Buying a new car

awheelterd

Well-Known Member
Joined
Oct 18, 2007
Location
Kenly, NC
Haven't bought a vehicle from a dealer in 10+ yrs, so I have no idea how the process works anymore. Do you still haggle? 😂. Wife's acadia is 11 yrs old and she has just about gotten to me wanting a new car. New vehicles mean nothing to me and I don't care for all the new doodads and whatnot, but this isn't me. My vehicles are 18 and 23 yrs old and I'm happy as a clam with them. Is it worth trading hers in where we buy or should I be trying to sell hers to carvana or something? Is there any incentive to pay cash these days or do they not care?
 
awheelterd said:
Is there any incentive to pay cash these days or do they not care?
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We recently bought a new car. Multiple dealerships told us we could not get a better deal paying cash. The opposite is actually true. You can get a better deal by financing. Crazy.
 
Get a quote from carvana or carmax just as a comparison. Find the car you want and let them do a trade appraisal while you test drive, then you do the dance.

As long as its not a niche car, absolutely can haggle. Price down on the new car, price up on your trade. If you get to a point that the price of new car makes sense but trade doesn't, pull the trade out of the deal and sell it elsewhere.

Look for promotional financing rates since regular rates are so high.
 
If you have the cash to buy it but can catch a promotion rate, finance the car. Put the cash you would have spent in a high yield savings account and it'll probably earn a monthly payment for you.
 
I have heard people say they do they financing to get whatever promotional deal is being offered, and then just turn around and pay off the loan asap. But if you plan to do this, check whether there is any penalty for early payment.
 
thecarman said:
I have heard people say they do they financing to get whatever promotional deal is being offered, and then just turn around and pay off the loan asap. But if you plan to do this, check whether there is any penalty for early payment.
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That's what my parents did last year when they bought my moms car. I think they had to make two payments before they could pay it off.

Duane
 
drkelly said:
We recently bought a new car. Multiple dealerships told us we could not get a better deal paying cash. The opposite is actually true. You can get a better deal by financing. Crazy.
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A good friend of mine owned the Motorcycle BMW dealership in GSO and Durham before he passed away. We met as a result of one of my best friends having bought several new bikes from him in the past, and then me buying a new bike from him in 2005. When I bought MY bike he told me whatever I do, NOT to finance it thru the dealership. To get my own financing or pay cash, whatever, but at a dealership, the GOAL is to get you a great rate (let's say 5%) but present it to you as 6.2%. That way the dealership gets that 1.2% kickback from YOUR payment, every month.

awheelterd said:
Haven't bought a vehicle from a dealer in 10+ yrs, so I have no idea how the process works anymore. Do you still haggle? 😂.
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We just bought my wife a new (ish) car.
awheelterd said:
New vehicles mean nothing to me and I don't care for all the new doodads and whatnot, but this isn't me. My vehicles are 18 and 23 yrs old and I'm happy as a clam with them.
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This is me also. MY newest vehicle is 2011 but this is HER.
thecarman said:
I have heard people say they do they financing to get whatever promotional deal is being offered, and then just turn around and pay off the loan asap. But if you plan to do this, check whether there is any penalty for early payment.
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This is what we did. There was little haggling on the OTD price. But when financing was offered, there were HUGE incentives that changed the bottom dollar. Because it would take 2-3 days to get the cash needed for this purchase, as well as the BIG difference in bottom dollar because of the incentives to finance, we decided to go financed thru lexus and got 4.9% for 36 months. The plan was to pay it off the next day. (this is where it's VERY important to be sure there is no penalty) but you can't really do that. You basically have to wait till the coupon book arrives and you get a 10 day payoff. So we DID end up paying a few $100 in interest, but it was still a MUCH better deal than if we plopped down cash for the car. Whole process took less than 2 hrs from test drive to leaving the dealership.
The car before THAT I DID walk into the dealership with cash (well...they took a personal check) and the process took nearly 3 hours for some reason :kaioken:(to be honest, we did sit and argue about dumbass fees, tacked on crap, and protection I never asked for. Damnit if the price is $200, I'm not leaving there $400 poorer :flipoff: THIS is what you have to really watch.They lure you in with a sale price, but all that goes out the window when they put the deal on paper and start adding stuff up.) I was FUMING when I left there. There's no sense in that. And I truly got the feeling they were just as upset that I paid cash (see first quote for reason I believe that)and I ONLY paid for the car...not paint protection, warranty, docking fee, tuesday fee, lot shipping surcharge, coffee fee...etc
 
My last 3 truck purchases have been the same. I go into the dealer knowing exactly what I want. By that I mean stock number and/or option code.
I only discuss price of the vehicle, no mention of trade. I let them know this will be an easy sale if they don't BS me, literally I say that.
I get the price where I am satisfied and make it abundantly clear I refuse ANY dealer add ons like paint protection, wheel/tire warranty, fabric guard, etc. I'll be happy to pay the DOC fee so everyone involved gets paid. Once the OTD price is in writing, I decide if I want to trade or not. You gotta have them commit to a sale price first. It's easy to determine a trade in value these days. Just got to remember they need to make a few $$$ on your trade first. Once that is determined, it's finance dept where none of the BS add ons should be mentioned.
I have literally gotten up and walked away and drove off when the F&I guy pushed them.
I'll dealer finance for a month to get an incentive (assuming it exists) and then pay off.
Same technique has worked for me as well as my wife the last 5 purchases we have made.
 
Thanks for all the insight guys. Not really looking to finance unless they come up with a rate lower than I'm making in money market right now. Will definitely check on if there is any incentive to finance and penalties for early payoff. Just going to have to play the numbers.


