I told my daughter we would buy her a car last night and started her on this journey.
My first step is to decide what is important to me and make up a spreadsheet. Then I go on edmunds and look up as much as I can of what I care about. I am 6'2", for instance, and my son is taller. I put head and leg room on the spreadsheet because we cannot fit in all vehicles. My daughter is 5'9" so she probably does not need that criteria. I want cruise control, she probably does too. I car how big the engine is and how much power it has. She does not. Organizing the information this way helps keep things straight for me. Otherwise, it is very hard.
When I narrow it down a little this way I start looking at vehicles. Then I decide what I want to buy and what I might buy if the price is good enough. The last SUV I bought I considered a Chevy Equinox, a Hyundai Sante Fe, and a Suzuki Grand Vitara (2006). You might want to add the Jeep Compass or Patriot (I think they are the same except for styling) to your list, I've seem them for less than $15K in adds. I need to pull a 2000 lb boat which kept me from having smaller and 4 cylinder SUVs on my list. I wanted the Suzuki, after looking at my specs and looking at the vehicles, because it had the most "stuff" for the price. I got a price first on the Chevy and Sante Fe, however, and used that to get the price I wanted on the Suzuki.
I will not force my daughter to follow my process exactly but I told her she has to explain her choice to me to get the check. The process of talking it thorugh with me will help her learn how to do this so next time, when it is her money, she will know what she is doing. Basic steps are to do some research on paper, do some research actually looking at and driving the vehicles, think about it (in our case pray about it) and then go make a deal. If you cannot get the deal you want, walk away and pray and think some more. Maybe your expectation was wrong but maybe if you wait you'll get what you want.
Last point. End of month, end of quarter, and end of year are all important to car dealers (new). They get incentives from the manufacturer that are a function of what they sell over these intervals. A few more can make them more money on every vehicle they've sold over that interval. They will tend to give you a little better price at these times.
Jim
My first step is to decide what is important to me and make up a spreadsheet. Then I go on edmunds and look up as much as I can of what I care about. I am 6'2", for instance, and my son is taller. I put head and leg room on the spreadsheet because we cannot fit in all vehicles. My daughter is 5'9" so she probably does not need that criteria. I want cruise control, she probably does too. I car how big the engine is and how much power it has. She does not. Organizing the information this way helps keep things straight for me. Otherwise, it is very hard.
When I narrow it down a little this way I start looking at vehicles. Then I decide what I want to buy and what I might buy if the price is good enough. The last SUV I bought I considered a Chevy Equinox, a Hyundai Sante Fe, and a Suzuki Grand Vitara (2006). You might want to add the Jeep Compass or Patriot (I think they are the same except for styling) to your list, I've seem them for less than $15K in adds. I need to pull a 2000 lb boat which kept me from having smaller and 4 cylinder SUVs on my list. I wanted the Suzuki, after looking at my specs and looking at the vehicles, because it had the most "stuff" for the price. I got a price first on the Chevy and Sante Fe, however, and used that to get the price I wanted on the Suzuki.
I will not force my daughter to follow my process exactly but I told her she has to explain her choice to me to get the check. The process of talking it thorugh with me will help her learn how to do this so next time, when it is her money, she will know what she is doing. Basic steps are to do some research on paper, do some research actually looking at and driving the vehicles, think about it (in our case pray about it) and then go make a deal. If you cannot get the deal you want, walk away and pray and think some more. Maybe your expectation was wrong but maybe if you wait you'll get what you want.
Last point. End of month, end of quarter, and end of year are all important to car dealers (new). They get incentives from the manufacturer that are a function of what they sell over these intervals. A few more can make them more money on every vehicle they've sold over that interval. They will tend to give you a little better price at these times.
Jim
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