SurvivingInfidelity.com^®

WALK AWAY is my mantra too.

My H, decades ago, was helping his younger sister haggle on a car price. It was down to a price that sister was willing to say Yes. Husband thought she was over-paying, so he walked out the door with her. She was SO mad at him....she really wanted the car. Well, that evg. a phone call came in.....they got the car at the price H had offered.

Then H and I were going to buy a car. Each time we got an offer we went to the pay phone (pre cell phone days) to get a quote from another dealer (this was a new car). We decided which dealer to go with. So we said "you've offered us this car at X dollars. (we had asked for a quote including ALL taxes and ALL additional fees).

When the contract came back they added $30 for "administration fee" (paperwork). We had been VERY clear. We walked out the door with the salesperson literally following us across the parking lot. We did not trust them now...went to the other dealer (whose price was marginally more....but when they wrote up our contract it was EXACTLY as quoted).

It's all a game!

My suggestion....once you figure out what YOU think is fair....including ALL taxes and any other additional things that they might try to add on. Tell them up front that you can't go even $1 more. See if they'll work with you. You have 3 cars you like....so if one doesn't work, you have 2 more to work with.

Good luck.

I know a woman who bought a used car (alone, no token man with her for window-dressing!) with the following method: decided which car she wanted, did all the research, etc, and got a cashier's check for the amount she was willing to pay (which was substantially below the asking price).

When the salesman (yes, it was a man) started his patter with her, she pulled out the check and said 'do you want this, or should I take it to another dealership?' He took it!!

Be careful with CarFax. I bought a used car, left and went home to look it up on CarFax. It came back clean.

I buy the car, a few days later I'm digging in the glove box(didn't when I bought the car) and I find all the paperwork on the car, everything that had ever been worked on. The car had been in a wreck.

Even when the report comes back clean, you can't ever trust it.

I always walk out after looking at the car, used or new. They always call that evening with a better deal.

Never hand over your keys to them. No matter what they say.

Don't do a trade in. Sell it yourself. You'll get more.

[This message edited by peridot at 7:29 PM, July 26th (Friday)]

Oh yes, I was advised to shop near to the end of month. Everybody wants to be employee of the month and will make better deals to beef up their sales.

I've also heard there is certain months, times of the year that you should shop but I can't remember what they are lol. Maybe someone else does.

Update on car shopping?

Yes, what's your update??

DH is horrible at car shopping, so I do all the research and most of the shopping and nowadays I do the buying as well. I used to bring him in so I wouldn't be a woman shopping alone, but I don't really think it helped.

I love Endmonds and "true market value" and also they have that calculator that tells you the average out the door sales price for the car you're looking for *in your zipcode* - which is key.

The last car we bought was for me. I found the type I wanted, two different years that would be acceptable, knew I wanted a Certified car, knew which options I didn't care at all about (like a sunroof - all our cars have them, rarely use them) and had the top price I was willing to pay for EVERYTHING including tax, title, whatever, whatever. The average price paid in my zipcode was my upper limit. I also had the lowest price I could hope for as my dream price.

Oh and we had prequalified for the 1.9% Toyota financing before we walked in. They definitely tried to dick me around on that after the sale, but luckily I'd gotten everything in writing and so they honored it.

In the end I found 2 cars on the lot that met all my criteria, test drove them both, haggled for the lower priced option and at some point during the haggling the salesman told me the lower priced car had been "sold to someone else". He said if I'd only taken the price he offered, the car would have been mine. Of course I didn't care about that particular car, I had 8 completely acceptable cars on my list, 2 of those cars at his dealership and $X in my budget so let's move on to the remaining car with my exact same offer. If he couldn't come down on the other car, I'll move on to the next dealership. Why would I care who sold me my car? I'm just looking for my fair price.

In the end, I got the more expensive car they had for my dream price. The cheaper car had suddenly reappeared as not sold after all - surprise - and they tried to get me to take it instead. Seriously, some dealerships are just so exhaustingly shifty. As I said, even as I was signing the paperwork for the car, they were trying to renegotiate the financing and starting the entire "now what do you want to pay per month?" all over again, even after all my financing paperwork had been preapproved. It's so exhausting. I think that's what they count on.

But as someone said, at the end of the day just consider you're making $1000 or $1500 or whatever it is for the time you're putting in. Be prepared to walk, have a lot of options, don't let them wear you down. :)

pretty awful that they said the car you wanted was "sold"....trying to pressure you to quickly commit to the next car.

When Hyundai first came to Canada (around 1984) we bought a new one...factory ordered, so delivery was about 6 weeks. We did a lot of haggling on that one too. I think?? they had another buyer for it, because when we went to pick it up it had black overspray from a nearby paint bay on this white car. Significant!!!! Of course we didn't take it that day. We went back a few days later, they'd removed some, but left some still there. As I say, I'm pretty sure they had a buyer for it already who would pay more.

The funny thing is that between the time we bought it, and the pick up time, we had accepted a job in Bermuda. Could not take the car with us..pricey, plus they drive on the "wrong" (left) side of the road, so the steering wheel was in the wrong place.

Turned out to be a blessing for us. We'd have had to sell it at a loss. Now we got our deposit back, and the dealer thought he won.

It was a win/win. But it shows that you can't always trust these guys.

[This message edited by JanetS at 11:23 AM, July 28th (Sunday)]

Avoid carmax! They sold me an suv with bad breaks. I took it in 3 times within the first 30 days and kept telling them something is wrong, but they couldn't find anything. After the initial time period had passed, they said just have it fixed at your repair shop and we will reimburse you. I got the "check is in the mail" line until I finally gave up. Come to find out later, they just did a cheap black spray paint job on the luggage rack to hide the hideous scrapes.

Carmax is a dangerous place to buy a vehicle.

Update on car shopping?

I got one.

Thank you everyone for your advice and stories. It really, really helped. I went into the dealership armed and ready. QS actually ended up coming with me. Miracle.

However, to throw a stick in the spokes...when I got into the car I really wanted, it fell flat. It was nice, but it just wasn't all that.

The dealer led me to something I'd never considered cause QS said he didn't want that make. I promptly fell in love. The test drive clinched it for me. But I didn't show any outside emotion other then, "Hmm, ok. Interesting."

QS said, "You get whatever you want. I'm going to stand back and watch." QS and I walked around, did the research on the new car, checked the values, etc. etc. Then started the process.

I got what I wanted at the price I wanted.

2007 Nissan Maxima SL. Black on black. OMG, this thing is loaded. It's sporty, it's sleek, it's fast... Every bell and whistle you can imagine. (Even heated steering wheel which is awesome! My hands freeze in the winter.) Brand new tires and brakes. Tinted windows, presets for 2 drivers, sunroof...oh it's just awesome.

It's not what I was originally looking for, but everything I imagined I'd ever want. It's an awesome fit for our family.

We're super happy and I feel incredibly proud of myself. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. Knowledge is power people. Know what you're getting into before you're in it. Thanks for helping me thru this process.

Glad that you were successful.

WTG!!!

Awesome job, Aubrie!!!

Good luck with teh new car. Congrats