To buy a car - where do you start?

[radhak]

Not a hypothetical question, but your personal opinion : if you want to buy a car, what path do you take?

I desire a crossover SUV (or Compact SUV, as some call them), but have never driven any. So I am thinking this route :
(a) Short-list cars I'd like. Almost done : RAV4/CR-V/Forrestor/Rogue

(b) Make a list of approx cost for new/used from internet / local papers

(c) Trial drive new cars at a couple of dealers.
This more for a personal gratification than anything else. When else will I get this opportunity, even if I don't intend to buy new ?

(d) Trial drive older cars, also at dealers

(e) Should I try out CarMax / CarsDirect / (any other)?

(f) Is Craigslist an option? I see tons of ads for all sorts of vehicles. The real cheap ones are sorta scary, while others are just the same cost as at dealers. A bit of a no-win.

Finally, since I cannot afford a new car, I can only see myself with a 2006 or earlier model (just guessing that even a 2007 model might be too much). So does it make more sense to go something like CarMax, or for a 'certified' one from one of the 'authorized' guys (ie, Toyota/Honda/ etc)?

[cabinetman]

All of those things.
.

[charliex]

If dealers don't want a return (rental, lease) because of a flaw they will sell them on auction. Dealers keep the best ones for resale. Figure out what you want then go test drive older versions. This will give you some idea how they wear with time and miles. When you mention 2006 you are almost talking new. If you need to finance you will get a better rate (maybe < 2%) and full warranty with new. Another thing to consider at this time is if fuel prices are not a problem you can now by a gas hog cheap. My son is finance manager for a dealer, sales suck and they are doing anything to clear out inventory. I would bet that it's the same story around the country.
Good luck. I don't envy you; I buy new and keep for 9 - 10 years. I hate car shopping. Sticker shock....
Chas

[docrowan]

I would highly recommend Consumer Reports for information on car reliability - they've been pretty accurate for all the cars we've owned. One important thing I learned is that just because a particular year model performed great does not necessarily mean that the same make and model but a different year will perform the same. For instance, I have a '99 Pontiac Grand Prix that has been very reliable, but the same car produced in '98 or '00 may have some serious problems. It's not just redesigns that can introduce problems - supplier changes, changes to the manufacturing plant, etc may introduce quality problems and can occur throughout the period a particular design in produced. Consumer Reports does a good job of detailing reliability in all the systems for each year a make and model is produced. I don't trust friend's opinions, too much bias and their needs are usually different than mine.

I also like fueleconomy.gov to check both the fuel economy and the interior and trunk room. I've not found any other website where I can easily compare cabin space from model to model. I want the maximum bang for my buck, I won't go less than 90 cubic feet cabin and 10 cubic feet trunk for a compact sedan.

Finally, I prefer for sale by owner to a car lot, I think you can get a better deal, but you have to have a lot of patience and some "car sense". I usually get the VIN number on cars I see along the highway and either get my wife to check Carfax.com via the cell phone or I'll do it later when I get home. I don't talk with the owner until I've checked out the car's title and insurance history.

This works for me, your mileage may vary. Hope this was helpful

[Red88chevy]

After looking for months, I recently bought a car. I think your list is good. I like carmax as I have purchased my wife's car there, however when I priced shopped I found they were too high compared to many of the dealers in the region. What I like about carmax is they have a good webpage so it is easy to car shop from home. Carmax.com is good and I also liked autotrader.com. Through autotrader I learned there were much bettter deals available. I had to drive 300 miles to a larger city to get a good price.

Also, someone in my office recommended Edmunds.com for general car information, and the most helpful thing from them was an article called "confessions of a car salesman", it was a real eye opener! Here is the link for it,
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying...2/article.html

Reading this helped me know how dealers play the game and for practice I went to a couple of dealers and went through the negotation process for cars I didn't intend to buy just to get me use to it and to see how much they would take off. At one of these practice sessions I did as good as I could with the salesman and tried to leave, then a "closer" ran up to me as I was walking out the door and lowered the price another $500 dollars. So it does pay not to be quick to accept their offer.

[mschrank]

I'll second the recommendation for edmunds.com. It will really help you figure out what you should pay whether you are buying from a dealer or a private party.

Since you are looking at late model cars, the site should have plenty of choices for you to specify options...right down to color (It appears that they've done enough research to know that certain colors are more desirable in certain parts of the country).

[Uncle Cracker]

I have a friend/neighbor who is a dealer. He will take me to the auction, and if we score, I give him an extra $100. He does this for other interested buyers for $400. You probably have similar guys in your area. My guy has a great eye for problems, takes a paint thickness "sounder" to check for aftermarket body and paint work, and knows how to get the "skinny" from the seller. Saved me a bunch on my last 3 deals, and not a lemon in the lot.

