BG Auto I summon thee. 1st time buying an actual car.

[Abandon]

this nigga about to talk you into buying a miata so he can race you

[Meresgi]

You'd be in the 60-70K Miles range for a civic/corolla, but that is nothing to those cars.

Oh really? Ok then. I was looking at some of the mileage around 50k or so and thinking that was a bit too high. Prices there were around 11-13k though. I'm not too sure on a private party due to how much I lack in terms of vehicle knowledge and what to look for/keep an eye out for when it comes to certain makes and models.

this nigga about to talk you into buying a miata so he can race you

Gonna get a spoiler, rev up some Initial D soundtrack and driffffffffffffffffffffffft-ooooooooooo.


Anyone driven a Honda Fit? 2012 Sport here for 30k miles at $13,000.

[Quixon]

this nigga about to talk you into buying a miata so he can race you

He wouldn't have a chance lol.


For some cars... yeah man 50K is a lot of miles (Like that VW, BMW, etc.). 50K on a good quality "appliance" car is really nothing. Do you have a mechanic you can trust? If so don't be too afraid of private party. That being said, dealerships are just as shady. Ask Ragnell about how shady a dealership can be with all the issues he had they we ended up having to fix after the fact.

Another good tip is once you have narrowed the search down to 2-4 vehicles, start looking for the largest forum community for that vehicle and start reading. You'll find out almost every common issue, and at what mileage those issues tend to creep up in a very short amount of time. You can use that knowledge in negotiations.


For instance: The clutch on an S2000 tends to go at 75kish. If you were looking at an s2000 with 80-90K miles, you sure as hell know you want it to have a new clutch in it. If the oem original clutch is still there.... you cut the price the owner is asking by 1-2K to cover that. It works for dealerships too.

Carfax is also a lovely tool to work people and dealership down on price (as much as I fucking hate car fax). That you can't really mess with till you have a specific exact car in mind. You'll find a good vehicle/accident history with that. Dealerships love to fuck people over on trade ins and tank the value of trade ins for the smallest blemish on a Car Fax report. You can use those same negotiations yourself when you are buying a used car.


If you don't have a trusted mechanic now, find one. That'll help you with piece of mind buying a used car. You can usually throw a mechanic $75-100 for a "pre purchase" inspection. As a party with "no skin in the game" you can trust their objectivity over the dealership that is trying to take you for the most money possible.

[Meresgi]

http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com...onda_Fit/2009/

Was looking off their list of best for a budget between 10-12k and 12-14k. Did find a 2009 Honda Fit sport with 12k miles at 13k:

http://ourismanhonda.com/iframe.asp?page=PREOWNED

Emailing them for a carfax report as it seems a fairly low price for that mileage?

[Talint]

I will second everything Kohan has said about Priuses. They are the worst vehicle.

Other than that, everything Quix has said is spot on.

And don't be afraid to walk away. Any seller wants you to bond with the vehicle when you test drive it, and thus give them carte blanche on pushing everything and anything onto you.

[Quixon]

I'm not sure if the price is good or not on a fit, they are pretty cheap price wise brand new though.

I forgot to mention a website if you do want to explore new car options. I haven't used it personally, but for those that are new to new car buying or negotiating the price of a car in general...... it's supposed to be phenomenal. It basically takes the negotiating out of the new car purchase:

http://www.truecar.com/

[Tokitoki]

I'm not sure if the price is good or not on a fit, they are pretty cheap price wise brand new though.

I forgot to mention a website if you do want to explore new car options. I haven't used it personally, but for those that are new to new car buying or negotiating the price of a car in general...... it's supposed to be phenomenal. It basically takes the negotiating out of the new car purchase:

http://www.truecar.com/

What TrueCar does is give you dealers in the area that immediately advertise discounts. If you go to them with the certificate you can print out they will honor that price. At the same time, you should see what incentives they are advertising because it may not be any more than what is already laid out in their leaflets.

[Quixon]

http://ourismanhonda.com/iframe.asp?page=PREOWNED

Emailing them for a carfax report as it seems a fairly low price for that mileage?

LULZ, I was browsing through their inventory and noticed it was right in Maryland. I actually just called the dealership about that Volvo XC90-R that is on their pre-owned inventory list :-p

[Quixon]

What TrueCar does is give you dealers in the area that immediately advertise discounts. If you go to them with the certificate you can print out they will honor that price. At the same time, you should see what incentives they are advertising because it may not be any more than what is already laid out in their leaflets.

Ahh ok. That makes sense, wasn't sure how the process worked, just heard a few people that had good experiences.

OP how is your credit? If you have baller credit there are some phenomenal deals for new cars. You have to really look around though, as the obviously good selling vehicles are not ever put on finance special. (Ie. Camry, Corolla, Honda CRV, Civic SI, etc.) My buddy is picking up a brand new Denali 0% APR for 72 Months lol. That is a very large, very expensive, vehicle though. Deals can be had all the way up and down the price ladder though.

