Car Buying Best Practices

22 February 2012

This is a collection of best practices for buying a car, compiled from several dozen Internet sources.

Process

1. Write down what features you must have, want to have, and don’t care about.
2. Do Internet research on which cars fit the bill.
3. Eliminate all cars that don’t have your list of must-have features.
4. If there are more than 8-10 cars remaining, eliminate the ones that barely fit your list.
5. Test drive the remaining cars. Take notes about what you like and don’t like. Remove any cars you don’t like.
6. Collect information about specific cars. Find the top deals.
7. Call car dealers and sales folks, make them bid for your business
8. Test drive the specific car you like. Inspect it carefully. Have a professional mechanic to inspect it for problems.
9. Buy the car.
10. Celebrate!

When test driving a car, check on:

• Acceleration from a stop
• Engine sound when cold
• Engine noise
• Does the car drift left or right when driving straight?
• Hill-climbing power
• Braking
• Cornering
• Turning radius
• Suspension
• Rattles / squeaks

Before Arriving:

• Agree to the price on the phone, before arriving
• Run a history check on the car
  • www.nmvtis.gov
  • www.nicd.gov
  • Carfax.com
  • AutoCheck.xom
• Ask salesperson to email all of the taxes, fees, and price first
• Call your state DMV and ask about liens against the vehicle

Car Inspection

• Ask about the warranty
• Ask about return policy
• How worn is the brake pedal? Too much, and it’s shady
• Check outer edge of driver’s seat for wear
• Go under the floor mats. Check for water damage (leaks)
• Check the outer edges of the tires. If they’re worn, the front end is out of alignment
• Check for paint on the moldings/lights. Sign the car has been re-painted
• Check the engine. Is anything dirty, rusty, or worn?

Negotiating

• Always be ready to walk out
• Don’t get attached to any car
• Dealerships - end of the month is better
• Don’t sign up for add-ons
• If you don’t get it in writing, it does not exist.
• With a finance-and-insurance person, don’t get upsold. That’s their job, after all.
• Read the contract carefully
• Make sure you get a clean title
• Ask about return policy, get it in writing.
• Do not sign an ‘as is’ paper. Anything that says that needs to be removed
• Ask for the car’s maintenance record.
• Only go for normal fees
  • License fees (title, registration, price set by each state)
  • Documentation fee
  • Smog (price set by each state)
  • Sales tax
    • Based on average fair market value of the car
    • Not the purchase price
    • Comes from Price Digests
    • Rate is .65% from the state, .30% from King County
    • Clark County is .12%, for a total of 0.77%
  • Fees to question/call BS
    • Dealer fees
    • Dealer Prep
    • Shipping
    • Advertising fee
    • “Internet” fee
    • Window VIN etching

Considerations:

• Still under factory warranty?
• Does warranty transfer to new owner?

Tactics:

• Use Carfax to find a vehicle’s history
• Consider ‘program cars’
• Consider cars from rental companies
• Know the true market value (not Kelly Blue Book)
• Take it to a trusted mechanic to have them evaluate it
• http://static.ed.edmunds-media.com/unversioned/img/car-buying/used-car-worksheet/used.car.questionairre.pdf
• http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/10-steps-to-buying-a-used-car-pg11.html