Buying a Hyundai in Central FL? Save time online!
May 10, 2008
Shopping for a new car is stressful. I’ve purchased many cars over the years for myself and my family, and while I can say that having insider experience does help there is one fact that remains. It’s STILL stressful.
Shopping online can be helpful, but you MUST read the fine print. As a dealer I always try to be open and upfront with my customers. Other dealers may try to hide the fact that they are using rebates you might not qualify for, or they may just give you the base price of the car minus rebates and charge you extra for options or packages.
Not a good way of doing business, but if a person sees a lower price they often don’t read the fine print and think they are getting a better deal when they’re not.
I see many car buying websites dedicated to showing you the “true vehicle price” and the “secret invoice”. The truth is there is no secret invoice price. Every car dealer pays the same price for the car, all that changes is freight and ad fees which are based on market.
What these websites should really be dedicated to is showing you how to communicate honestly with a dealer and see through common misconceptions. Some of these websites tell you to write letters to dealers telling them you will be shopping them against their competition and that you want to pay $20,000 out the door and not a dollar more.
Doing this you are certainly going to get dealers to say “Done! Come on in!” Whether they can actually put the deal together or not, all you will do is learn to dislike dealers more. (Perhaps with reason, but in reality had a dealer responded with an actual #, many just ignore it)
Using the Internet you can save a lot of time and headaches, but you need to use the same common sense from your home computer that you would use sitting in the actual car dealership. Deep down you know if your offer is unreasonable, and if it is why would a dealer jump on it so eagerly rather then giving you a good counter offer?
The Internet makes negotiation easier, don’t try to skip negotiating because you risk losing your greatest advantage from home when you come into the store.