[Tokitoki]

For a while Subaru was offering .9% on new Legacy and Imprezas. Unfortunately not the WRX, they only offered 2.9% on those.

EDIT: They are still offering the .9% on new 2014 Legacy and Impreza. Impreza starts at just under $18k, but it has all wheel drive (if you get bad winters, itll help a bit) and good gas mileage.

[Ksandra]

I have used truecar.com for my last two car purchases and highly recommend it. Some food for thought though when it comes to dealing on any car (and trust me, I maybe a woman, but I live to haggle):

Find something you like going through dealer websites. Put in something similar but not exact on true car that really wouldn't change the price. ie. you find a red car you like, but put your ideal car as blue. (don't do black or silver or grey for the ideal as there are ten million of them). THIS IS EVEN IF YOU WANT IT IN RED. When you go to show them the true car deal, you can be all like, "well I do like the car you have, but if only you had it in blue..." You can get them to knock it off a few hundred bucks. I have done this twice, it works.

Have them try to sell you the price on your ideal car rather than the truecar price on the actual car (this is obviously if the ideal car is cheaper), I did this on my last one.

Haggling on the monthly is a better way to get a lower price than haggling on the upfront cost. ie. "I can only afford X a month" Try to keep X lower than what you can actually afford. Be wary though sometimes they will try and extend your lease passed the 72 months ( the technical "maximum") to reach that limit, and that will bring up the overall cost of the car. If it is lower than what you can actually pay though that means you can make bigger payments.

Remember, if you don't get the car you want at X dealership, there's about ten more at other ones. There is really no pressure on you to buy a car when you go, but they will try to make it seem that way. Salesmen live off of impulse buying. If you are with them for 3 hours and don't buy a car, that is 3 hours of no commission. They are going to want to sell you that car, even if they don't get much of a profit because some commission > no commission.

If they don't talk to the manager at least twice over your price, you are doing it wrong.

If they say something is impossible, it's a lie.

If you bring your wife, do good cop bad cop. (One that likes the car, one that doesn't). It will make the salesman more willing to lower the price to convince the bad cop.

Since you are buying used, make sure to look up the lemon laws in your state. You will probably need to take the car to a mechanic within the first week to see if you should return it. Without a doubt get a carfax report on the car. If there were any accidents in or around the engine, don't buy it no matter what.

Don't do salvaged vehicles.

Think that's about it off the top of my head.

[Meresgi]

Ahh ok. That makes sense, wasn't sure how the process worked, just heard a few people that had good experiences.

OP how is your credit? If you have baller credit there are some phenomenal deals for new cars. You have to really look around though, as the obviously good selling vehicles are not ever put on finance special. (Ie. Camry, Corolla, Honda CRV, Civic SI, etc.) My buddy is picking up a brand new Denali 0% APR for 72 Months lol. That is a very large, very expensive, vehicle though. Deals can be had all the way up and down the price ladder though.

My credit isn't panties wetting good but it's decent, above average the last time I ran a credit report on myself. I do have student loans but they didn't seem to effect it at the time I checked which was only a year ago.

Is 72 months at 7.9% APR the average or is it just this area i'm living in? Seems like a pretty damn high interest rate.

Found a Honda Fit for a decent price but it's in Haegerstown which is about 50min drive from me. Trying to haggle them down due to the distance + offering them $4-5k as a down payment if they can drop the APR/Price a little for me.

[Quixon]

Haggling on the monthly is a better way to get a lower price than haggling on the upfront cost. ie. "I can only afford X a month" Try to keep X lower than what you can actually afford. Be wary though sometimes they will try and extend your lease passed the 72 months ( the technical "maximum") to reach that limit, and that will bring up the overall cost of the car. If it is lower than what you can actually pay though that means you can make bigger payments.

This is generally advised as the worst way to negotiate the price of a vehicle. You need to REALLY make sure you pay attention to all of the paperwork and the actual price of the vehicle if you go this route. There's tons of ways a shady salesman can make that per month number go down, and still cost you a hell of a lot more in the long run. Also, NEVER take a word the salesman or finance guy says as fact. They will blow so much smoke up your ass it isn't even funny. A friend got scammed the first time he bought a car, I couldn't get to him fast enough. Here's how they screwed him:

-Ok your price is going to be $500/month for this vehicle
-However what we will do is put $3,000 cash in an account to cover 1/2 your payment for the first year.
-Then you can just come in, and refinance it pay $250/month for the remainder of the new term. Your previous year of on time payments will easily get the payment down to $250/month.

