Does anyone enjoy shopping for cars?

[kdonnel]

I started the every so annoying process of shopping for a new car over the weekend.

I despise the entire process.

I got told repeatedly yesterday that I could only get their best price that day. It was a rainy mother's day so they were more willing to give a great price. What a load of crap. If it is a fair price for both sides they will sell the car at that price every day of the week no matter the holiday or weather.

I also got several internet quotes and all include an outrageous $699 document prep fee. If they would just call it the $699 profit fee I would feel better because it would at least be honest. If it is costing them $699 to prepare the sale and post sale paper work they would have gone out of business the day they opened.

Everyone wanted to know what I wanted my payment to be. I don't negotiate on payment, I negotiate on price. I would not be looking at a model of car I didn't already know I could afford the payment for the loan term I desire.

Ugh.

 

[soccerdad72]

Nope. We spend a minimal amount of time car shopping. Most of the time, we research online and then test drive 2 or 3 vehicles we are interested in.

 

[jo-jo]

We haven't car shopped in decades. I dread having to do it. But alas, our 92 grand voyager and 96 Camry are slowly falling apart.

 

[Christine]

I feel your pain. I have had the same experience as you (bought a new Camry last year). I was in the Toyota dealership on Saturday night looking at trucks and I got all the same spiel. I was told that even though it's not Memorial Day weekend, they could give me the Memorial Day cash now.

 

[neverlandsky]

Don't like how they always ask how much per month & want to check credit. We always dodge those questions and don't let them know until later on that we're paying cash. Had a great overall experiences with Carmax and Ford. We've walked away from other dealerships due to their treatment of us, some even chased after us. Hang in there.

 

[SteveH]

I will no longer buy a new car, to much depreciation. I've run into some of the same games that you mention. I had one place that we were negotiting with take my car for a test drive, then when the deal started to break down because of their games they wouldn't give me my keys. Brought in the typical drop out former quarter back to try to save the deal. I don't think he too me serious when I said I would call 911 and tell them I was being held against my will. His boss knew I wasn't joking though. I've made sure to tell so many locals about that dealership that I actually ended up getting a phone call from the owner to apologize, doesn't change a thing.

Thankfully I found a local use car place that carries newer vehicles and doens't play any games. I went in to check out a Jeep Wrangler and trading my F150, the owner talked to me and after driving it we struck a deal with a hand shake. He then had his finance guy work up the paperwork, when I questioned the numbers and the aggravating "Documentation Fee" I told him we had an out the door price, I really figured that would be out the door for the truck plus the costs, but low and behold the owner told him we had an out the door price. Wow, honesty! I have since purchased another car from them for my wife and we're looking to upgrade that one. I won't deal with anyone else. One thing that did impress me was a plaque on their wall with the names of anyone that has purchased more then 5 cars from them. It's a very large plaque. The top three people on that list I know, and all have over 25 purchases from them, says something about them.

Do as much research as you can before you go. Work with your bank for their best rate, then you can see if the dealer can beat the rate. The reality is that they get a big kick back when you finance, so use that to your advantage. What I understand is the longer the term the higher the kick back. Negotiate based on that. There are a new breed of dealerships that use the established price, no sales people. Sort of like what Saturn had done. If you can find one of those compare their prices. If you like the idea of driving it home with a long drive, check out Dave Smith motors out of Idaho.

 

[mom2rtk]

I would almost rather get dental work done.

 

[kdonnel]

I would almost rather get dental work done.

Now that would be going too far!

 

[Darcy03231]

I would almost rather get dental work done.

I would rather get dental work done and a visit to the OB/GYN, all in the same day!

Unfortunately, I've had to start the process of new car shopping. I'm hoping to get another year out of mine, but DH doesn't think it's going to pass inspection in July without major work, and it's not worth putting money into (10 years old, 150,000 miles). He's says he's just waiting for the "I'm stuck on the side of the road" call. I've narrowed down my choices and have started the test driving, but not ready to buy quite yet. This time around I've refused to give them my email or phone so they can't keep bugging me!

 

[mom2rtk]

I would rather get dental work done and a visit to the OB/GYN, all in the same day!

