The process of buying a vehicle can be quite exhausting if you are anything like my wife and I. Paralysis by analysis is common for us when searching for a vehicle. I am going to give you top 4 things to think about when you are starting the process of purchasing your next vehicle.
1st– Think ahead. By the time you need a vehicle, it is best to already have your plan of what type and how much you can or want to spend already figured out so it is not stressful. Have a down payment saved up if possible. My wife and I are going to attempt to make the current vehicle payment into our savings account now that we paid off our current vehicle so that by the time we need a new one, we will have a sizeable chunk of money to work with. Trouble is not touching that base knowing it is for the next vehicle. Things always pop up like doctor bills, dentist bills, fixing a vehicle and more of the like that make it tough to follow through completely. We were able to make the payment for the vehicle so we should be able to continue making it into a savings account and not need to spend it.
2nd– Never go buy a vehicle during a “huge blow out” sale. Some dealerships bring in these special sales people and claim they are having a huge sale when it truly is not. My wife and I went to look at vehicles quite a while back and saw a vehicle we wanted. We heard they were having a huge sale the coming weekend so we figured we would wait for the “sale”. When we went, we told them the vehicle we wanted and they quoted us $4000 more than what they had originally told us during the “regular” price time. I suppose if we didn’t know better, we would have haggled with them and talked them down $2500 or $3000 and thought we got a great deal when it turns out we would gotten a worse deal than the original price. With all the available sites out there to check prices, this is harder to do in today’s day and age but I have not come across vehicle prices during “sales” in our recent vehicle purchases that are less than during their regular price deals. Plus then they are not trying to push vehicles on you.
3rd– If possible, go with your own financing option available. They will try very hard to beat it and you can get a great rate this way. We always talk to our local banker and figure out what we would be approved for and at what rate. When we go to the dealer, they ask if we would be financing through them. We have told them that we have our own financing and they immediately want to know what rate so that they can talk to their financers for the chance to beat it. It also has helped us because our local banker has come back and matched the rate to keep the local business.
4th– Don’t go with the intent to buy a vehicle. If they can not sell you the vehicle at a value you believe is fair, if you did not go with the intent to buy the vehicle you will have no problem leaving without purchasing it. A couple of times we have left and then gotten calls with lower offers from that dealership because they wanted to meet a quota or sell a vehicle. This has been the best thing for us as we feel much more relaxed knowing that we do not need the vehicle but if they want to sell it for a price we can not pass up, then we can very easily walk away. Some even, no matter what, leave without purchasing the vehicle so they can sleep on it and if they still want it the next day, they will do it then.
These are 4 little tidbits that have helped our process buying a new/used vehicle and have made a big difference keeping the stress to a minimum.
Till next time-
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