How to Get the Lowest Price on a New Car
Buying a new car is a huge expense and can make a big dent in the family budget. Understanding the car buying experience can help you determine how to get the car that you want without paying too much for it. Practicing smart shopping techniques when buying a new car can save you thousands of dollars on the total price of the car.
Determine What Car you Want
Before beginning the process of buying a car, it is important to narrow down your options as much as you can. If you are looking at 20 different cars you are going to spread yourself too thin and won’t be able to get the best price on the new car you are really interested in. It can be hard to compare many different car models because the options packages are different for each car and no two cars are identical. Comparing only two different new car models makes it easier to get the best price on your final choice.
Avoid Being Bullied by New Car Sales People
When buying a new car, you will always get a lower price if you are in control of the buying process rather than the sales person taking control. Set the tone early in the buying process and let the dealership know that you are buying a new car on your own terms or not at all. Most new car dealerships will respect a consumers desire to test drive a car without a sales person present if they believe that there is real interest in purchasing a new car. Don’t let the sales person push you around by selling you on a car that you don’t really want or is out of your price range. The goal of a new car sales person is to have you walk out of a car dealership with a new car the same day. By purchasing a car on your first visit to a new car dealership, you will often be reacting on emotion and have less control over the final purchase price of your new car.
Using the Internet to Get the Best Price on a New Car
Once you have narrowed your list of new cars down to your top choices, it’s time to turn to the internet to shop around for the best price. When shopping for a new car, the internet can be used for two main purposes. The first is to research your car choice to reinforce your decision. Search for owner reviews of your car choice, reliability ratings, safety ratings, model revisions (whether not there have been any changes made to the model you are interested in since the previous year), and model options.
The second purpose for using the internet when buying a new car is to contact dealers. Many consumers limit themselves to local dealerships, not realizing that they can save thousands of dollars on a new car by having it shipped or picking it up themselves. Consumers can use online buying services such as Costco.com, autobytel.com, and cars.com. Car buying services typically have agreements with dealers to offer consumers a set low price on a new car. All car manufacture websites have an option to get an online quote on a new car. This feature sends you price quotes on a new car from any dealerships you choose. Since car manufacturers do not want buyers forcing car dealerships to compete against each other they often only allow you to request one dealer for each request that is made. To submit requests to multiple car dealerships, you will need to hit the back button on your browser and resubmit your requires for a different dealership.
Shop at the End of the Month
Car dealerships often give buyers a better deal at the end of the month because they are trying to meet their end of the month quotas. Shopping at the end of a quarter will give buyers an even better price on a new car.
Get Dealerships to Compete
If you really want to get the lowest price when buying a new car, you get dealerships to compete against each other. Since internet quotes are emailed to you and able to be printed, they are considered a written quote. You can then take your lowest quoted price and ask other car dealerships if they can beat it. Many car dealerships have a policy that they will beat any written quote by at least $100. After contacting several dealers, you can be confident that you are getting the best price on your new car.
