This is a horrible time to acquire a utilised car, so normally, I identified myself shopping for two of them within just two months.
The historical Saturn station wagon whose death I mourned in my July 11 column had to be changed with another station wagon (since I appreciate them). And I served as unofficial gross sales specialist for my daughter, who wanted a new previous car due to the fact her old previous car or truck was totaled in an accident.
One rationale I continue to keep a vehicle forever is that I dislike the auto-purchasing experience way too considerably to do it more than after a 10 years. Here’s what I figured out this time around
• Dealerships will say they will not negotiate, but they will negotiate. (I did not go to any of the Carmax-kind spots that brag about their no-haggle plan it could be various there.)
I heard some edition of the exact same story from every single salesman (they were being all gentlemen): Used-motor vehicle selling prices are way up, pretty very little bargaining room this is not 1985 any more, and so forth.
But in the close, certainly, they cut the rate by a couple hundred dollars as soon as they realized we ended up really serious about acquiring the automobiles and serious about not paying what they had been inquiring.
Did we get a fantastic offer? Who appreciates. Car sellers usually have greater data than car or truck consumers.
• When throwing quantities all-around, factors can get perplexing. So when you and the income agent get there at the “out-the-door” value — tax, title and all — write it down for your self.
When it arrived time for my daughter to sign the paperwork to buy her motor vehicle, we uncovered that the selling price was $400 additional than we’d agreed on for the reason that the finance officer at the dealership experienced been provided the mistaken figures. (I’m contacting it an honest error.) Experienced we not requested him to doublecheck the figures, she’d have paid out too substantially.
• Need two keys. In both equally situations, we were informed that the cars and trucks only arrived with one particular one particular. We utilized that as a negotiating position, since essential fobs price tag a fortune presently. On my car (a 2012 Prius V station wagon — indeed, I got my wagon), the price of buying and programming a 2nd important would have been $350 to $400 at a Toyota dealership. I discovered a neighborhood locksmith who did it for $225.
• Make no assumptions. Does the car or truck occur with ground mats? Some really do not. Does it have a spare tire? Producers don’t incorporate them in each individual model any longer. Does the “multi-issue inspection” mean each individual difficulty was basically mounted? My daughter walked absent from a 2010 Toyota Camry since the steering wheel shook when she braked. She went to another dealership marketing the same model, same 12 months, similar selling price, in superior problem, with a little bit bigger mileage. She bought that a person.
And now I hope I don’t have to store again until finally 2031.
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.
joe.blundo@gmail.com
@joeblundo
