[rmason]

Bought my first new vehicle in fifteen years. Here are the steps that I took.

1. Test drove four different brands

2. Went to six banks and found out the lowest interest rate I could get. Everyone told me that it would be at a credit union but instead it was a brand new bank that apparently was hungry to get new business

3. Emailed every dealer for the brand I chose within 225 miles.

4. You want to do one thing at a time. I wanted the price out the door. I avoided talk about trade-ins or financing. But I did state I was open to financing the vehicle with them if they were competitive.

5. Be very patient. The vast majority of the dealerships in the first round either never answered the email or quoted me over MSRP. I would engage with everyone who wrote me back. I would reiterate that I was ready to buy a new vehicle to whomever gave me the best deal. As time went on I responded with specific price I was willing to pay. There are forums for most brands where people share the prices that they were paying. So I had a pretty good idea what might get accepted.

6. I was getting ready to start shopping for my second choice. It came down to a single salesman who sent me dozens of emails. All the sales guys want you in the dealership where you're on their turf. This guy kept dropping the price $500 at a time. He asked me what it would take for me to visit the dealership. I quoted him $1000 below his last offer - and he accepted! I made it clear that wasn't a price I would accept, just enough for me to visit him. I wanted $1000 more I when visited the dealership.

7. I got a bunch of prices for my old vehicle online so I had an idea what it would bring. They quoted me on the high end of what I would receive but they wouldn't budge on the new vehicle price. Eventually they agreed to add $500 to the price of the trade-in which I wearily accepted. Only to have them give me $400 of free mats so its obvious that I probably could have gotten them lower. However they had factory financing that was 1.25% lower than the best bank rate I received so I financed the vehicle with them.

Going online is the only way to purchase a vehicle. December I learned later is a really good time to purchase.

[silverquiet]

You must be buying a seriously expensive luxury car if they can knock a couple grand off before you set foot on the lot. I don't think a Corolla (sort of my standard for reliable A to B transportation) even has that much margin at MSRP. Different strokes and all that, but I doubt this process would work for me and most buyers.

[ProllyInfamous]

I just purchased a 2021 Camry Hybrid LE for USD$19,900 [I am 2nd-owner, it has just over 92k miles]. This was my first purchase from a dealership (five lifetime car-buying experiences, total), and it was actually surprising how much leverage you get by asking for "price out the door" [includes TTL] on a beat up high-mileage vehicle that they initially listed for $23,500... when you literally have cash-in-hand (no financing).

I allowed them to offer me financing, but told them "anything higher than 0%, I won't pay" [so I paid cash].

----

This car is an absolute sleeper — much quicker (not faster) than my turbocharged Subaru. Just brilliant to drive. I'm pretty sure I got a great deal on this one, and the hybrid system still has a few years of warranty left (unless I hit 100k, first — likely).

----

Other tips: go at the end of the month; ask for "out the door" pricing; BE OPENLY WILLING TO WALK AWAY ("I don't give AF about anything" attitude); don't be afraid to negotiate^† — they certainly are.

I love my new (to me) Camry Hybrid. Instantaneous electric torque is incredible, as is regenerative braking.

†: I literally rejected their first number by saying [after a long pause]: "Look: I understand that this is a business and that businesses need to make money; however, I was really hoping the out the door price started with a one... if it can, then I will pay for it right now." And then it did [$19,900]

[globular-toast]

Jesus. I just went on autotrader, found one that looked good that I could afford to buy 3 times, went to bloke's house, stuck my head underneath, unscrewed the oil cap, shook hands, did a bank transfer, taxed it online and drove it home. Took me a day.

[asdaq1312512]

on top of it all, your loss of value over time is much lower.

will never understand why people would buy a new car that depreciates by 30% the very second you drive off the dealership.

[martincmartin]

An economist literally won a Nobel prize for answering that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Market_for_Lemons

When you buy a used car, even one that's less than a year old, you have no way of knowing if there's something wrong with it. So buyers offer lower prices. Then a seller who has a car that they know is good says "I'm not selling it for such a low price, I know it's worth more." So the only people who sell used cars are the ones where something is wrong with them. A kind of race to the bottom.

[globular-toast]

I wonder how much this is affected by the prevalence of leasing. Something like 1/3 of new cars in the UK start off as leases. At the end of the lease period most/all of them hit the second hand market. In this case I think even the seller doesn't know if it's a lemon or not and, in any case, they will always want to liquidate the car as soon as possible, even if it's a peach. So they would factor the market price into the lease deal and sell all cars at market price regardless.

[jolmg]

Concerns over reliability? Some car issues can be erratic and you may not find out about them until some time later. If you buy used, there's a level of risk regarding what the car's been through with previous owners. If you have a family and/or work with a tight schedule and/or park in areas where you wouldn't like to be left stranded, you may really value reliability.

[globular-toast]

You've never heard of a brand new car going wrong? A used car that's been on the road for 10 years with a full maintenance history gives me more hope for reliability than a brand new car that hasn't had time to reveal its problems. You can always pay someone to insure you against unlikely events and they don't care at all whether the car is new or not. It's up to you to decide how much risk you want to take.

[pavel_lishin]

> A used car that's been on the road for 10 years with a full maintenance history

Which is not always available, nor reliable.

[themadturk]

New cars generally carry warrantees, and buyers are protected in some locations by lemon laws. Not so used cars.

[aklemm]

I think for buying reliable cars, new is the way to go. They cost way too much used and the first person got all the best miles out of it. Unreliable/niche cars, used all day.

[shiroiushi]

If you want something specific, and not just some boring base-model Corolla or whatever, buying used is very difficult.

[pandaman]

>that depreciates by 30% the very second you drive off the dealership

Nobody would underwrite loans for new cars with low down payment and low interest if this had been true. Also we would see the year old cars with low mileage selling with >30% discount, which is also not the case.

The reason I buy new cars is customization: I get exactly the car I want with colors/materials/options I selected.

[hef19898]

It basically depreciates by almost 10% upon contract signature, whether or not the car is already built or not.

[euroderf]

> will never understand why

Transferability of warranties ?

The idea that a warranty can be transferred seems like an urban legend.

[hef19898]

In Europe, warranties are transferred so.

[asdaq1312512]

not sure how this is done in the US, but if you buy used from a dealer, I guess you still get a warranty on that?

[hef19898]

Minimum 6 months in Europe. Buy from a brand dealership and you get usually 12 months, some even offer 24. For used cars.

[germinalphrase]

Only a subset of used cars in the US have any kind of warranty. Most are sold without one.

[drcongo]

Quite. Every other route in this thread is completely baffling.

[culopatin]

Used is a different world

[LUmBULtERA]

And this is why I preferred to buy from Tesla... I wish more car makers sold the same way.