Is it only me? I hate the process from start to finish. I can do research better than most people, so I can choose a new car. But then I start thinking i should get a used one, but not too used, just so I don’t take the new car value hit. But i want a warranty because I am no mechanic and I’m terrified I’ll choose the lemon on the used car lot, and pay too much for it too.
Why is this purchase so much more stress inducing than other large purchases, like a house or a vacation or pretty much anything else?
Arrrgh.
I’m posting mostly for commiseration, not advice, though I’d take it if anyone has any. I already have the money part handled - financing pre-approved, a down payment. Now it’s about choosing a car. I’d love to do it entirely online without ever seeing anyone but I need to at least test-drive, even if I buy new.
I have bought 2 CPO cars in the past 6 months, I just bought one this past Monday because my 13 year old minivan needed expensive repairs that were more than the car was worth. I have always hated buying cars too, but all the info online makes it so much easier and transparent than it used to be! Since I had just purchased a car last spring and was hoping to get my minivan to last a few more years my budget for the car I just bought was smaller than I would have liked. I noticed that there are cars that dealers are selling as CPO that are barely used. They have as few as 1000 miles, are 2016 and were never sold but registered to the dealer and are significantly discounted over the same model new car. They come with most of the original warranties left on the car. Next time around I am going to look for one of these cars.
When I bought my car last spring I did a lot of online browsing using cars.com and edmunds. I identified a few cars I was interested in and went and test drove them. I decided on the car I wanted and was planning to buy the base model new version but doing a little more browsing I found a cpo 2 year old more deluxe model of that car with only 14K miles and a lot of warranty left on it. I used USAAs car buying service to get an additional discount, went and bought it and it was so much less stressful because I had been able to compare prices on line and knew I was getting a good deal.
Do you have some idea of what kind of car you want? If you know that then you can identify a few cars that fit the bill from different makers and go test drive them. I found the sales people I interacted with to be so much less high pressure than in the past. I think they know people have access to so much more information than they used to.
Good luck!
I am in the same boat. Looking for a car online so I can spend the least amount of time at the store. Thinking few years used with low mileage. It is a headache and I will be glad when the decision is made and the process is done with.
The biggest piece of this is to find a car in your price range that you like, while buying a used car sort of gets rid of the ‘depreciation when it hits the street’, if you plan to keep a car any length of time that ends up not mattering much in the long run. On the other hand, a late model used car, maybe off of a lease, may allow you to buy something you like you couldn’t afford new.
Right now is a great time to buy, they are still trying to get rid of the 2016’s. Since you are pre approved, you are in effect paying cash in the eyes of the dealer, no financing from them. If you test drive cars and find what you like, and you know a dealer has a car you want, you can often put an offer in over the internet, go to cars.com and the like, and make an offer. The dealer may counteroffer, but stick to your guns, and you likely will get the price you want (if not, there are other dealers). This way you don’t have to deal with the bs in the dealership, the pressure where the salesman "talks to the boss’ and comes back and says "no way we can do it below X+5k (x being your price), or “you know, this car is very hard to get and will sell soon, I had a guy come in just the other day”. Doing it over the net saves you that.
The fun part should be looking at cars and test driving them, after that, let the internet do the talking
Yes, certified pre-owned.
I found a fairly good selection once I identified what model car I wanted to buy of 2 or 3 year old cars with low mileage that are coming off leases. Since I saw that there are used cars that the dealers are selling that are of the same age and mileage but are not being sold as cpo I figured that they are weeding out the less desirable cars and the better quality cars are able to be sold as cpo. The research I did suggested that the best cpo cars are sold by a dealer that sells the same make cars as the car being sold and the warranty comes from the manufacturer not the dealer. In other words if you want to buy a cpo honda, buy it from a honda dealer. Some dealers will try to “certify” a car as going through an inspection but it’s not backed by the manufacturer. I only looked at cars that were 1 car owner by carfax and had a free carfax history available to view online.
I should add, I grew up in NYC and didn’t own a car until I was well into my 20’s. After that I was married and he did the car shopping. Since we divorced I was given the one I currently drive, so I have never really car shopped on my own. I tried a couple of years ago, looked at a couple, had one or two taken before i even got to the lot. Frustrating, and then I was given this one so I dropped it. So I am totally new at this.
Sort of. My highest priority is price and reliability, and at least decent gas mileage (25+ avg), I’m not very picky if those are right, I’d drive a manual or auto trans, for instance, I like both.
But all that being equal, I’d love cruise control, power locks/windows, and a hatchback or small SUV.
I like the CPO idea. Do all dealerships do that or just Honda and a few others?
Hate car shopping!! To me, it’s worth it now to lease. I have never done it and I know it’s more expensive, but I anticipate it won’t be any more expensive than spending thousands in mechanics bills or on things like new tires and batteries and spark plugs once my owned car passes the 5 year mark or so. Next time I’m leasing whatever car has the deal of the day. I anticipate feeling very relieved at not having to make a long term commitment to a car that’s headed for the nursing home.
