. But the title had changed hands three times (factory to dealership #1 - which went out of business - to auto auction to dealership #2).

Because the title had changed hands, it was a "used" vehicle. It saved me $5,000.

 

Once I knew what type of car I wanted (for new cars) I got a report from Consumer Reports that lists to the penny what the car costs and what rebates and such there are.

You have to pay for it, though.

 

Don't buy the Isuzu, it is a GMC. I had a Trooper that lasted 175,000 and still was going when I got rid of it. That was built in Japan. But the Isuzus today are just rebadged GMC SUVs. Suzuki has lousy reliability.

Go to the library and check out some Consumer Reports on cars. I don't agree with their subjective opiniions about cars like ride and handling, but they do their research about reliability and repairs of prior years models.

If you are looking at an Outback type car, check the Honda CRV and the Toyota RAV4, they look great but designed even better.
I like the Suburu, their Tribeca is very cool.

 

Edmunds has the same info and it is free.

 

It has been a while since I bought a car (jinxed myself).

 

Sad to say, HeyAbbott is correct about the Isuzu. I love them, but the ones sold in this country are rebadged TrailBlazers. I'm on my third real Isuzu, and love it.

I'd check the Outback, the Rav4 and the CR-V. If you need something bigger, look at the Highlander or Xterra.

 

The April issue of Consumer Reports is their annual car issue. It should be available on newsstands now. Lots of good info in there.