What they didn't know, is that it is categorically impossible for your credit to improve that much in 12 months to warrant a 50% reduction in the monthly price of a car loan. They didn't find that out till they talked with me 2 months later, and then double checked that info at a year and was told the same thing by the bank.

[Tokitoki]

Is 72 months at 7.9% APR the average or is it just this area i'm living in? Seems like a pretty damn high interest rate.

That's what I was getting as well with a credit score over 700 for used from the banks. That's ultimately why I went with a new car. I went through a few different banks and dealerships and thats what they all quoted me.

[Talint]

My credit isn't panties wetting good but it's decent, above average the last time I ran a credit report on myself. I do have student loans but they didn't seem to effect it at the time I checked which was only a year ago.

Is 72 months at 7.9% APR the average or is it just this area i'm living in? Seems like a pretty damn high interest rate.

Found a Honda Fit for a decent price but it's in Haegerstown which is about 50min drive from me. Trying to haggle them down due to the distance + offering them $4-5k as a down payment if they can drop the APR/Price a little for me.

So here's the dirty secret about credit ratings: They determine a company's ability to profit off of you. All a higher credit score means is that you look good to a company wanting to make money. This is why people who have no debt don't have good credit ratings. Someone can have loads of debt, but if they're making minimum payments; then they will have a much better credit score. Having a student loan debt that you are actively paying off a little bit improves your standing rather than hurt it.

The 7.9% APR probably represents caution from a lending perspective; they want to make -x- amount of money off of you because, as you've said, you've got SOME debt, but not a whole lot, and doesn't seem to be all THAT profitable for the lender, so you're going to get a higher rate.

[archibaldcrane]

Haggling on the monthly is a better way to get a lower price than haggling on the upfront cost. ie. "I can only afford X a month"

this is horrid advice

Any time a dealer can fuck with multiple variables (price and loan APR, price and loan length, etc) they have a much easier time hiding the true cost. Go in with a bank loan approval in hand and only entertain their financing if it beats what you can get - but don't even discuss that. Just talk bottom-line price - once you settle on a figure there, see if they can beat your bank rate. If not, just use your bank. PenFed.org has baller auto loan rates - 1.99% for 36 month, sub 2.5% for up to 72 months. You have to donate like $15 to a military organization to join the credit union, but for rates like that it is obviously worth it. Thank me later. https://www.penfed.org/New-Auto-Loan/

[Meresgi]

this is horrid advice

Any time a dealer can fuck with multiple variables (price and loan APR, price and loan length, etc) they have a much easier time hiding the true cost. Go in with a bank loan approval in hand and only entertain their financing if it beats what you can get - but don't even discuss that. Just talk bottom-line price - once you settle on a figure there, see if they can beat your bank rate. If not, just use your bank. PenFed.org has baller auto loan rates - 1.99% for 36 month, sub 2.5% for up to 72 months. You have to donate like $15 to a military organization to join the credit union, but for rates like that it is obviously worth it. Thank me later. https://www.penfed.org/New-Auto-Loan/

Boo I can't find NASA on their list of organizations. Guess i'll pay the $15 haha. Thanks for the link.

[Quixon]

7.9% isn't horrible. I have top tier credit, here is what I'm seeing for new cars in the price range you are looking for:

Local Credit Union
2.79% This is more than likely only for a 24-36 Month Term

Honda Civic/Fit/CRV
.9% for 24-36 Months
1.9% for 37-60 Months

Toyota Corolla
1.9% for 60 Months

Toyota Camry Hybrid
0.0% for 60 Months

2014 Subaru Legacy
0.9% for 24-36 months

2015 Subaru Legacy
1.9% for 24-36 months


Again this is all top tier credit, and vehicles considered on FINANCE SALE (slow movers, old models, etc). You can expect to pay in 5-8% range if you are a tier below that. The longer the term you take, the less the monthly payment.... but the more you pay overall due to interest. A 0%, or close to it, Loan is obviously what you want to shoot for if you can afford it (monthly), and you qualify for it.

[Anakron]

[Haggling on the monthly] ... is horrid advice

Going to second this. Never ever ever negotiate on monthly costs.

And always talk about OTD (out-the-door) price. If you negotiate on the sales price of the car, they can just tack on random stuff like $500 "advertising fee," and you'll have to negotiate again. An OTD price gives them no room to hide or fudge stuff. Talk about financing after you settle on the OTD price.

[Ksandra]

eh I disagree but w/e. I should note that I haggle on monthly after getting the overall price then have them give me the overall price after they lower the monthly too. You are right you should never ignore the overall price, but it can help imo to see what you are out of pocket every month. As I said, be wary of them extending the loan. That's what is going to cause the price to go higher.

[edit]
I guess I should clarify that you shouldn't buy into any funny business that quixon mentioned. Don't be an idiot and buy into any crazy steps. Ask for every info before agreeing to anything.