The best way to approach buying a new vehicle in any market is to be armed with the most knowledge about the car you want, your credit situation and the types of “offers” the dealership is likely to run past you.
As an automotive columnist for more than 25 years, it’s not immodest to say that I’m probably better versed in the buying and selling of cars than the average consumer.
Yet when I went to buy a new car last month, I was nonetheless amazed at how dealers continue to try to bamboozle and confuse a buyer in an effort to pad the deal with extra charges.
Here was my experience:
My wife and I knew which car we wanted to replace for her 7-year-old car. We decided to sell her car privately, taking the variable of the trade-in off the table. We also secured the financing before going shopping and researched the price we should pay for the new vehicle.
Before showing up at the dealership for the sale, I did some additional research and found that the lot was stocked with more than two dozen of the model we wanted. So I knew the dealer was hungry.
We went shopping on a Saturday. The showroom was lightly dotted with other customers. I had met the salesman we would be dealing with on my earlier reconnaissance mission, so he knew what we wanted.
Next came the finance guy, who began asking me questions about the new car: “How long do you plan on keeping this car? How many miles do you drive in a year?”
I told him politely that it was none of his business. His goal here was to sell me an extended warranty, which I declined.
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