<p>Oh, I thought of one other thing to encourage the concept of going beyond perceptions of hard and fast rules.</p>
<p>In the story I related^^, my parents drove off with a brand new sport model upgrade (per contract) with less than 10 miles and returned the basic model that was new until they clocked some 500 miles on it. All parts of the contract were re-negotiated satisfactorily, from trade-in to financing, and all add-ons removed. Happy shopping.</p>
<p>One more thing -at the outset, never acknowledge that you have a car that you are interested in trading in. You want to deal with one thing at a time - you can always come back at the last hour and say you have changed your mind. That way, once you’ve gotten your best deal on the buying end, you’ll have some idea of whether or not they are being fair with you on the trade in of your old car.</p>
<p>If you have Costco in your area, check out their auto buying program. They have pre-negotiated with dealers for no-haggle tiny-bit-above-invoice prices. Someone who loves to deal and has lots of time to work at it might do better, but for those of us who seldom buy cars, it’s a good price and painless. Just got a Subaru for myself that way and it went beautifully.</p>
<p>I am also in the market for a new car and I have found <a href=“http://www.edmunds.com%5B/url%5D”>www.edmunds.com</a> to be a very useful site for the things mentioned above. On that site I recently read an article by one of their writers who went “under cover” and posed as a car salesman for two different dealerships. He wrote quite a long article about the car salesman’s perspective and marching orders from management. Got useful info from that. Here is the site: <a href=“http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html[/url]”>http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html</a>. </p>
<p>I also found <a href=“http://www.fueleconomy.gov%5B/url%5D”>www.fueleconomy.gov</a> useful for checking gas mileage ratings of different cars.</p>
<ul>
<li>Determine the exact vehicle you want. Make sure you test drive it somewhere to be certain it’s really what you want.</li>
<li>Go to kbb.com or edmunds.com and determine the invoice price and incentives if any.</li>
<li>Contact the internet/fleet departments at the dealerships in your area. This can be done by email. Tell them exactly what you want and ask what their price is. The price should be based around the invoice price (often $200-$500 above but sometimes below - it varies depending on the model, popularity, how much the dealer wants to move the car).</li>
<li>If you like the deal, be prepared to pay cash (ensure you can get financing at a credit union or someplace first if need be) and don’t do a trade-in - sell your old car yourself or consign it.</li>
<li>Let the dealer know you want the car and they can tell you if they have it on the lot or can get it from another dealer (they swap cars frequently). </li>
<li>Go down to the dealer and pick up the car. If they try to give some new quote, so ‘no, we had a deal,’ and be prepared to just walk out and go to a more reputable dealer.</li>
<li>Optional - after the price for the new car is etched in stone, you can ask them what they’d give you for your old car if you want and trade it if desired but the price will almost always be lower than you can sell it for yourself.</li>
</ul>
<p>I’ve purchased several cars this way including ordering a couple from the factory with the exact options I wanted (it took 6-8 weeks). It’s far better than the typical experience of buying a car from a salesman (‘what can you afford in monthly payments?’, ‘I just have to speak with my manager’, the manager comes out to take over, ‘I just need a little more to close the deal’, making you sit there alone for 10-15 minutes to stew over it, etc.). Almost every dealer uses the exact same tactics to their gain.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>This is basically what my son did when he bought the Civic. My son and my husband were the ones who did it, and I was not really too involved, so I was not able to spell it out as clearly as ucsd<em>ucla</em>dad did. </p>
<p>He did pay cash for the car (a loan from us…) and no trade-in was involved. He was able to get the car for a few hundred dollars over the invoice price. Actually, when we went to get the car, he ended up with a 2- door instead of a 4-door as originally planned, because it was available in the color he liked and he liked the style better once he saw it in person. The internet salesman was going to charge him the same price for the 2-door as the 4-door, but my son had a printout showing the invoice price for the 2-door was lower than the 4-door, so the salesman lowered the price accordingly. It worked out really well.</p>
<p>Hi TheDad. We also are fans of buying those previously leased or one year old company cars. We’re driving two right now…a Volvo sedan (mine…until my daughter gets home), and a Subaru sedan (thumpdad’s). However, when we next have enough money for a car (doubtful it will be soon with two kids in college), we will probably buy a hybrid either a Prius or a Civic. Not too many “used” deals on those.</p>
<p>If I perceived a Prius as more “acceptable” to clients, I wouldn’t be having this discussion. :)</p>
<p>For that matter, if I were buying <em>purely</em> on “car” per se, I’d be getting another Avalon. A little bit boring doesn’t bother me and Toyotas are way better than most American cars, imo. TheMom and I happened to rent a Camry from Hertz while on vacation in San Francisco in the late 1980’s and our reaction was, “This is the next car we’re getting.” </p>
<p>Funny, but I don’t really like the comparable German cars. I was given a Mercedes loaner once while my Avalon was in the shop and my reaction was “Eh.” Nor do VW’s do much for me, though I did enjoy driving one from Vienna to Prague a couple of weeks ago. 