 

[DLgal]

I love it. I get a thrill out of knowing how much stuff REALLY costs dealers and calling them out on it when they overinflate prices.

Last purchase was in 2017 and we got the car for practically dealer cost. They tried to get us on optional items that we wanted (all weather floor mats, wheel locks, and a cargo cover) but I literally pulled up eBay and said "never mind, I can just get all that stuff for x dollars online." Suddenly, they were willing to sell me those add ons for a reasonable retail price. I let them have the financing as a concession, since they beat my bank's rate by a percentage point (0.9% vs 1.9%).

It's funny because my husband was with me but he is clueless about this stuff. I have bought all our cars, usually while he was deployed. They kept trying to talk to him until I said "talk to me, I'm the one buying this car. He is just going to drive it." They brought over an older female salesperson, likely in an attempt to make me more willing to just agree with their pricing. Didn't work, although she was a super nice lady.

 

[Cindy's Mom]

I love it! I find my car at the Dodge website, (the main one, not a dealer). I build my car, then it tells which local dealer has my car. I print it out the sheet that has the VIN on it. I know what I want to pay and what its worth, I go to dealer, show them my paper, and what I want to spend. We negotiate a bit, and I either buy it or walk out. There's always another dealer.....there's only one me. I've done this 4-5 times and it works. I get my loan from the Credit Union, so they tell me too how much I can spend. There's no gray areas when I shop for cars.

 

[nkereina]

DH and I both lease our cars, so we have to go through the negotiation process twice every three years. Its never straightforward or easy, its always a game and dodging sales tactics. I work for the son of the VP of the car dealership we go to, and our sales person knows this, and we're still subject to the same games everyone else is.

The negotiation side of it can be dreadful, but at the end of it, we're generally happy with where we end up. The part I hate the most is the ancillary and administrative stuff that goes with it - cleaning out the car we're trading in, connecting with our insurance agent to make the updates, updating our parking passes at work, updating our EZ passes, linking our new vehicles on the GM web site for billing, setting up accounts with OnStar and Sirius for our free trials, etc etc. Sometimes all the after stuff is worse than the process itself!

 

[Sandeep1]

Don't like how they always ask how much per month & want to check credit. We always dodge those questions and don't let them know until later on that we're paying cash. Had a great overall experiences with Carmax and Ford. We've walked away from other dealerships due to their treatment of us, some even chased after us. Hang in there.

I just tell them upfront I'll be paying cash which eliminates all that useless conversation about credit and monthly payments.

 

[lifesavacation]

I loved the entire experience buying my Tesla. Ordering is done online. The price is set so no negotiating. I had an appointment to pick up my car and all paperwork was done in less than 30 minutes. Super easy.

 

[Klayfish]

I love it. I am always shopping, I mean always. As I've mentioned in other posts I've owned somewhere between 80-100 cars so far, so shopping is a pleasure for me.

 

[lovesmurfs]

Hate, hate it. Even when we went in with CASH, it took well over two hours to deal with the paperwork, etc. What a freaking waste of time.

 

[DVC-Don]

We don't purchase new cars anymore, but I research certified used cars/trucks and pick out a few that fit our needs. My wife loves the negotiating end of it. Got to be prepared to just up and leave. When I got my last truck (17 Nissan Frontier in late 17-it had been an Enterprise rental for 9 months). Went to the Nissan dealer but he would not give me a fair price for my 05 Toyota Solara. Went to the same dealer, different location 20 miles away to my backup and got what I wanted for the Toyota and an extra $700 off the same truck.

 

[fla4fun]

I just tell them upfront I'll be paying cash which eliminates all that useless conversation about credit and monthly payments.

I did that once, and the salesperson actually asked where I got the money! I gave him a “Duh!” look and said I have this thing called a job where they pay me money if I do work for them.

I have had some bad experiences but this last time I got a dealer referral from a coworker who had a good experience and everything went smooth as silk. Their starting price was lower than my offering price ( they didn’t know that price) and then they lowered it twice more to get the sale before month end. I didn’t have to haggle at all.

 

[Sandeep1]

I did that once, and the salesperson actually asked where I got the money! I gave him a “Duh!” look and said I have this thing called a job where they pay me money if I do work for them.

Very odd question. I would say "none of your business."