I bought a new car at the end of December. I called the dealer in mid-November and found out that two of the model I was looking for had just entered into their inventory. I had the salesman attach my name to one of them. A few weeks later I had a VIN and shortly after that I was able to see the Monroney sticker online. At the end of December I checked in with my salesman and he stated that a delivery truck had just pulled in. A few minutes later he confirmed my vehicle was on the truck and he would put it at the front of the PDI queue. I drove down, wrote them a check, and drove home with my new car two hours later. No fuss, no muss, no unwanted add-ons, and no jacked up additional dealer markup.
This shouldn’t be “shocking” to anyone.
I was shopping for a new Truck last spring. The chip shortage back then put me in a position where it took weeks—because I wanted to wait for the right vehicle.
That said, the only reason I was able to make the deal work is because I had a truck to trade. Pick ups were in high demand—so the trade in value far exceeded my expectations.
But, go onto any car lot’s web site and look at current inventory. My dealer usually had dozens of vehicles—new and old. Now there might be 20-25 on the lot at any given time.
Capitalism.
Get yourself a car dealership and start selling electric Audis for $25K.
My advice is to look beyond your hometown. Check Craigslist, AutoTrader, CarGurus and Cars.com. You can choose how far from home to search. To me, search at least as far as 100 miles.
I’ve found that CarMax and Carvana are about the most expensive places around to buy a car.
I actually don’t mind car shopping. I bought my new 2019 Jeep Grand Cherokee HEMI V8, after trading-in my 2017 Grand Cherokee V6, getting Chrysler rebates and dealer discounts, and a little haggling, for an amazing price. The dealership was willing to deal, and sell it to me. Best car buy experience I’ve had in 20yrs.
“She recently found herself having to shop for two vehicles on opposite ends of the market. For herself, she wanted a late-model ELECTRIC Audi...”
Strike One.
I haven’t been shopping for cars for a couple of years now so I really don’t know how the market looks at the moment. Since 1996 I have been leasing our “wife’s” cars every three years and 10K miles. These are sort of called “premium” cars like Acura, Lincoln, Lexus, etc. I know folks say leasing is a rip-off but I’m convinced it’s a pretty good deal in the long run. Of course you NEVER make any money on the sale (return) of the vehicle for a new one, but on the other hand you don’t loose 20%-50% of the value the moment you drive it off the lot, either... On the up-side you always have 100% warranty coverage on everything but consumables like tires and oil changes, etc. I plan to continue leasing.
My everyday beater is a 2009 BMW 128i ragtop with 125K+ miles and I plan to run the wheels off it. It’s a great runner and looks awesome.
Sad sad stories abound. Women need men to protect them is lots of situations. Car buying is just one of them.
And with the wussification of the citizenry ....
How long until the Congress enacts legislation to make car buying a pleasant experience? OH! It will be backed by the carmakers and others with embedded vested interests! So don’t worry peeps and sleeps - Help is On the Way /sarc
“We went back and forth. We were there for four hours,” she says.”
I’d have been there 4 minutes.
One of my finest moments; when a finance manager kicked me out of the dealership, proclaiming “we have nothing more to discuss” and got and walked away. For the record, I was not disruptive, I was just not agreeing to his terms. In this case I was buying a Challenger as a toy and was just being a hard ass. I did eventually buy the car for just a few hundred over my initial offer.
Another time I was going to buy a truck. I mean, I went there to buy the truck. The dealership made their offer, and I made mine. The salesman came back and said the finance manager said we’re too far off and there’s no point in negotiating. The salesman walked me to my truck as I was leaving. He was so pissed off at the finance manager he could hardly see straight. He knew I had full intention of buying the truck, and probably would have if they had made a counter off.
Go in the dealership around December 28th. make them an offer and tell them you will sign paperwork buy the car right now if they meet your offer. They love year end quota making.
I bought a low mileage used Honda in June 2020. Boy, am I glad I did. Today the same car would cost me $4000 more.
A shrimpy Honda Fit. I get 30 mpg city driving, so rising gasoline prices are not so painful for me. This Honda Fit accelerates very nicely.
When I buy a car I run the wheels off of it. The last two cars I have purchased have been through CarMax... it really is a no hassle experience, some quibble over a couple of hundred bucks here and there but if it’s a smooth transaction, then it’s a smooth transaction, plain and simple.
I was looking at a new Ford Bronco the other day.
The sticker from the factory said $34K, but the salesman said the price was $50K.
I asked him why and he said it was a ‘Market Adjustment Fee’
In other words they added-on $15K because they could.
I’ve bought A LOT of cars over the years. She did it wrong. You find the car online, you e-mail the dealer for a price, if you don’t like that price, you e-mail the NEXT dealer that has one. I’ve found that if there are dealers in small towns, or “out of the way places” they’re more likely to be reasonable on pricing.
A little something that I wrote up *23 years ago* on the topic is mentioned here: https://www.stangnet.com/mustang-forums/threads/really-need-your-guys-help-advice-possibly-scammed.770665/post-7735889