Comments on: Are New Cars Ever Really on Sale? http://toughmoneylove.com/2009/01/14/are-new-cars-ever-really-on-sale/ The Hard Truth about Money and Personal Finance Fri, 19 Mar 2010 02:03:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9 hourly 1 By: G. Jules http://toughmoneylove.com/2009/01/14/are-new-cars-ever-really-on-sale/comment-page-1/#comment-2126 G. Jules Wed, 14 Jan 2009 17:42:21 +0000 http://toughmoneylove.com/?p=1155#comment-2126 I highly recommend Remar Sutton's book Don't Get Taken Every Time for anyone looking to buy a car -- new or used, dealer or private party sale. He goes into the breakdown of dealer "sales events" like these, along with basics on how to choose a used car, how to understand loan financing and leases, how to negotiate on price, how to maximize trade-in value, and so on. It's an excellent book. If you actually need a car, this isn't a bad time to buy from a new car dealer -- they're hurting. Bad. Just make sure your answer to question three is "Sell the car to me for my price." And don't budge. (I got my car for invoice minus a grand in manufacturer's rebates. If I'd known how easily they'd give me that price, I would have started lower! And no, they didn't get me on the financing -- I financed through my credit union.) The downside to the poor market for new cars is that the used car market in my area is seriously out of whack, which is the only reason I was willing to go new. 2006 Toyotas with 30K miles for only a grand or two less than the new models? Not so much. I highly recommend Remar Sutton’s book Don’t Get Taken Every Time for anyone looking to buy a car — new or used, dealer or private party sale. He goes into the breakdown of dealer “sales events” like these, along with basics on how to choose a used car, how to understand loan financing and leases, how to negotiate on price, how to maximize trade-in value, and so on. It’s an excellent book.

If you actually need a car, this isn’t a bad time to buy from a new car dealer — they’re hurting. Bad. Just make sure your answer to question three is “Sell the car to me for my price.” And don’t budge. (I got my car for invoice minus a grand in manufacturer’s rebates. If I’d known how easily they’d give me that price, I would have started lower! And no, they didn’t get me on the financing — I financed through my credit union.)

The downside to the poor market for new cars is that the used car market in my area is seriously out of whack, which is the only reason I was willing to go new. 2006 Toyotas with 30K miles for only a grand or two less than the new models? Not so much.

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