when we bought our first odyssey, we went in to testdrive a much nicer one that we could afford and basically we told him, this was our number and if he couldn't get to it, we literally could not buy his car and we would not finance anything.

He budged a little. it was the end of january. But we still walked away. He called the next day $500 above our price. We paid out the door 5100 off asking.

like just telling them you are interested but going to look and giving them numbers to play around with is all you really need to do.

our 2nd odyessy we bought during a frenzy. every odyssey i looked at would be gone within a day or so. it was unbelievable. So it was much harder to haggle. We ended up at a carmax and got what we needed and didn't haggle at all. I felt like a schmoe for buying a car this way but it was much easier.

You're grandfather seems like a cool guy. FUCK everyone until they give you a deal!

he dead now, but going to stores with him was my favorite. his issue though was that he would grow attached to any item he was looking at. so everyone in the room knew he was buying what you were selling but it was a matter of price. I think people would relent at times because he would literally be with you the rest of the day and you would have no other opportunity to sell anything else.

Twix has too much coconut

So much 80s in one scene. Sinbad, Cos, Gilbert Godfried and MJW

does Carmax sell new cars? i thought it was only used cars.

I usually wait around for the 0% financing deals. They seem to be inching up the months on those deals. I think they were at 7 years as 2020 closed out. Even if I end up paying a little more in price, you can't beat having that kind of time frame to pay it at no cost to you, even if you had the ability to pay cash at closing

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O judgment! Thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason.

I use CarGurus, Edmunds and TrueCar.

Same here. A few hours of scouting and I was only in dealerships for 45 minutes the last few times.

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There are only two examples of infinity: The universe and human stupidity and I'm not sure about the universe.

And go ahead and lie and pad 10% to the Carmax offer. Once they saw I had something printed from Carmax they took my word for it. Worst case they call your bluff, call you a liar and take the stated price. (Or you sell to Carmax).

Agreed. You're better off with a Mounds bar.

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Since I kinda, sorta worked in the car business (service side, but still close enough to the front end), the paying cash line is exactly true.

1) Yes, dealerships get big kickbacks from financing companies and they're still more profitable than #2.
2) Having to handle a large sum of physical cash, amongst multiple "hands", then making sure you get it IN to the bank so you can earn interest and limit more "human contact" can be costly.

With that said, regardless of how you're going to pay, never discuss things on a monthly payment.

In general (not directed at Denis), Use the intertubez to your advantage. Dealers know that infinite levels of vehicle information are at consumers fingertips.

1) Do your research. As I said above, the world is at your fingertips.

2) If you have a dedicated vehicle you want, that's great. If not, narrow down a few of the same class competitive vehicles and then test drive them and use them as leverage against one another.

3) Figure out what you want to spend on the vehicles you've narrowed it down. Make it realistic. Meaning, don't waste your time and dealership time looking at Escalade ESV Platinum's when you can only really afford a Suburban LT (I'm just using those vehicles as an example of a platform shared vehicle that has a definitive level of hierarchy).

3a) I tend to like to get my own financing and walk in with the check and wave it under their noses, HOWEVER, don't be afraid to look in to their financing options. Sometimes their options might be a little better than your bank/other financial institution.

4) As mentioned, dealerships know that you have a plethora of info at your fingertips. But so do they, and you're finding big discounts isn't really what it used to be. There can be exceptions, like year end clearances, discontinued model clearances, etc... But even still, what you see is what you get. Most know their pricing down to the penny and put their lower side price online for you to begin with. My point being, there isn't the wiggle room like their once was. Most of the big discounts are already on the hood from the manufacturer to begin with anymore.

5) Don't buy on emotion. If you find something you really like... Step back, tell them that you're still interest, but that you're going to go home and think about it and do some more homework. 9 times out of 10, unless it's a special, limited production or hard to find vehicle, it'll still be sitting there tomorrow... Or on Saturday. Think Honda accord's, Toyota Camry's, Chevy Malibu's, etc... in this context... I'll admit, I have a hard time with this as I am a car guy. However, on the flip side, I generally know exactly what I want right down to the RPO codes (I'm a GM guy so that's GM speak) and will spend considerable time narrowing down my specific vehicle, so that by the time I walk up to make a purchase, it's shit or get off the pot time, new or used.

Anyway, those are just some guidelines. There is no one set of rules. Just go with your gut. If something doesn't seem right... back up.

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Certified Dirty Old Man

you'd think..

over ten years ago, got pre-qualified for 3.1% by my financial institution for 3 years. new car was $23+k out the door, did half down and half financed for 3 years. ford dealership could only offer 6%, through ford. i called their finance dept. in detroit and they said sorry..we can't beat 3.1%. their loss, i paid off car in 3 years.

the issue here was ford was offering 0% financing, but, then i'd lose $2k off the sticker if i took the 0% financing. cash is still king.

Some do. Carmax in Kenosha sells new Toyotas. I bought my Tacoma there and received a very good deal.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Buying a depreciating asset is dumb. Buy a rental property instead and collect a stream of passive income. Save that money to buy another rental property. Pretty soon you'll have infinite income streams and can pay people to drive you around.