But that was the journey, not the vehicle.</p>
<p>As for BMW’s, there’s the old joke about the difference between a BMW and a porcupine.</p>
<p>Thanks for the buying tips, everyone. Work from dealer cost, not same as invoice…check.</p>
<p>HVCC, the differential between a new and two-year-old LS is between 15 and 20 percent…good enough to make me take a hard look and I’m not ready, willing, or able to buy a new LS. On-topic: car purchase has been deferred for a couple of years due to D’s college expenses.</p>
<p>When dh wanted to buy a new Toyota Corolla, he waited for the ad that appears on Friday in our paper. They have one car that is a great deal. You just can’t care about the color or extras!</p>
<p>Lots of good info mentioned here. If you have access to a credit union, they probably have a car buying service with the fleet managers of dealerships. We have bought our last 3 cars that way. The second to last one we bought (Lexus RX330 which is the previous model of what you are looking at- the 350, but with few changes that I can see) anyway- it was delivered to our door. Never spoke to a sales person or set foot in the dealership to haggle (just to see the models). What a pleasure. And got a good price, though these come with a bunch of extra junk you probably don’t want/need as part of their “packages”. Not much you can do about that, though the regional Toyota suppliers have different arrangements.</p>
<p>If you dont have a credit union, as other have said, AAA and Costco have similar services. So does USAA, I believe.</p>
<p>DEFINITELY use the Edmunds site, both to get the base dealer price of the car and the options. Be sure to look at the section that is called something like “actual cost of ownership” of the car. It calculates in things like gas mileage, insurance, maintenance, etc and gives you a realistic cost to own the car. Then definitely read about the cars in the forum section of the Edmunds site. Lots of good info there.</p>
<p>The last car we got was done all via email. I never let on 'til we were about to buy that they were talking to a female. I was looking into the car for my h, who was going through his second childhood and wanted a convertible. Ended up with a great deal on a brand new model (it is a 2007 model but released and purchased in Mar 2006) and got it for $400 under invoice! One of the other dealerships in town wanted much, much, MUCH more. I was happy.</p>
<p>A few pointers-
Do not let them add on “mop 'n glo” (thats a flippant euphemism for the undercoating and all that nonsense). Waste of money and the car has all the sealant it needs already. Ditto for “dealer prep” charges. BS. You can get out of some of that, but you cant avoid the destination/delivery charge. Also read April’s Consumer reports. This month’s (July) has a writeup on the Lexus RX 350.
Check with your insurance co to see what the insurance will be on each of the models you are looking at. You’d be surprised how it can vary, and add hidden costs to your ownership. Also check the safety ratings of the cars. And dont buy extended warantees on the car. Ripoff. If you really want it, check with your insurance co- they can often get extended dealer warantees at a very good price.</p>
<p>By the way, as much as I love my Lexus, I don’t usually buy high end cars. I needed the room for “stuff” but did NOT want another mommy-mobile (ie a minivan). I endearingly refer to the car as “a years worth of college tuition under my a$$”.
Last warning- Do NOT do any more basic service repairs (ie 5, 10K etc) at the dealership than is necessary. I had the basic 10K service done at the dealership and while yes they gave me a loaner car and a cup of Starbucks coffee, my oil and filter service cost $400!!! They should have paid the medical bills for my heart attack!</p>
<p>I just bought a new car. I bought on internet. Got 3-4 quotes from the dealers and started negotiating via e-mails. After we settled on price we there to pick it up.</p>
<p>It would have been very simple. It seems that dealer had some second thoughts. I walked out, but few days later I had the car at the same price.</p>
<p>Be sure to get detailed quote and negotiate on DRIVE-OUT price not the price + TT&L.</p>
<p>Advantage: You deal with multiple dealerships at the same time and on your turf. No high pressure selling techniques.</p>
<p>End August is great time to buy new 2007 that they want to get off lot. Had my volvo for 13 years, never anything more than regular maintenance and break pads! My dad has had chrysler 300 for few years and loves it. also loved his infinity prior to that.</p>
<p>I’m on my second Prius - love them.</p>
<p>While credit unions and AAA (if you’re not a member of AAA, it’s worth the $60/year membership to take advantage of pre-negotiated prices on cars, then you can cancel the membership the following year) are excellent resources for discounts from dealerships, if you are considering a high-in-demand model, the discount won’t be as deep. But if you’re taking out a loan for purchase, I don’t think anyone can beat a credit union. Get a price before you tell them how you intend to pay for it - that way they won’t adjust the price to whether or not you’ll finance with them or not and build extra profit into the car’s cost.</p>
<p>I know you weren’t looking for advice on models, etc., but one feature I HIGHLY recommend is a navigation system, factory installed so something attached to your dashboard doesn’t interfere with your line of sight. Love it, love it, love it. Worth every cent!</p>
<p>teriwtt - I completely agree about the GPS. My Prius came with it and I wasn’t sure I would use it. I can’t imagine not having it. I am getting one for my D’s car.</p>
<p>Gah. The message boards at Edmunds.com are addictive, worse than CC. I as reading threads that really had no bearing on my process just to read the threads.</p>
<p>Cars seem to be like colleges: for any one, somebody seems not to like them.</p>
<p>TheDad, you think Edmunds is bad, try miata.net.</p>
<p>Grinning at post #36. At least you ventured out. First time I went to Edmunds forums I was there for several hours. I think I saw where you decided to defer the new car purchase. If you are thinking of purchasing another slightly used, may I suggest Craigslist for a sale by owner? Search your area and do your homework but you may find a great deal on just what you are looking for.</p>
<p>Not the expert car shopper here, but husband bought a new car a couple of months ago in a matter of 2 or 3 hours. And, got a whopper of a good deal! Purchase was made on the last day of the month, last day of the quarter for new car sales. According to salesman, they “needed” to sell one more car to get incentives! Take it for what it is worth–we are very pleased with the car and more importantly the deal husband made in those couple of hours!</p>
<p>Another place to get peoples true opinion of their cars is epinion. When we were trying to decide between three different cars for our last purchase. I did a search for each on epinion and got lots of good info. from “real” people who had real experience with each model. It really narrowed it down to one for us. Toyota Avalon…love it. </p>
<p>Also when we bought the Avalon we did not negotiate based on trade-in. We took our old car(Honda Accord) to CarMax and sold it to them. H had researched it’s value on Kelley Blue Book and Edmunds. They gave us a fair price.</p>