Does anyone enjoy shopping for cars?

[Cindy's Mom]

friendly note: Don't tell the dealer you're paying cash because you don't want them to get a kickback. Kickback is a negative word and it insinuates that its done under the table. Dealers get either a commission or an incentive.

 

[tvguy]

Thanks Klayfish. My last car was from a private owner and I haven't dealt with dealers in years let me go get my research on.

Oh man, in this day and age with people getting killed or robbed the local police departments here have had to setup "sales areas" on their property with cameras, and STILL people get robbed, I'd be afraid to even think about a private party sale.
I did contact one person 4 years ago when I was shopping for a 1965 Mustang and the first thing out of his mouth was "when showing the car I am will be armed and my friends a Deputy Sheriff will be with me and be armed". It went south from there. Needless to say, I never went to look at the car let alone buy it.

 

[Skippy918]

For my last car I used the Costco auto buying program and financed via my credit union. No negotiation needed (I did verify I was getting a good deal). I had to order my car also since the one I wanted wasn’t available at the dealership. I would use Costco again.

 

[fla4fun]

Oh man, in this day and age with people getting killed or robbed the local police departments here have had to setup "sales areas" on their property with cameras, and STILL people get robbed, I'd be afraid to even think about a private party sale.

I think it depends. I have been involved in three private sales (I was the seller all three times) but they were people who were well known to me. They knew how well I maintain my vehicle, and I knew I could trust them to pay. All three transactions were painless. There was no advertising or anything. Two times the coworkers approached me to see if I was interested in selling my car, and I just happened to be looking at new ones, and the third I put the word out to my friends with older cars that I might be trading my car in and one asked to buy it.

However, I agree as far as dealing with strangers goes. I wouldn’t do something like Craig’s List or EBAY. Too many things could go wrong.

 

[amcnj]

There is a thrill of the hunt aspect to car shopping. The time spent after the purchase just sitting there and doing paperwork is not my favorite though.

 

[tvguy]

I think it depends. I have been involved in three private sales (I was the seller all three times) but they were people who were well known to me. They knew how well I maintain my vehicle, and I knew I could trust them to pay. All three transactions were painless. There was no advertising or anything. Two times the coworkers approached me to see if I was interested in selling my car, and I just happened to be looking at new ones, and the third I put the word out to my friends with older cars that I might be trading my car in and one asked to buy it.

However, I agree as far as dealing with strangers goes. I wouldn’t do something like Craig’s List or EBAY. Too many things could go wrong.

Years and years ago I advertised a car for sale, in the newspapers. Lots of stupid questions from people who clearly knew nothing about the car I was selling. No, a 1970 Maverick does not have power windows, leather seats etc. Wasted my money on ads, sold it to a co-worker who totaled it on the way home. But I got my money.

 

[smokeyblue]

I've been shopping for some new wheels. I narrowed it down to exactly what I wanted and I was so excited. This will be my first new vehicle and I've wanted a truck forever. I'm telling you these car dealerships just sucked the excitement out of the process. The first dealership wasn't honest and upfront about the financing criteria and they left me there looking like an idiot and tried to get me to pay over $100/mo more by basically shaming me. The second dealership wasn't very upfront about the final cost, trying to bury fees and taxes. In the end you just have to be willing to walk. My willingness to walk got me the deal I wanted, but I felt so gross about it. I'm not going to take delivery of the truck for another week or so. I hope I start feeling more excited. Perhaps I should have done it in the winter where the remote start and heated steering wheel would make this truck a very welcome purchase regardless of my feelings!

 

[ronandannette]

I love getting a new car; DH loves shopping for one. He was a car salesman for 15 years about a lifetime ago. I lease with a car allowance from my job so I could really not care less about the deal as long as the vehicle I like is available within the payment parameters I have. I also have an extremely low tolerance for gamesmanship and I can hardly bear to be present when DH and the salesperson go at it. I've actually gotten up in the middle, walked out and taken off, and texted DH to let me know when to come back and pick him up. The car I'm currently in I didn't even test drive. I just picked the make, model and colour and showed up to sign the papers. DH even took delivery, which was fine with me.