[crokett]

I generally skip D. If I am at a dealer it is for a new car. The used cars I've gotten were either at Carmax or private sale. I was willing to pay the slight premium at Carmax for being able to go to their website, pick out what I wanted and they shipped it to the nearest location for free.

[Rand]

Lots of good info here:

http://www.howstuffworks.com/consumer-guide.htm

The full reviews are very informative. Here's an 06-07 Toyota Rav4 full review:
http://consumerguideauto.howstuffwor...ota-rav4-6.htm

I really hate car dealers so I try to buy from a private party. This takes patience and it's more work but you should always be able to beat a dealer price by a couple grand at least.
I've found craig's list very frustrating for buying cars. I think because it's free there are ads from people who aren't interested in selling. I have had more luck with the classified ads in the newspaper. If somebody is willing to spend a little money advertising their car you know they really want to sell it.

The dealer "certified" used vehicles are really just a used car with an extended warranty figured into the purchase price. You can buy an extended warranty for almost any late model vehicle - often for a better price than the dealer will offer you.

I would have rather have a quality vehicle that doesn't break down than one with a fantastic warranty that's in the shop all the time.

Have the vehicle inspected by a trusted mechanic before you buy.

[footprintsinconc]

edmunds is a must resource for car pricing. their invoice prices are much more accurate. they also tell you the holdback, bonus, etc that dealer get in a different section. then you go the fourum section of the site and for every car you will see a blog/thread title "buying experience and price paid" where people around the country will tell what they paid for the car --- very helpful stuff.

armed with just that site info, i bought my car a couple of thousand less than invoice (true invoice - as oppose to the invoice the dealers tell you) back in 2005. i tried costco and they were real high, in fact higher than what a local dealer had offered to sell me the car right of the back when i showed up at the lot.

[jackellis]

Gee, I wish I had asked about this earlier.

we're still in the looking process and I'd been thinking I'd be better off buying a certified pre-owned to get the warranty (LOML's Volvo has been what pilots refer to as a hangar queen). we'll be moving to a place where the nearest dealer is about 50 miles away and the owner of the only repair shop we like is getting on in age. But maybe a sale by owner, assuming we can find what we want, is a better deal.

A dealer about 100 miles away did admit they'd be willing to deal on a new vehicle, and if the price is about what I've been willing to pay for used, it might also be worth doing.

I hate buying cars!

[dbhost]

My pickup, my work car both came from CarMax. Pricing was right in line with buying from an individual for what I bought, and I was able to get a 100K mile extended warranty thrown in the deal which saved me about $4K when I blew a transmission up... (MFG flaw showed up about 2K miles after the factory warranty ran out).

My wife and I are paying off debt as fast as we can, as soon as we are clear of her student loans, and my truck note, we are buying a Lincoln Navigator from Car Max for her...

[radhak]

Whoo! Lotsa good information to read and digest. Thanks everybody for the advice and the links. Many of these I had no clue of, and others jogged my memory cells to life! Great resources.

Now I realize I did not admit it to myself before : I hate buying cars. More - I am actually scared of the whole process. No other 'plan to purchase' is as painful to my internals as this; even buying a house was easier - somehow it felt like you do get something of good value to the money you pay; not so with a car ! No wonder I have been putting it off for the past year!

That tip about CL is pertinent - I wonder if I'd take it easy if the seller suddenly yanks the car away ('oh, somebody bought it already' or even simply vanishes).

I wish I had a buddy in the auto business; one of my neighbor's seems to either own or work in a car-dealer. But he's from Cuba, and speaks absolutely no English, and the last time I tried telling him he had a nice garden, his visiting young granddaughter went into a fit of laughter, and would absolutely not tell me what I actually said !

How does CarMax work? Is it like a regular dealer (walk in, test drive, haggle, drive home with a I-have-been-had mood), or different in some way? How about CarsDirect?

My other neighbor tells me he bought his Xterra on Ebay, from a non-local seller! Wonder if my constitution would stand up to that level of stress ?

[Uncle Cracker]

CarMax is no haggle. The price you see is the price you pay. That's the good part, if you don't like the haggling. Their ads offering to buy your car are misleading. Their "offer" will either make you laugh, or make you cry. Either way, it will be far less than what you would consider fair value. They can get any car wholesale, so why pay anything close to a reasonable price for yours? Their offer will be low enough that they can recover the $$ even if they have to sell yours at auction. Better get ready to take a pounding, or sell your own in AutoTrader.

[scmhogg]

Rad,

I bought three cars on ebay. They were all within 50 miles. Two Audi TT's for LOML and a RAV4 for me. I ran a Carfax on each to check the background. No problems so far.

Steve