PS Looking at cars and test driving them is NOT fun, ha ha!
Buying a car has not been too stressful, because we ended up buying a car when we didn’t really plan to. Were “just looking” and got a great deal on a used car with manual transmission that nobody seemed to want to buy.
We bought it when it had 60,000 miles on it. Now 5 years later we only put about 20,000 miles on it. We have only had minor maintenance and repair costs, knock on wood.
Luckily, I finally discovered Infiniti back in 2000. Since then, I have only leased them. They have by far been the best cars… completely worry free… that I have ever owned, leased or otherwise drive. And best of all, each time I have pre-negotiated everything via email before I even show up… limiting my time at the dealership to less than 60 mins for paperwork/delivery each time. I went to kbb.com and a couple other websites to determine the invoice/dealer cost and then also searched online for the best available lease deals and then approached the local dealership with an offer at around 90% of the best deal I found. I also insist that they give me 15K miles per year. It may take a couple negotiation emails to work out the final #s, but it is better than the normal car buying/easing routine. Before 2000, I was in the same boat and hated the entire car shopping/buying experience. Since then, it has been a breeze…
Prior to then, I had owned the following: Ford, Chevrolet, Nissan, Mitsubishi, AMC Eagle, Chrysler, Mazda, Jeep. Nissan/Infiniti have been the best by far.
After the typical unpleasant dealer visits, we had a great new car buying experience with AAA buying service. It was all done on the phone, and the car was delivered to our home. I gave them a personal check. The big caveat is I had done lots of research so we knew exactly what we wanted, and I knew the price quoted was excellent. We described the car, color, options, etc, and the buyer searched all dealers in 2 states to find the car we wanted.
As for used, a friend of mine just bought a car from Carvana and is raving about the process. I have looked at their website, and it looks like they have a lot of off-lease cars in very good condition with lots of pictures, details of flaws, and good prices. They also deliver the car to your home.
I think most of the major manufacturers have cpo now. The car I bought last spring is a cpo subaru outback and the one I bought this week is cpo honda civic. I was also looking at Toyota Corollas. The toyota dealer where we bought our last cars and have been getting maintenance didn’t seem to have any cpo used cars so most of the manufacturers have cpo deals but not all the dealers will. I read some articles on Edmunds.com comparing cpo from different manufacturers so that might be helpful to you.
Do you have any friends that have cars from manufacturers that you might be interested in to ask about reputable dealers in your area? I had been taking my parent’s Nissan to the dealer where I ultimately bought the honda, it’s one of those multi make dealers, and I was very impressed with the service dept. there and my neighbor has bought several cars there and said they were very reputable.
Agree with above. Go to dealerships and test drive. Tell them its between this car and then Honda XYZ or Chevy PDQ and tell them you haven’t even driven those yet so you aint buying today. They will gladly show you the car and test drive with you-
Then if you can use an on line service.
We have bought many cars CPO - my H almost insists on it and we rarely buy “brand new”. He likes to get CPO and then buy extended warranties. It’s important to him so I go along with it.
If you go on a place like cars.com you can tailor your search to show only CPO cars if that helps.
Best of luck - it’s one of my most unfavorite tasks too!
Ohioparent558, that’s what I did too. Would go in and tell the dealer that I wanted to test drive X car, was just in the research stage, still had some other cars to test drive and would not be buying a car that day. Nobody hassled or pressured me to try to get me to buy a car then.
I also hate car shopping. I got my current car from Carmax. I’ve gotta say that was relatively painless. I may not have gotten the best price possible but it was reasonably priced and the experience was great. I went in twice, the first time when I was just starting to look. Then I went in and test drove 2 cars and bought one. Nobody bothered me in between visits.
Are you a Costco member? When I bought a new car recently, I got the best price by going through Costco (and once I had that price, a better-located dealer matched it, even though that dealer isn’t part of the Costco program).
www.carsdirect.com - have bought my last 3 cars this way and have never found them less expensive. You design your car online and then they find the best dealer to give it to you at the best price that is always much less than the lowest price a physical salesman can offer. I don’t know if you can buy luxury cars like Mercedes and Lexus but I think you can probably get all the others - you may be able to get them at the lowest price as well, I just don’t know.
If you go “looking” and know what you want - you configure your car online at carsdirect.com and they will get you a firm price that I doubt you can beat in person if you compare exact configurations/colors, etc.
You could just buy a Hyundai Elantra. You’ll love it.
It’s a great car. Very reliable. Things simply don’t seem to break. I’ve had my Elantra for three years, and the only problem it has ever had that was not my fault was a loose wire in one of the taillights.
I bought the car new at a dealership that sells cars at fixed prices. No haggling. I hate haggling. I also hate used cars. You don’t know where they’ve been. Of course, new cars cost more. But the Elantra isn’t very expensive, as new cars go. So I didn’t feel guilty about buying it new. Besides, I will probably keep it for 10 years. I kept my last car almost that long.
My husband now owns a Hyundai, too. My experience sold him on the brand.