 

[mrodgers]

Hate car shopping. Go to Autotrader.com. Start to enter the parameters I'm looking for. Thousands available within 25 miles. Click Transmission - manual. 0 within 500 miles.

 

[Klayfish]

Oh man, in this day and age with people getting killed or robbed the local police departments here have had to setup "sales areas" on their property with cameras, and STILL people get robbed, I'd be afraid to even think about a private party sale.
I did contact one person 4 years ago when I was shopping for a 1965 Mustang and the first thing out of his mouth was "when showing the car I am will be armed and my friends a Deputy Sheriff will be with me and be armed". It went south from there. Needless to say, I never went to look at the car let alone buy it.

IMO that stuff is seriously over-dramatized. Yes, you need to use common sense, you don't want to meet a seller in a dark alley at night. However, having bought/sold dozens and dozens of cars and looked at probably a hundred more I've never once had an issue or even a hint of one. You can usually tell in a conversation before hand if someone is straightforward. If they say right off the bat "I'm bringing a gun", the conversation is over (I'm staunchly anti-gun under any circumstance), however I can count on one hand the number of times that's happened. A little common sense goes a long way.

They don't expect a woman to know anything at all, and I can keep them a little off balance by doing what they don't expect.

I do all my research first, and never test drive the cars I think I might want on the day I buy one. On car-buying day I am polite; I stay unemotional about a specific vehicle and say I don't need a test drive; I let the salesperson know I am going to buy a car that day, but it doesn't matter to me at which dealership. I let him know exactly the make, model, version and color I want.

The "dealers think women don't know anything" is also urban myth, or at least holdovers from decades old stereotypes. It's simply not true today. Your bolded part above is a great strategy. I almost always test drive, I find that doesn't make any real difference. However I'm always clear up front with the dealer that I'm in the market to buy a (insert make/model here) and that I don't give a hoot where I get it from. I'll drive 200 miles or fly and drive if I have to in order to get the best deal. That goes a very long way...and sometimes I do wind up going 200+ miles to get the best deal.

 

[tvguy]

IMO that stuff is seriously over-dramatized. Yes, you need to use common sense, you don't want to meet a seller in a dark alley at night. However, having bought/sold dozens and dozens of cars and looked at probably a hundred more I've never once had an issue or even a hint of one. You can usually tell in a conversation before hand if someone is straightforward. If they say right off the bat "I'm bringing a gun", the conversation is over (I'm staunchly anti-gun under any circumstance), however I can count on one hand the number of times that's happened. A little common sense goes a long way.
.

Covered one too many private car sale homicides to ever think it is over-dramatized. Clearly if Police have set up safe sales area, they don't thing it is over-dramatized either. But car dealers aren't exempt either from the violence. When I bought my new car last year, during the test drive the salesman had to call in every 10 minutes to tell the dealership he was okay.

 

[clutter]

Went car shopping yesterday. Experienced no pressure at all. We started out looking at low mileage used cars - three different manufacturers. The cars we looked at are not in plentiful supply, either new or used. We ended up ordering the exact specs we wanted in a new car. For LESS than the few used ones that have been available within a hundred mile radius. ($50 less to be exact, and it had the option we wanted and none that we didn't.) There are were no financing incentives, so the dealer didn't care if I paid cash or financed through them or through a third party. It was a long day, but it was never a pain in the you-know-where.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

The "dealers think women don't know anything" is also urban myth, or at least holdovers from decades old stereotypes. It's simply not true today. Your bolded part above is a great strategy. I almost always test drive, I find that doesn't make any real difference. However I'm always clear up front with the dealer that I'm in the market to buy a (insert make/model here) and that I don't give a hoot where I get it from. I'll drive 200 miles or fly and drive if I have to in order to get the best deal. That goes a very long way...and sometimes I do wind up going 200+ miles to get the best deal.

Sadly, not true. Unless you consider a couple of years ago "decades old stereotypes."