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Car Buying Advice

Alienspecimen

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Best Coast RI
Hello,

I am buying a new car and had my first test drive today.

Afterwards, I was talking to the salesman and obtained some information that am almost positive I shouldn't have.. A spreadsheet with these columns:

Net Invoice
Conditional Advertising
Floor Line
Holdback Amount
Dealer Invoice
Freight
Dealer InvoiceW/Freight
MSPR
MSPR W/Freight

Can you tell me what do the first five mean and how I could use this information in my advantage.

Many thanks
 
Net invoice is likely what the car cost from the factory. Dealer invoice is probably what the dealer paid for the car. Advertising probably has to do with their ad budget divided between all the cars. Everything else? Try Google
 
The cynical side of me says you were either dealing with a very rookie salesman, or you were "shown" that data. These days, with electronic accounting, I'd be mildly surprised if there was any reason to print any of that out.
 
It means he gave you a bogus document to try and jam you on the price.
 
I sold cars for about 5 years and Darky pretty much hit it and here's a good explanation (and some tips) :

http://books.google.com/books?id=BR...AQ#v=onepage&q=car buying net invoice&f=false

Superdave, Id be very surprised to find any new car dealers that operate that way anymore. The consumer has too much information available now days to even try that stunt anymore and with as litigious as our society is now, the risk is not worth the reward.

The best tip is to not buy new; that is the best car value for you. Try to find that 10k mile, 1 year old car or even ask if they have any "dealer demos" (cars that the dealerships management / staff use) available or coming up for sale.

It's pretty hard to not get a good deal on cars anymore; the consumers have too much information available for dealers to try and rip people off and / or price themselves out of a customer. If you have any questions about your purchase or the process, feel free to PM me..
 
Just make sure on the dealer demo that they cleaned it well...I sold Chevy's for a month (quit because my dealer was way too shady), and the Tahoe LTZs management brought back had center consoles stuffed with candy bars, crud under the seats etc. However, you could've bought a fully loaded $54k Tahoe (nav, power folding 2nd row seats, power hatch, etc, all the best 07 had to offer ;)) for about $46k because it had 12-15k miles on it.
 
this! even buying a 1 or 2 year old car will save you thousands of dollars in debt.

That's changed a bit recently due to the used market spiking after cash for clunkers. Now a new car costs about the same as a 1-2 year old car when you take incentives and financing into account
 
Disagree. My 2011 Traverse that we purchased a year ago with 17,000 miles on it was $6,000.00 less than the new 2012 model with the exact same options.
 
Figure out how much you have to spend (IN CASH) and then go buy one. Don't finance, and don't buy from the dealership. Criagslist or e-bay. Brand new cars are a financial anchor and leasing is even worse.

Every car we have purchased since the mid 2000's has been in cash, and that includes: 1990 XJ, 1994 ZJ, 2001 XJ, 2004 WJ. I found the WJ on E-bay in Kansas City and flew there to pick it up for cash.

It was nice to see XJEEPER link to Dave Ramsey. Glad to know there are more out there that subscribe to his logic. His studio is just down the street from us about 4 miles. I've run into him a time or two at restaurants around town.
 
That's changed a bit recently due to the used market spiking after cash for clunkers. Now a new car costs about the same as a 1-2 year old car when you take incentives and financing into account[/QUOTE
]




Disagree. My 2011 Traverse that we purchased a year ago with 17,000 miles on it was $6,000.00 less than the new 2012 model with the exact same options.

Depends. A 2012 Honda would have cost me the same as a 2010 or 2011 with 10k or so on it after its all said and done.
 
new cars often have better interest rates, so sometimes it doesnt make sense to buy used when it's all said and done.
i always buy used, but i buy cars 5+ years old and pay cash.
 
I'd say buying a new car isn't a bad decision in all scenarios.

1: You're a pretentious ass who needs to always keep up with the jonses.
2: You're buying a car you intend to keep for a long, long time; this way you can get exactly what you want and pass ti down to your grandchildren.



Now that said I've never bought new and don't have any plans to buy new anytime soon. Holly bought her Mini new and other than it being a complete POS vehicle that wasn't a bad decision. Too bad the transmission died just after she paid it off.
 
I like the pretentious ass part. I miss driving a car everyday that has a personality; my new vw is a soulless machine but this way there's no personality to stop working or break.
 
The best tip is to not buy new; that is the best car value for you. Try to find that 10k mile, 1 year old car or even ask if they have any "dealer demos" (cars that the dealerships management / staff use) available or coming up for sale.

I totally agree! I just picked up a '96 with 10k miles and it has retained the "new car" smell.

Back in December I'd found an identical car with only 1,856 miles on it for $1k more, did the documentation and the dealership sold it out from under me to someone local. Unethical in my view...

But anything under 10k miles is all that I'll purchase. Low or no car payments and insurance to match!
 
I'd say buying a new car isn't a bad decision in all scenarios.

1: You're a pretentious ass who needs to always keep up with the jonses.
2: You're buying a car you intend to keep for a long, long time; this way you can get exactly what you want and pass ti down to your grandchildren.



Now that said I've never bought new and don't have any plans to buy new anytime soon. Holly bought her Mini new and other than it being a complete POS vehicle that wasn't a bad decision. Too bad the transmission died just after she paid it off.



Number 2 is why I bought my 200, only thing it had I didn't want was the HDD radio and 18" wheels..........after 6 months, I still wouldn't mind having the 17's instead of the 18's, but love the radio. I also bought the lifetime extended warranty for it too, with all of the modern crap for engine electronics and a fairly large engine in that bay, I didn't want to try and deal with that mess............
 
I would love to be a pretentious ass, but cant afford it. I want to get into an econobox that costs in the vicinity of 18K.

I am very aware of the car values and do prefer a slightly used one, but the 12 model carries a 7yr/100K warranty vs 3yr/36K for 11 and older. Also, they offer 0%APR and $1000 customer cashback until the end of the month.

So far I got quoted the MSRP, although he knew that I will not be buying that day. $400 dealer fee was added, I didn't question it, of course since I was only getting a quote. I dont mind paying the freight.

I asked about the $1000 cashback, but he said that it doesn't go along with the 0%APR. I knew that he is full of it.

He told me that the 13 models cost the same, the difference is the 0%APR for the 12 model, good luck selling with this strategy in mind. He was young 19-20yrs old. They really wanted someone else to "take care of me", but that salesman was out and about.

Anyhow, any advice how to negotiate the price will be more than welcome.

Thanks in advance.
 
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