These tips that start way before you even set foot in any dealership will help you get the best deal for the car you need.
Research
Never show up at a car lot without having done detailed research. You can learn all you need about cars online and use it to negotiate. For a new car, search for its invoice price, not MSRP. For used vehicles, check their recent resale rates.
Pre-Financing
Car dealerships aren’t the best place to get financing. Their rates are always higher than those offered by local banks and credit unions. Start your financing research at these places, and see if you can get discounts based on your relationship with them. Use online aggregators to get multiple financing quotes at one time. Use this information to negotiate better rates at the dealership.
Explore
Buying a car is rarely an emergency. Remember to visit multiple dealerships to get competitive quotes. Double-check these using reputable online resources to get accurate estimates. Check at numerous locations because vehicles may be priced differently in different places.
Go Online
Buying a car online is easy and allows you to eliminate annoying salespeople. All good dealerships list their inventory on their websites today. There are even several non-dealer outlets with direct-to-consumer sales partners with impressive new and used car inventories.
Affordability
Never stretch your budget for a car. Always wait till your current vehicle is paid off and then set aside some money in an interest-bearing account for one year while you drive your old car. Then, reassess whether you want another vehicle.
Negotiate
Buying a car is a big life decision that you will be paying off for three to six years. Do absolutely everything to negotiate the car loan and bring down the purchase price of the car. Be confident and walk away if you don’t like the deal.
New and Used
A gently used car is a great way to save money because cars depreciate. But the price of a used car depends on supply and demand and is sensitive to economic conditions. So compare prices and pros and cons of both new and used cars.