I am going to list out my recent car buying adventure. I was told to try to get a) Ford Fiesta or a b) Honda Fit.
This first part will be about the Ford Fiesta.
A side note is that friends and family take me when they need a new car, since I enjoy the car buying process, and many times people hate it.
First tried to track down a loss leader car for this since it is new. These are the vehicles advertised in the weekend paper that they sell at a loss to get you in the door of the dealership, with the intent that you will upgrade the car or that they will be able to finance you at a higher rate. Either way this great deal car is to get you to the dealership where they can do their best to have you buy a more expensive car. Some of the snakiest dealerships use this tactic, so you have a lot of confidence and stick to your guns when buying one of these. If you can do that, you will get an amazing deal. My first two trucks - toyota and nissan - were loss leaders and both sold two and three years later for more than I paid new.
Since it was a Renton area Ford dealership with a nasty reputation that was holding the loss leader special the week I was looking, I ripped out the ad and took it to my local Ford dealerships in Kitsap. One of these dealerships was so low key, so calm and pleasant and straight-dealing that I would have bought the car in a heartbeat if I didn't feel I was overpaying. The problem with buying a car on a nice day in spring is that is car sales high season, with customers having their tax return money in hand. You want a different time of year for a better deal. Also, when trying to buy a gas miser car, do it when gas prices are lower. You want to aim to buy a car that is not 'in season'. A luxury vehicle when gas is expensive. A convertible on a rainy winter day. When buying a new car, I will pay about $500 more for no pressure. If I get pressure, I want a huge discount. The nice kitsap ford dealership could not get close to the $11499 loss leader price. They could do $13300.
I went to the other dealership. Had a nice salesman, with a crappy sales manager, that got in my personal space and told me I was wasting money by buying a car flatout. I needed to lease a car, that was a better return on my money. He was telling me that paying them thousands of dollars in car rent for two years on a car I will never own is better than car ownership. I am shortening what he said, he actually talked circles very rapidly and I tuned it out, since this is one of my least favorite sales techniques. Act like the customer is : your dumb daughter or wife, doesn't know anything and try to bully them.
Wrong on so many levels.
I worked a Fiesta for a couple of weeks, and could not get (what I consider) a deal at this point. The fleet lease Fiestas are coming back after use in June, then there will be deals again.
Went on to the Honda.
Pic: Ford Fiesta image courtesy www.treehugger.com
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2 comments:
I hope you shopped the last few days of the month, being April. Always shop for a car then, they are trying to make their quota, but since you're such an oficinata on car buying, you probably already know that.
The leader ads is how I bought my van six years ago brand new. I didn't know the proper name of it, but I guess that's how I got a really great deal.
I priced older (2 yrs. old with less than 30,000 mis. on them) and new vans. When I went to San Bernardino, with a lot of dealerships and more competition than Palm Springs or the high desert where I lived, I got much better prices and just happened to go into a dealership, I told them what I wanted and the salesperson directed me to a newspaper ad that was taped up on the glass cubical in the showroom. There were about 25 vans I could choose at such a low price I thought probably they were standard transmission or without air conditioning. But no, all of the power and bells and whistles I wanted. I couldn't even buy a used van at that price. So I purchased one of the 25 vans and even had my choice of many colors. However, I wanted to pay cash for this deal. They wouldn't let me do that, I had to get a loan, but then I paid the van off after the first month.
I still, 'til this day can't believe my luck on this one. Oh yea, they even gave me $500 on my old 13 year old van, which still was in really great except for the transmission going on it. Other dealers wouldn't give me anything for it.
It does sound like a great deal, other than them forcing you to buy it with a loan. That sounds a bit bogus, but if to pay it off was no more than what you would have paid in cash, then yay! Sometimes they just have to make it look good on paper. I bought our van six years ago too, all decked out for $11K. (It was used, though.... 13K miles on it.)
Now it has 140K and doing fine. I have told it to drive to 200K.
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