The Economy

How much a car costs, how it will be financed and how much the trade-in is worth are three separate discussions that a car salesman will try furiously to combine into one. Only move on to the next discussion after the previous one has been reduced to a single mutually-agreed number.

 

Same with us. Our last two cars (2016 and 2017) we just financed to get the best possible deal, then paid them off in three months.

 

They outright tell you to finance and pay it off as soon as there is no penalty.

 

Last car I bought for me daughter, they knocked $3,000 off the base price and financed it with 0 percent interest.

 

Cash and CarMax not an option?

 

You guys are all high-rollers. I’ve never bought a car with cash.

Bought my newest car about two years ago, before the car market went insane. Found a wonderful deal on a used 2017 Civic that had fewer than 7k miles on it for $15k. Pretty much a base model, but I’ll drive it for 150k miles and it’ll last until my nonexistent child is in high school. I got better financing when I bought in 2013 (1.99 also used) vs. 2021 (2.69), and I had to pull teeth to get the 2.69.

 

I had that with one dealer. I told the dealer what my price range was, including all fees, how much I was going to put for a down payment, the length of time I was willing to have a loan, and that if he didn’t have a car, to not waste my time. I told him several times: No games.

A couple of days later, the guy calls up, says he has what I’m looking for. I ask the price, and he keeps telling me to just come in for a test drive. Finally, I go there. Nice car and all. I keep asking what the price is, and the guy keeps changing the subject or saying that I’ll be happy. Needless to say, my BS Meter is soaring.

Finally after the test drive, we sit down. Guy starts doing paperwork and shows that the base price of the car is $6K above the top of my price range. I ask whether they’re lowering it to my maximum, and he says they can’t.

Now, I get it. If they’d come back $1K or maybe even $2K over my maximum, they’re figuring that I’m just negotiating. But nope. $6K more.

I flip out in front of the entire dealership, other customers, and the people in the waiting room getting their cars serviced. I’m normally a pretty understanding guy, especially towards people trying to serve me (all those years hearing Dimwits on the Phone at newspapers), but I took what the dealership was doing as an insult because they were wasting my time.

The manager comes over and tries to calm me down with a bunch of “we’ll work with you,” and like you said, they tried to talk about monthly payments. I told her I didn’t care at that point because I knew what I wanted for my monthly payment and that they were playing games when I specifically asked them not to. I walked out.

Ended up buying a similar car at another dealership 50 miles away at my price range.

 

It's a heck of a lot easier to pay cash when you refuse to pay five digits. The last three cars I bought:

1990 Lexus 400 (in 2003) with 120K miles: $8,500 (minus $2,800 trade in).
2000 Civic (in 2009) with 48K miles: $8,700.
2009 Camry (in 2021) with 78K miles: $9,600.

I go on Carvana and see a 2011 Corolla with 102K miles and an asking price of $13,000. No fucking way.

 

My buddy has been in the business for 35 yrs and definitely car dealerships are there to make $$ on (1) financing, (2) extended warranties, and (3) servicing dept. The actual sale is the launching point, not the point of the dealership.

Now of course during COVID, the prices spiked (I got bit buying several cars).

One fabulous story, he said he took in a 2002 Ford (?) diesel truck recently with 100,000k that has a discontinued diesel engine that was known to be fantastic and bullet-proof. What sold about $35k originally they sold for $25k, nuts.

 

Found Ragu’s Twitter account:

 

When I needed a side mirror replaced, dealership quoted me $160 for the mirror, plus labor to replace it.

Found a mirror online for $42, spray-painted it with the "official" Toyota gray color ($18), and the repair place I go to installed it for free, telling me, "You can slip a little something to the guy if you want." so I gave him the $10 I had on me.

You can't escape inflation altogether, but there are bushels of end-arounds that make it much less onerous.