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Need a new car? These articles tell you how to get the lowest price for a new car and prepares you for the "tricks of the trade" that car salesmen sometimes use .

4 tips to save a bundle on your next new car purchase
P Desai

Many of us have been at the car dealership and have been drained by a salesperson during price negotiations for the purchase of a new car. Most people give in too easily or do not negotiate at
all to avoid the dreadful act. This only means more money in the car dealers’ pocket, while you are out of several thousand dollars! Yes, they make that much in profit per car.



4 tips to save a bundle on your next new car purchase

Many of us have been at the car dealership and have been drained by a salesperson during price negotiations for the purchase of a new car. Most people give in too easily or do not negotiate at
all to avoid the dreadful act. This only means more money in the car dealers’ pocket, while you are out of several thousand dollars! Yes, they make that much in profit per car.

This article unveils the dealer’s selling tactics and how you can get around them. But before we dive into the new car buying tips, we need to understand what makes up the dealer’s profits. In
addition to the MSRP (manufacturer suggested retail price), which is the dealer’s cost for the car plus an additional 20-25% profit, a dealer also gets financial incentives from the manufacturer when a new car is sold. This is called Holdback.

Depending on the car, dealers can make hundreds on each car through holdbacks. Dealers also get additional incentives and bonuses on selling a car before the end of the month and/or quarter. A shrewd dealer can make several thousand on a new car even by selling it at invoice price. This is how new car buying can become tricky for the consumer.

Ready to learn how not to put a dent in your wallet on your next car purchase? Here are four tips to get you started. Each one is a dealer tactic to watch out for.

1. The Guilt Trip As you may have noticed, every desk in a dealership has photos of the salesperson’s family, instead of photos of cars. Midway in the negotiation, the sales person will bring them up and make it look like his little commission check can hardly pay for his daughters college and little Bradley’s braces.

A seasoned salesperson will soon have you feeling guilty for driving the price down and hurting his commission. Watch out not to fall for this tactic, since you already know about holdbacks and incentive programs from manufacturers.

2. Wearing You Down Come prepared to spend half a day at the dealership or pay whatever the dealer asks for. Car Dealers are trained to delay and tire you out to the point where you give in
and accept their price just to get out of there.

After you make your offer, sales people typically claim they would have to run it by their manager. You may then have to re-start negotiating with the manager, who is also a seasoned salesperson. This dance goes on for a while until you give in. Remember, there are multiple dealerships in a city, so they need you more than you need them. Demand to speak to the manager after a certain time period or threaten to leave. Because you are devoting a lot of time to bargain with the dealer, they know you
are a serious buyer, so they will not let you leave. The earlier you can speak with the manager, the faster you can leave.

3. The Test Drive We all enjoy a good test drive and look forward to it. Although it is essential to test drive a car before you buy it, remember to not show your absolute love for the car to the salesperson. Their goal is to get you emotionally attached to the car, so it becomes a must have for you. I have learned it the hard way.

To hide your emotional tears from the salesperson, mention the features of a competing car in the same class, like the new shape, light, leg room, resale value etc. This will make the salesperson a little vulnerable.

4. Monthly Payments This one is to confuse you. Dealers will start talking about monthly payments rather than the total price of the car. They will start by asking how much you are willing to pay per month and how much of a down payment you are willing to pay. Since people don’t want to look like they cannot afford a certain car, they will usually give a higher number. Big Mistake!

You have left little room for negotiation when this happens. Always steer the conversation to the total price of the car and do NOT mention any trade-ins at this point. Only after the total price of the vehicle is completely negotiated then talk about interest, monthly payment and trade-ins.

General Rule; As a general rule, remember to only focus and negotiate on the Total Price of the vehicle. Everything else is pretty much the car dealer’s trough.

If the above new car buying tips seem like a lot of hassle, yet you still want to get the best price in town, there are some websites that do this for you. http://www.AutoAuctionBids.com for
example is a great website for this because you can collect price quotes from multiple local dealers for a particular car as well as its competing car models (like Honda Accord, Toyota Camry and Ford Taurus) and compare them. The website then allows you to send back the lowest quotes received for each car make to all participating dealers in your area through the website itself.

