Making The Deal
When you finally find a car that looks good, runs well, and seems like a fair deal, go back with a parent or friend—someone who’s more objective than you are. It’s easy to get infatuated with a car and miss some of the troubling details. Be sure to ask the owner about the car’s history of accidents and repairs. You may not get a straight answer, but it’s always wise to ask. Also, ask for records of maintenance and repairs. A person who keeps a file of receipts is generally someone who takes care of cars.
If it still looks like a good deal, take it to a mechanic. He can run simple tests on the car, inspect the brakes and fluids, and tell you if there’s anything scary lurking out of view. If the car has big problems, look for another—you don’t want to be buying someone else’sproblems. If the car passes your mechanic’s inspection, make an offer.
There’s an art to making a deal, and I can’t possibly teach this art to you in a few paragraphs. But I can give you some tips.
First of all, buying a car is one of the few transactions that can still be negotiated. Most things in this world have printed price tags, but car prices can be haggled. Most sellers count on this fact, so they price the car higher, knowing that they’ll probably be offered less. If you’ve done your homework, you already know the prices of similar cars, so you can make an offer that’s closer to reality. But remember that the ads you read were placed by people expecting to haggle, so most or all of the offering prices are higher than the true sales price.
When you make your offer, expect the seller to counter it with a price somewhere between your two prices. After that, you’re on your own. Some people will haggle and haggle. Others won’t play that game. If the car has been advertised for a while, the seller may be holding out for too high a price. Leave your name and number and ask him to call you if he doesn’t get a better offer. Sometimes walking away will be enough to convince him that it’s time to take your offer.
Here’s another important tip. Don’t carry around lots of money. Believe it or not, some “sellers” advertise a low- priced car, then tell callers that lots of people have called on the ad, and “you’d better bring cash if you want to buy it.” So you take $2,000 out of the bank, show up to buy the car, and someone robs you. It could be the “seller” or someone working with the seller or just someone else who read the ad and figured that potential buyers would be showing up with great stacks of cash in hand.
So don’t carry cash when you’re car shopping. Bring a checkbook. If the seller insists on cash, go to your bank and ask for a cashier’s check. I’ll say it again: Don’t carry cash.
One more thing before you drive away with your “new” car: Give the seller another opportunity to “fess up” about the car. Ask, “Now that I own this car, is there anything you can tell me to look out for in its future?” Now that the deal is done, the seller may be more forthcoming about possible problems, such as a battery that might need replacing soon, or a funny little squeak that shows up only on cold mornings, if you happen to be driving 90 MPH, and jerk the wheel to the right. All cars have their quirks, and you might as well find out about them before they get expensive.
Last tip: Many people prefer to buy their used car from a used car dealer. They figure that the car’s in better shape and the seller is more honest. Not necessarily. Most used car dealers buy their cars in trades and auctions. They know very little about the car and may not have repair records or any other information on the car’s history (or worse, they conveniently “lost” records that betrayed a car’s troubled past). What’s more, they’ve got to sell lots of cars each week to stay in business, so they don’t spend a lot of time fixing problems in the cars theyget. Typically, they give a car a good cleaning and maybe fix some minor, obvious problems. They may even cover up nastier problems that will cost you big bucks if you buy the car.
Private sellers can be just as sneaky, but at least you’ll get a better idea of the car’s history. You’ll also learn a lot about the car just by meeting the owner. It sounds cruel to say this, but a person who lives in a beat-up house, has another beat-up car in the driveway, and looks kind of beat-up himself is not the person you want to be buying your car from. Like dogs, cars take on the personality of their owners. When you buy from a private seller, you get a telling glimpse at the environment your car grew up in.
And to top it all off, a private party is likely to sell a car at hundreds or even thousands less than a dealer. The dealer has to make a profit. The person selling his own car is just trying to get cash to pay for another car.
Here’s the best part: If you do your homework and look at lots of cars before making your choice, you’ll wind up with a better deal, a more reliable car, and money left over to put back in the bank. No matter how great your car, it’s not going to last forever. Start saving now to cover the maintenance and repairs required for any car. What you don’t spend can go toward your next car. Then celebrate your success. You are among the few, the proud, the really, really smart, who know the freedom of driving their own car instead of one owned by the bank.
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