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Don't tell them your number or else they will say, "We don't have that model for that price but we do have this other model that fits your budget." They just lower your tier when you tell them how much you want to spend.

Buying a brand new car is a poor financial decision, unless you have a way to depreciate it in a business (you know, write it off?)

So, focus on a used car, as used as you can be comfortable. I can be comfortable in my 1999 Civic. I don't care. My wife, not so much, nor am I comfortable with her in an older vehicle like that. I'm not sure who is better off, we country bumpkins with long distances between help or you city folk with repair/towing shops on every corner with predators at each.

I got her to name a make, model and color of her next vehicle. I went online and found one in our town, but were willing to go as far as Milwaukee or Indy had it been there. We had an interesting trip to the dealership including a long test drive by both of us. I learned how the internet has changed their business model so much in the last few years, no longer can they make $3-4K on a newer used vehicle. every buyer knows every car in the country, or their region, at least.

New car profit to the salesman can be as low as $75. This place went to salaried sales with volume bonus plan. I went in with credit union loan approved, which we paid off right after the purchase. I did not even give him a chance with the financing, which may have been a mistake, but the sales manager told me flat out that I was not buying that vehicle for less than the price we paid (it was three model years old and had sat through the fall/winter without moving, might have been an albatross). He even showed me the invoice from the auction they bought it from (listed on the CarFax report they provided), and we were at $400 over that price. Yes, it COULD have been a fake. That would have required a lot of forethought, and c'mon, these guys sell cars, not forge documents.

We were happy and they seemed pleased to move the old dog.

Just my experiences, Your Mileage May Vary

It's not really a poor financial decision as long as you keep it 10 years or more.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I've never paid more than 2500 for a car. Almost every one of them I've bought off craigslist.

Timing is everything. Right now, I'd hate to have to be in the market as a buyer.

We've had this discussion before but I will never understand people who buy from a dealership. There are so many costs and overhead they have to deal with.

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Ба́бушка гада́ла, да на́двое сказа́ла—то ли до́ждик, то ли снег, то ли бу́дет, то ли нет.

I might be in the market soon...looks like my X5 just gave up the ghost. Told myself I would never buy another gas-powered car, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to go full electric yet.

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Thanks all. This will help. I figure I've got about 6 months or so of looking until it is needed.

It’s dumb to think everyone’s motives are the same.

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Lay off that whiskey and let that cocaine be.

Buy the same car one year old for X% less, also drive it for ten years, lose X% less in depreciation., as both will be worth about the same at ten and eleven years old. Yes, poor financial decision, unless you can depreciate it.

Does X% affect PenisDMAN or ScroogeMcBrick?, prolly not in the least. Does X% affect K.E?, Fn'A!

Just write it off, all the big companies do it!

That's not really a fair way to look at it. If you buy a new car, you should expect it to be a quality vehicle for you to drive for one year more than a one year old used car you bought if we are talking about the financially responsible way to purchase a car. If in your case the used car is in good condition for 11 years total then the new car purchase actually makes even more financial sense. You also get the benefit of knowing that the original owner didn't treat the car like something he was going to sell in a year.

A new car depreciates about 20% in the first year. Let's say you own the new car for 10 years, and the used car for 9 years. You paid $25k for it new. You would have paid $20k for it used.

$25k/10 = $2500 a year for the car
$20k/9 = $2222 a year for the car.

That's less than a $300 a year difference over the length of the car. It gets even closer if you finance as normally new car loans are cheaper than used car loans.

So calling it a poor financial decision isn't really accurate.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

financing deals need to be factored in too. you arent getting 0% financing on a used car. I have no issue buying new or buying lightly used. my most recent purchase i had to buy new because a low mileage manual transmission version of the car I wanted wasnt available to buy used. the car it replaced was bought used with low mileage

I have always looked at it as wanting to spend $0.xx/mile on the capital cost of the car, before gasoline, maintenance, and occasional repairs. Last time I bought a car, that was a quarter a mile in capital costs. I have to keep my car from 2013 another year or two to get there, depending on it's resale value. (My car sells for about $12k at CarMax these days, so I figure I could get $8-9k for it now.)

My next car will probably be used. I am not doing the daily commute any more so even with a lot of leisure driving my mileage will be down. I'm also expecting there to be a significant improvement in driving assistance for "regular vehicles" by about 2028. So I am looking at 2020 and 2021 models to buy in 2023/2024 when they come off of leases, and keep for five or six years and reassess while I get all my cross-country retirement driving trips out of my system this decade.

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"When people want their version of the truth, they go find it, no matter how baseless their beliefs." -- Ken Rosenthal

Thank goodness my husband didn't have this attitude toward marriage.

CoFs car

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I think the person buying a car is being dumb because they could be putting that money into an income generating property and being there own boss.

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Their.

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Why are only 14 percent of black CPS 11th-graders proficient in English?