Dealers view this price and continue to submit new lower prices over a 3 day period. By putting local dealers in such a price competition allows you to avoid the dreadful face to face
negotiation and yet gets you the lowest price in town for up to 3 competing car makes.

The best part about AutoAuctionBids.com is that it is absolutely free for you and there is no obligation to buy after the new car auction is over.

P Desai may be contacted at http://www.autoauctionbids.com p_desai@autoauctionbids.com
Prashant Desai, author of various buying tips articles and industry expert for AutoAuctionBids.com. Email him at p_desai@autoauctionbids.com to sign up for e-Newsletter and visit http://www.autoauctionbids.com  for more information.

The Top 10 Dealership Scams To Watch Out For

Everyone has heard about dealership scams, but unfortunately, few people know about any scam specific details and therefore are unsure what to watch out for.

In this article I'll cover the ten most common dealership scams so that you can be better armed to protect yourself the next time you are out new or used car shopping from a dealership.

1. The VIN window etching scam

Basically a dealer will charge you $300-$900 for window etching and they will tell you that you have to pay the money to get the loan because the banks insists on it.

Some dealers might tell you that the etching is free but will add on the etch money to your monthly payments to make up for it.

The best way to avoid this scam is to force the dealer to put it in writing if they say that the etching is free or simply etch the car yourself.

You can get an etch-it-yourself kit from http://www.CarEtch.com for $30 or just don't buy the car. Remember a lender doesn't require that you purchase any extras on a car. All the lender
cares about is that you can make your payments on time regularly. Don't buy into it.

2. The Financing Scam

I have mentioned this before already, but here it is in more detail.

Basically you trade in your old car and the finance manager tells you that your interest rate is good and then gives you the car.

After a week or two passes you get the call from him that you didn't qualify for the interest rates that they gave you upon making the deal.

Every new purchase has a clause in the contract that usually states that the deal is "subject to loan approval."

This gives the finance manager a loop hole in getting more money out of you. All that this means in the contract is that the deal is not finished yet even you already have possession of the car
and have signed the contract.

The dealer can then charge you $1000 more in finance fees and up your monthly payments by $50.

This scam is generally pulled on people with bad credit because it is more plausible.

If you are wondering why they would sell you the car at 6% APR if they knew you had bad credit (remember they ran the credit search already) the answer is simple; to sell the car.

You can avoid this scam by not financing the car with the dealer if you know that you have bad credit.

You are better off going to a credit union and financing the car yourself. When you buy a new car the deal should be made on the price of the car, not on the monthly payments.

3. The Credit Score Scam

This scam is ridiculous at best. This is when the finance manager tells you that your credit score is lower than it really is so that they can get you for higher interest rates.

This scam is pulled on everyone; good or bad credit.

This scam is easy to avoid. Just get your own copy of your credit report from Equifax.com, and bring it with you.

It is really difficult to lie to you about your credit score if you have your own copy of it. If your paper and theirs doesn't say the same thing, go somewhere else because that dealership is lying to you.

Don't forget to let them know it too because it'll be nice to watch them squirm.

4. The Forced Warranty Scam

This is when the finance manager tells you that you are not eligible for the loan by the bank unless you pay an extra $2000 for a 2-3 year extended warranty.

This scam just doesn't make sense. Basically the finance manager is telling you that the bank won't trust you to pay the $20,000 loan for the car, but they will trust you if you pay even more money. That's just stupid.

You can avoid this scam if you can force them to put it in writing that you "have" to pay the extended warranty in order to get the loan.

That way you can bring a copy of the contract to your local State's Attorney's office to verify that the deal is valid. I can bet that the finance manager will change his tune pretty quickly.

5. The Dealer Prep Scam

Let me first let you know that cost is not only legal but very much common practice. I still refer to it as a scam because it is just another way for you to end up paying more money for the car. Basically the dealer will tell you have to pay an extra $500 to cover the labor costs of the dealership's 5-point inspection. You are paying for the time it took for the dealership to make sure that the car wouldn't explode on you in the first week of owning it!

This check up that you are paying so much money for is for the dealership to remove plastic from the seats etc, vacuum the car out, and making sure that all of the fuses and fluids are ready to go.

