I have a sweet auto mechanics class that I'm in right now which isn't stunning to anyone becuase you would so expect that from me, but I LOVE it! We had a class on dealership tricks and I thought it was great stuff to know so I'm passing it on!!
Trade-ins:
1. Let's say you have a car to trade in worth $3000 and you want to buy a car for $7000. Well, those dirty tramps will say the car is worth $10000 so when they give you the $3000 back for your trade in car you are really just paying the original price.**Always find out the price of the car before you tell them if you have a trade in or not. If they ask, tell them "no, i have no trade in" and then once you have a fixed price on the new car, tell them you changed your mind and want to trade in a car.
Intrest/Pricing:
1. Don't tell them how much you want to spend monthly, or tell them a lower number than you really want. If you want to pay $400 a month, they will always say they can't do that, but they can have you pay $430...not that much more but makes a difference!
2. If you do financing with your bank through the dealership the bank will usually have an interest rate of about 5-8% and then the dealership will charge 11% and pocket the extra 3%...rude!
3. Tell them you want to buy the car for about $1000 less than you can really pay and then negotiate from there. * always negotiate, the price isn't unreasonable until they ask you to leave.
Picking the car:
1. Most dealerships will allow you to take the car off the lot to get it checked out by a mechanic. (if they ask for your driver's license as a way to make you come back with the car your taking to the shop, give them something else, they will steal your soc. security # from your license and look up your information so they know how much you can pay) Take it to a mechanic that can use the work so they really do a good job.
2. Chekc out the license plates on the cars in the area, whichever dealership you is the most is
usually
the best one.
3. If you get to the dealership and the car has already been started, that is a BAD sign. It means it doesn't start up consistantly or correctly.
4. Drive more than one of that kind of car so you know what "normal" feels like and how it should run.
Okay I think that's it for now. Sorry this is soooo long, I just found it pretty good to know!!