The Three Key Tips for Buying A Car – From A “Serial” Buyer

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #LoveAmericanHome #CollectiveBias

If there’s one thing we’ve learned as Hispanics living in the U.S. is that salespeople will try to take advantage of you any chance they get, simply because you don’t look or speak like them. It’s almost as though they assume that if you pronounce just one word differently or look like other foreigners, then you clearly don’t know what buying something is like, so they try to take advantage of you. (Well, in our family, the joke’s on them because we’re pretty savvy ;)!)

It’s happened to us time and again: For instance, we go buy a car, and the salesman will say it costs X. But they’ve clearly never met my dad, because he’s a CHAMP negotiator. To him, price X is only the max. What’s the real price? He ALWAYS gets his way.

Recently, when we went to replace our secondary car (at one of the 50+ dealerships our group owns), the finance manager told us that the general manager “didn’t even want to make this deal.” You could just tell they weren’t all too pleased (but still were very pleasant to deal with). I just smiled and looked at my dad. THAT is how good he is. In the end, we walked away with a great new car (read: 2016, with all the bells and whistles) at an even better price–several thousand dollars below invoice.

But enough about us. Let’s get YOU to hopefully stop hating the car shopping experience and start gaining from it with a few fantastic tips:

1. SHOP AROUND.

Don’t expect to buy from the first dealership you go to, ever. Always get prices for the same car from competitors, and once you’ve found a dealer you’d like to do business with, let them know that the same car costs $X at Dealer A and $Y at Dealer B. But be honest because they, too, can look at those other window stickers. They need the sale more than you need them, so they’ll oblige and sell you the car for that price.

This doesn’t just apply to buying a car: If you’re trading one in, always get different quotes at various places as well. Forget about Edmunds or KBB; dealerships use a tool called NADA to find the value of a vehicle. (You can use it, too; it’s free online!) When my dad and I went to trade in our old secondary car, which had the smallest dent and an old stain on one seat, they immediately wanted to deduct a couple thousand dollars off the average trade (even though the repairs wouldn’t cost more than a couple hundred dollars). So instead, he made them deduct just that couple hundred. Boom!

2. BE READY TO WALK AWAY.

Just like when buying a house, don’t show much excitement about a particular car and be ready to walk away if the terms don’t satisfy you. Again, they need you more than you need them so be genuinely ready to walk away at any time.

If they’re interested, they’ll really go above and beyond to make the sale either right then or a few hours later when they call. If they’re not interested, good riddance!

3. DON’T GIVE THEM YOUR BUDGET RIGHT OFF THE BAT.

If you do, you’ll lose all negotiating power, and you don’t want to do that. Take this example: You’re looking at a particular car because you’re interested in that specific model and trim. Some salespeople forget that (or think you don’t know better?), and if you’ve already told them how much you want to spend, they’ll try to make you commit to something that you don’t like but that fits that budget you gave them.

Or if you told them how much you want to spend per month, they’ll find a way to work that out so that the terms benefit them and not you.

So DON’T give them a budget. Instead, have them work the deal as completely as possible, and then work them down from there. Again, they need you more than you (who could get that car elsewhere) need them.

4. BONUS TIP: GET SOME YUMMY CAR FRAGRANCES.

A lot of people love the smell of new cars, but there are some who don’t, or who simply want to be ready to have their car smell good and delicious all the time, new or not.

To those of you who cherish yummy fragrances: let me introduce you to Yankee Candle Car Care Products:

Yankee Candle® Car fragrances come in two kinds of products, SmartScent Vent Clips and Car Jar® Ultimate: My favorite part about the Vent Clips is how small and unobtrusive they are. A bonus is that they also have a clear window so you can easily see when a replacement is due. They’re very convenient as well, as they fasten securely to any vehicle’s dash vents, meaning that the fragrance is released as air flows from the vents. 

On the other hand, the Car Jar® Ultimate neutralizes unpleasant odors and freshens the air in your car or small space. it’s also convenient, as its fragrance level will shrink when it is time to replace. I like how it’s made with only the finest premium quality ingredients infused with natural essential oils to create distinctive “true-to-life” scents. In fact, I liked our Macintosh Car Jar® Ultimate so much, that I hung it from the back of my computer at work so everyone who walk by gets a yummy whiff of the “juiciest, freshest, first-bite-of-the-apple fragrance” :).

Pictured above are both in two fragrances, Macintosh and Clean Cotton. The other available fragrances are Midsummers Night and Pink Sands. (Always follow the instruction on the back of both packages very carefully!)

Best part of it all: You can find these fantastic Yankee Candle® fragrances for less than $5 at Walmart in the Auto Care aisles near the batteries and car accessories/storage solutions shelves:

Perfect fragrances for your new (or new-to-you) car that you were able to get at a sweet price thanks to my tips :)!

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Regardless of nationality and/or gender, I hope these tips can ease your car shopping process and help you secure the car of your dreams at a price that benefits you! What tip would YOU add? Got any fun car stories to share??