When factories deliver the new cars to the dealerships the cost of delivery and prep is already covered, so basically you are paying the dealership for work that they haven't really done.

I swear they would take a car in perfectly ready to drive condition, take everything out and put everything right back in it just so that they can make you pay the fee again.

You can avoid this scam by simply asking the dealership to add an extra $500 credit to the deal to make sure you do not have to pay the money.

If they refuse, you can then decide if the car is worth the money. If it is fine; buy the car, if not; go to another dealer that will remove the dealer prep costs.

6. The Dealer Mark up Scam

This is an unnecessary fee that the dealer charges for no reason other than greed. This fee can be seen on the orange sticker marked on the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP).

The additional dealer markup is nothing more than requiring more money for no real reason. They can include all kinds of extra fees in the additional dealer markup.

When you see an extra dealer mark up fee, ask the dealer to get rid of it. If they refuse, it is pretty much up to you, but remember that if you do pay the extra dealer markup, you are overpaying for no real reason.

7. The Payoff Your Loan Scam

This is when the dealer offers to pay off the balance of your current car loan no matter how much money you still owe. It is a common sales strategy and one I hear on a regular basis on the local radio stations. When the average buyer hears it, they think that by purchasing a new car with a new dealership, they will automatically owe no more money on their current car.

That couldn't be further from the truth.

What really happens is that the dealership does help you get out of your current contract; however, they normally are forgetting to tell you how high your fees are going to be for breaking the lease agreement with your old dealership.

You will now be responsible to pay fees that are in the thousands to make up for it. You also will not be able to refinance for a new car until those fees are paid. Of course the dealership can add the cost on to your contract with them at a substantially higher rate.

The dealership only agrees to this deal because they want to get more money off of your current car. They aren't really doing anything for you at all. The dealership will also give you far less then the car is worth on the trade off. Basically this scam works because they will up your monthly fees, and then sell your trade in for a more money than its worth.

The dealership then extends your monthly payments so that they can make it appear that you are paying a small amount monthly when you don't even realize that you have committed to an extra
year of payments.

To avoid this scam, you have to bite the bullet and ride out your current lease till the end. If you are really determined to get a new car, then you should try selling your current car on your own.

Just sell it so that the buyer just takes over the lease payments.

8. The Used Car Sold "As Is" Scam

This is when a dealership will sell you a car that has been in a car wreck, but they will tell you that the car has been completely refurbished.

When you see the car it has a sticker on it that says "as is" on it and no warranty is included with your purchase.

This is the dealer's way of telling you that you can't bring the car back, you are assuming all risks for the car, and that it is not under any kind of warranty.

To avoid this scam, don't buy a car without a warranty or one that says "as is" on it. By doing this, you might as well buy a car from a stranger on the street with the same deal.

9. The Bounced Check Scam

This is when you walk into a dealership with a bank draft and the dealership charges that they can't accept your draft because your bank bounces checks often so they now refuse checks from that
bank.

Of course, this leaves the table open for them to get the extra money they want by offering to sell you a car at a higher interest rate.

You can avoid this scam first by getting your drafts from Capital One Auto Finance.

Then let the finance manager know that you are aware of the scam that they are pulling and that Capital One Auto Finance is in the business of giving loans so the checks don't bounce.

10. The Forced Credit Application

If you are hoping to pay for a car outright or in cash with a bank draft or check that is what you should do. Some dealerships will not let you.

You will hear one of these lines so that they can try and get you into paying monthly terms for more money.

"State laws require that you must fill out a credit application before I can sell you this car."

"Everyone that buys a car from us fills out a credit application first."

"It's the company's policy".

If you hear any of these lies, then you know what's going on. When you are paying cash or financing with another company, why would you think that you need to fill out a credit application with the dealership?

It doesn't make sense. No state will force you to apply for credit when paying cash.

Would you have to fill out a credit report if you want to buy a sofa or groceries while paying cash? See how silly this is. To avoid this scam, just laugh in their faces.

Well, there you have it, the top ten most common dealership scams. So, now you are better armed to detect when a sales agent is trying to pull one over on you.




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