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Tips for buying a car

1.      Decide your budget. Talk with the bank or credit service providers because if you intend to spend more than what you can afford, you might end up in trouble. Many car companies have other companies working for them to try and convince the buyer to buy over their budget as that would not trouble them at all but only the buyer.

2.      The advertisements in most cases are quite deceptive. They would publicize their special deal as an exclusive one in big print and in small print, everything that brought you there would be taken be them. A number of car dealers have been busted for their malpractices which include the following cases. Ads not providing information about actual cost to the customer, or about don-payment options or even violated the regulations as specified by FTC regarding the use of “free” in advertisements. Ads claiming deductions in interests without disclosure of actual conditions or limitations.

3.      Use of terms like  your most recommended dealer  might create an impression that the dealer is more capable of offering competitive deals and such use violates Truth-In-Leasing. The use of  3%/ $500 over dealer invoice" ads do not provide information about the final cost. The advertised price does not give odometer information and are never the ultimate cost.  $2,501 minimum trade-in/Push-Pull-Drag It In" situations increase the cost of the car because of the high difference in the offered trade amount.

4.      Buy the car according to your choice and not the choice of some "Trained Lot Shark". Those sales people would try to sell what their dealers think is reducing their profits. Like a new car in the showroom for long the dealer loses money in floor planning. Just remember this that they have been trained to sell and you need to train yourself to buy according to your choice. Collect information from the car dealer’s rip-off reports. That exercise an save your valuable money unlike in auto dealers business where they might lose a large chunk of money by exposing their advertisers.

5.      The Monroney’s law is a common target for the care dealers for breaking laws. They remove the MSRP from the cars and trucks and sell it at higher prices than their actual. This scam can be removed by being up to date with the buying information. These cases are referred to as a Roll Back which basically is this type of scam. The new car would be sold to the buyer and the car is delivered to the buyer with the MSRP removed. After a few weeks, the buyer is informed that the car loan was not approved and the car is removed to the dealer after a drive of around thousand miles. The dealer cleans the car and tries to re-sell it or use as a demo.

6.    Cars price only fall, they do not climb up so never agree to pay the sticker price for the car. Price is after all the most important criterion. Many dealers apply concepts of reverse psychology to get the bucks out of you. They will publicize their sales with “Negative equity assistance” making the buyer feel that the dealer would help with certain amount of promised bucks if the buyer owes majorly on the trade. But actually the fact is that the price os the car is already up by that amount over the actual sticker price.

7.      The promised offers should always be in writing. Unless the same is in written, the odds of you getting it is almost nil. The decided cost should also be in written and both the buyer and the manager should sign the document for the price the deal was finalized. The sales representatives signature is not valid. All the promised upgrades should also be mentioned in the document and only then, both the buyer and manager should sign the “We Owe” document.

8.      Consider shopping with more than one dealership and read their ripoff reports to check their reliability. There are sites where customers exchange their feelings and report cases where they were ripped-off. You can also do the same. The information available on such forums are usually missing from newspapers.

9.      Go for car buying services if negotiations are not one of your strengths but they are not free from thorns as well. Some such services cater only to a few dealers and if you find any such services, report it on public forums.

10.  Look for financing offers and compare them. The automakers can provide such details or else join some credit union in your locality as the dealers do not compete with them. A comparative study would help you pick the best offer depending on the APR and loan duration. Do not just focus on the monthly installment as that can create a lot of pain for you.

11.  It is a pre-requisite to insure the car that you have bought so while deciding your budget also, consider the insurance costs as sometimes the particular car might have huge insurance cost which you might not be able to afford.

12.  Test driving is a must before finalizing purchase. In fact drive the car to your garage, and see if its parkable there or else you should not go ahead with the transaction. The drive would give you good idea about the comfort and performance of the car.

13.  Take your time in reading and understanding each part of the business deal and documentation. If the finance manager shows haste, straight away make clear your intentions to walk out of the deal if not allowed the freedom to read the documents before signing it up. Since you are the customer, you gotta always be correct. You might discover that there was some extra clause extending your loan duration or costing you extra bucks. Focus more carefully on the fine print. Ask to remove from the document those clauses which are not acceptable to you. Understand your obligations and ask questions when in doubt.

14.  The car dealer has the freedom to come out of the deal by not sending it to the bank for loan approval but the buyer cannot just bring back the car and return it. Keep a copy of all the documents that you have signed. Report them on forums if they refuse to give a copy of the signed documents. Check for blank spaces on the document as that can later be filed up and might lead to rip-off cases.

15.  Just check the car once again before driving it home since the car might have been changed o an older stock while you were signing th documents or the tires might have been changed to cheaper ones. Once you have left the dealer’s premises 

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