In anyone's recent experience, how negotiable is MSRP these days?
 
Monkeynono said:
But... you can finance it to get the good price and then pay it off the next day.... it will fuck over the dealership but screw them.
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I've asked each time. Last time Ken Wilson Ford said as long as the finance paperwork goes through, pay it off anytime. Vic Bailey Ford said the same. Kernersville Ram said 3 months. Not sure what it's like now.
Of course, my 23 F350 is like $85k new now, so it ain't getting replaced anytime soon.
 
awheelterd said:
Thanks for all the insight guys. Not really looking to finance unless they come up with a rate lower than I'm making in money market right now. Will definitely check on if there is any incentive to finance and penalties for early payoff. Just going to have to play the numbers.


In anyone's recent experience, how negotiable is MSRP these days?
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Ford got my sticker down (IIRC) around $3k in 23 via the Mustang Club of America membership. After the price was in writing, I happen to mention the MCA membership and qaulifioed for X-Plan pricing.
Use that as a barometer.
 
awheelterd said:
In anyone's recent experience, how negotiable is MSRP these days?
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truly depends on WHAT you're buying.

Dodge Hornet? Well they have over 600 days supply on those right now. Meaning if they stopped production today, it would take over a year and a half for them to sell out of stock....so they'll likely GIVE you one as a token if you buy a Ram truck at MSRP :laughing:

If you're buying a toyota of any kind? Yeah good luck getting even MSRP :rolleyes:
 
a coworker just bought a new toyota grand highlander hybrid-max. His wife was very specific about color and interior and options. He wanted all that in the hybrid max. Apparently difficult to find. On the east coast only a handful of dealers had one, and they all refused to sell it without a $10k worth of dealer add-ons. Who the fawk needs nitrogen in the tires for an extra $500? He finally found a dealer 5 hours away in VA that agreed to not do all the dealer add-ons. He rented a car one-way, drove up there and bought it.
 
Depends on what youre buying, personally after seeing all the problems with the new "post covid" vehicles I bought 21k mile 2017 Yukon Denali for my wife. Got better deal and none of the stupid auto start BS and other stuff that is causing problems.
 
I don’t trust any of the tech in cars to last more than five years so we leased my wife's most recent car. To be honest I will probably lease all her cars from this point forward.
 
Jody Treadway said:
I've asked each time. Last time Ken Wilson Ford said as long as the finance paperwork goes through, pay it off anytime. Vic Bailey Ford said the same. Kernersville Ram said 3 months. Not sure what it's like now.
Of course, my 23 F350 is like $85k new now, so it ain't getting replaced anytime soon.
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Asking and typically being transparent with the Finance Manager, after locking in your price, typically works as an olive branch and avoids all the bullshit they normally push. Chrysler Capital has been 3 months for a long time. It all varies though. When I bought the dually in 19 he started down the add on route and I told the FM I intended to pay cash within a couple of months and what was that window to not fuck him over and get the dealership charged back. Chrysler Capital had a big rebate on new 18’s leftover in 19 at the time so I took the slightly higher rate, knocked a few more grand off the truck and was out of the FM office in about 5 minutes and on my way home.

I’ve walked away from a few deals too just to prove a point. Each time the sales manager calls within hours or the next morning and magically agrees to all of the things needed to close the sale. It’s a bullshit racket, but you just have to stand your ground.
 
StretchASU said:
Asking and typically being transparent with the Finance Manager, after locking in your price, typically works as an olive branch and avoids all the bullshit they normally push. Chrysler Capital has been 3 months for a long time. It all varies though. When I bought the dually in 19 he started down the add on route and I told the FM I intended to pay cash within a couple of months and what was that window to not fuck him over and get the dealership charged back. Chrysler Capital had a big rebate on new 18’s leftover in 19 at the time so I took the slightly higher rate, knocked a few more grand off the truck and was out of the FM office in about 5 minutes and on my way home.

I’ve walked away from a few deals too just to prove a point. Each time the sales manager calls within hours or the next morning and magically agrees to all of the things needed to close the sale. It’s a bullshit racket, but you just have to stand your ground.
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On a side note, since Ford no longer has factory installed keyless entry keypads on new Super Duties (just dealer installed ugly ones) I'm no longer hung up on them. For the pups, leaving it running with AC on is a huge bonus. Looking at Kernersville site, you can get Big Horn HO Cummings 3500s for right around $60-$65k now. A compareable Ford is $85k. Plus Ram down't have the ticking timebomb CP4 like FoMoCo.
 
Jody Treadway said:
On a side note, since Ford no longer has factory installed keyless entry keypads on new Super Duties (just dealer installed ugly ones) I'm no longer hung up on them. For the pups, leaving it running with AC on is a huge bonus. Looking at Kernersville site, you can get Big Horn HO Cummings 3500s for right around $60-$65k now. A compareable Ford is $85k. Plus Ram down't have the ticking timebomb CP4 like FoMoCo.
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Yeah but the 19+ Cummins has a slew of issues around lifters collapsing. But you can put a lot of lifters in trucks under warranty whereas FoMoCo seems to bend everyone over on the CP4 Issues. That said, anything newer around here in the 250/350 class trucks will be a Gawdzilla.
 
maulcruiser said:
I recently tried to buy a used car from Westgate in Durham. I walked out after they refused to remove the Lojack and window tint fee. That was $800 added to the sale price. What was more infuriating about it? They hadn't even tinted the windows yet.
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There are a few dealers that suck like that, they require you to buy their stupid ass packages (aka dealer profit) in order to buy from them. Fuck them, find another dealer unless it is some car nobody else can get
 
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