| 6. |
Search online
to find the lowdown on pricing and financing options
on the car you'd like to buy. Visit several Web
sites to compare everything from sticker price to
customer rebate information. |
| 7. |
Ask about special
offers in your area. You could save hundreds, maybe
thousands more, by snapping up a regional incentive. |
| 8. |
Take someone with
you for negotiating support. Agree beforehand: No
impulse buys and no discussion of exactly what you
are prepared to pay. |
| 9. |
Let car dealers
haggle with each other. E-mail, fax or phone several
car dealers. Make it clear that you're contacting
several dealers and you'll buy from the dealer that
makes the best offer. |
| 10. |
Negotiate the
price of a new car, the price of your trade-in and
your financing separately. A dealer will try to
roll one or more of these transactions together.
Don't let him. |
| 11. |
Nail down the
price you'll pay for the vehicle first. Then talk
about incentives and rebates. |
| 12. |
Be prepared to
walk away from a deal. You know within a few hundred
dollars what you should be paying, and every minute
spent discussing a figure significantly higher than
that is wasted. |
| 13. |
Get pre-approved
for an auto loan before car shopping. That way if
a dealer wants your financing business, he's going
to have to beat the best rate you've found on your
own. |
| 14. |
Bite the bullet.
Sell your old car privately, get someone else to
assume the lease or stay with the thing until it's
paid off. |
| 15. |
Shorten the length
of your car loan by making biweekly payments. Since
the auto loan is a simple interest loan, you reduce
the amount of principal with each biweekly payment
that's made. |
| 16. |
Consider buying
a one- or two-year-old car. If the factory warranty
is still good, you could get a car with 95 percent
of its life left for 20 percent to 30 percent less
than the cost of buying new. |
| 17. |
Search the Internet
for a wholesale seller in your area. Formerly leased
vehicles are often sold wholesale at deep discounts. |
| |
|
| |
-- Posted: Aug. 20, 2004
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