How You Can Avoid Sticker Shock

Having a new car is a very good feeling.  The smell, the look, the feel.  Paying for a new car isn’t always the best experience, however.  By now, you have engaged the pages of www.selectautorates.com to search and compare the best auto loan rates and terms that are available.  After the new car loan rates and terms are gathered, it is important to learn how to avoid the sticker shock usually associate with a trip to the car dealership. 

4, 6, or 8- As recently as a decade or so ago, cars that came from the factory with 4 cylinder engines were to be avoided.  They didn’t have the kind of power that Americans demanded.  Back then, you used to have to buy engine upgrades to make the car make enough horsepower.  Modern cars don’t have the problem.  Even 4 cylinder engines make more than enough power for just about any application.  Smaller engines usually get better mileage as well, so you can save literally thousands of dollars over the whole time you own the car.  Big isn’t always better.  Safety and power with small cars has been vastly improved and of course these cars burn less fuel and better for the environment.

Don’t buy what you don’t need.  Many times, a dealer will have the model car you’re looking for in stock, and despite your assurances that you don’t need power adjustable glove box handle, he’ll try to sell you the upgrades anyway.  Never be afraid to order something that you want.  Anything that costs that much ought to be customized for you anyway, right?  Get the product they way you want it but without the costly, pretty additions you don’t care for.

Avoid the popular models.  When a particular model of car is trendy or hot in the market, you’ll be hard pressed to find a good deal on one.  It’s basic supply and demand principles at work.  Take a look and see what’s been on the lot for a while, and make an offer on one of them.  Pickup truck sales may be slumping, but you can use that to your advantage and get one of the myriad trucks sitting on lots for much less than original asking price.  The popular models put the dealer in the drivers seat.  If you don’t buy it, the dealer potentially has more buyers, with less popular models, you are in charge.  Just let dealer find the next buyer when you are not interested in the offer they give you.

Take a closer look.  Too many car dealers will try to bundle options together so they can sell two or three things you don’t need along with one thing you do.  Do you really need an air conditioned glove box?  A $700 stereo that’s probably not even as good as the one you could by at an electronics store?  Really examine the available options for the model you’ve chosen and make sure that you get only the ones that you absolutely need.  Add-ons from the dealership are costly and high margin products for the dealership, consider this while you evaluate your needs and how you made get additional amenities after the car leaves the showroom.

Let Mother Nature negotiate a bit.  This tip requires a little luck, a little chutzpah, and a lot of patience.  New car buyers demand perfection.  Something that costs that much ought to be, right?  What happens after a hail storm?  The dealer may end up sitting on several hundred cars that never made it into a garage for the night and are now a bit damaged.  Superficial paint damage or tiny pockmarks in the metal absolutely will not affect the overall performance of the car.  Yet, for some reason, people don’t want damaged cars.  The dealership may be willing to work with you at finding a reasonable mark down price for the damaged car.

Finally, avoid any shock with financing.  Exercise the motto to be prepared.  Know the market for car loan interest rates, car loan terms and car loan monthly payments before the dealership reveals their price.  Avoid sticker shot that comes up at financing time by having complete knowledge of available car loan rates either to aide in negotiations with the dealership or to have your own financing ready when it is time to make the new car purchase.

Tags: auto loan rates, car buying, car loan interest rates, car loan rates, car loans

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 24th, 2009 at 9:17 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.