Buying A New Car, Basic Things You Need to Know

One of our family’s standing jokes was "When the ashtray is full, it's time to buy a new car". We seemed to follow this line of reasoning, buying a car more often than we moved. Following along in the family tradition, I've bought many new cars and used cars over the years: some were good deals and others, not so good.

When I turned the key of my 12 year old Blazer during last week’s snow storm, it went click, click, click. Not a good sign. Adding to that, an odometer reading of 94,832 miles and all its other problems, I knew it was finally time to look for a new car.

Experience taught me that a little preparation ahead of time leads to less aggravation and better deals. The innovation of technology has made car buying a lot easier than in the days when a dealership immediately took away your car keys to keep you there while they worked on wearing down your resistance.

Things I've found out the hard way? Avoid impulse buying. If your car deal is presented to you as ”buy it now or you’ll lose the deal”, then beware. Beware of subtle pressures forcing you into making a decision right now. If you find the car of your dreams ask the car dealership to hold the car for a couple of hours while you do your homework. If they can't or won't, then walk away from the deal.

Back in the day, you had to own a “Blue Book” to know the value of your trade-in. Today, you can find car values by searching on Kelley Blue Book New and Used Car Values or you can Google the car type (minivan, SUV, Chrysler) and you’ll find many choices that offer pricing guides.

Once you've found the car of your dreams at a car dealership, go to at least two other places and look at comparable cars, weighing in the actual mileage on the car (if it’s a used car), the suitability of the color (red cars in Texas are like molten lava in the summer) and the overall condition of the exterior and interior. Be sure to compare apples to apples.

You can even check the car history online which will tell you where the car originated, if it's been wrecked or if the car has flood or water damage. And, of course, try out the car’s performance during a test-drive. Not all cars are created equal.

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At the first car dealership there was a horde of customers waiting in the showroom. We were asked to give our name and cell phone number in order to get served. We decided to wander around the car lot by ourselves. Finding a Chrysler 300 that we liked, we went back to find a salesman. They couldn't locate us in the computer but a spare salesman offered to answer our questions.

There was only one charcoal gray Chrysler 300 alongside two white and two silver ones. That gave us 5 cars to compare on the spot. One car had a Hemi which requires Premium Gasoline which means higher cost per gallon than Regular gas, but has nice performance on acceleration. We eliminated that one based on the rising cost of gas. One had a pearl white exterior with a black interior – not too good in Texas where the steering wheel can burn blisters on your hands in the summer. Okay, narrowed down to 3. Another one looked worn - no thanks. The surviving two choices were close in price, carried a manufacturer's warranty, and looked great.

Once the salesperson saw our preference for the gray car, the not-so-subtle pressure began. “Oh, this one will definitely go fast.” He said. “We don’t get this color in very often.” Okay, we left that dealership, hesitantly, almost falling prey to the pitch. But this was our first stop.

We drove to two other places and found similar cars for nearly $3,000 higher. After some more on-line comparisons we found a grey Chrysler at Car Max.

This time, we were greeted at the dealership entrance by a well-groomed, polite salesman who introduced himself and asked if we were working with anyone else. Nope. He asked what kind of car we were interested in seeing. This time it was easier since we knew what we wanted. We were pleasantly surprised when we found another gray Chrysler 300 with only 11,043 miles for just $600 more than the other one with more miles. The choice was clear.

Excluding a few tense moments discussing our possible trade in (my old 1999 Blazer) we had a really easy deal at CarMax. Since my car wouldn't start we had to figure out how to get it over there for their free appraisal. “Car Max will buy your car even if you don’t buy theirs.” Trouble is they have to see it and drive it. So we went home (again) and jump started the car and drove it down there.

We were pleasantly surprised with their offer to buy my car. Truly, I was thrilled. It was more than I had set as my minimum acceptable price; which nearly made up for the price difference on the two gray cars with different mileage.

Overall, I would rate our car buying experience at CarMax as one of the easiest. Their on-line search tool really sped things up for me by providing enough information to help narrow down the choices, review that vehicle's specific features and know exactly how many miles were on the car, without having to drive all over town.

We were given information on where the car was originally from, an important fact when buying a used car. You'll want to consider the condition of cars that sat under a foot of snow for a couple of months or were driven in salty environments.

The most helpful thing was knowing the actual price of the car up front. CarMax clearly labels the cars on their lot with a “No Haggle Price” posted prominently on the car window. Knowing the bottom line can dramatically affect a decision and avoid the embarrassment of asking “How Much?” repeatedly while narrowing down the choices.

The CarMax dealership had an incredible selection from which to choose. The salesman at the Garland location was well prepared, soft spoken, knowledgeable and non-invasive. There was no pressure at this dealership and they kindly held our selected car for 24 hours while we made up our mind, gathered up our finances and brought in our trade. We were extremely pleased with the end result which sits in our driveway. Mmmm. Still has that new car smell.

1. Narrow down your choice of vehicles
2. Go to more than one dealership
3. Compare 3 equally equipped cars
4. Know the new car's retail value by searching on-line
5. Look up the average wholesale value for your trade-in

Being informed ahead of time can save you big bucks on your car purchase.