Used car buying advice

After having bought one vehicle right out of college, I can say that I had never really been through the process of buying a vehicle. I just had not seen first hand what a pain in the rear end buying a used car would be overall. But after needing a truck within the last six months, my wife and I finally decided it was time to make a purchase. And after spending so much time on the Internet, looking through newspaper, traveling to see vehicles, and getting into major arguments, it was glad to finally have purchased a 2005 Ford F150. But there were a lot of lessons learned along the way that I felt I could share.

*When seeing a vehicle in the paper with a good price, call frequently before visiting. I did this many times and yet it still did not matter. We had a forty mile drive between us and most of the major car lots so it was difficult to get in on time. We had called one place where there was a great deal and they told us that it was still available. We drove down there, talked to a salesperson who basically opened the door for us when getting out of our car (He was in our grill from the start), and then we were stalled. Apparently it took ten minutes to tell us that the car was not there. The lesson here is call frequently, especially if you have a drive ahead of you.

*One of the moves that a salesman will do when calling is to say that they will call you back with the information. To their dismay, I told them that I would instead prefer to wait on the phone while they checked. If the car was not there, I would prefer them not to have either my cell or home phone number. There was just no reason why they should have it.

*When I was so sick of the process, I decided to call places and ask them if they could make it work for the truck that I was looking for at a certain price. One dealership that was thirty minutes away was outstanding on the phone. I told her the total and she said she would call me back. When I spoke with her again, she said that they could get it done so we were obviously rather excited. When we got to the dealership, she had the truck pulled around. In looking at it, the year, and the mileage, I thought there was no way that it was in our price range. So just before taking it for a test drive, I double check with her the total. She apparently misheard and quoted me at three thousand dollars more. Considering the total that she came up with had nothing to do with what I had said, we were thrilled to have made the drive down and back. Make sure to go over it about ten times before making a long drive.

*On another call, I felt that the mileage and the truck that I was calling about did not match. With only 25,000 miles, I was shocked the price for the vehicle was so low. After calling it and having it confirmed, I saw the dealership and knew there was no way this car was that cheap. I requested the guy I had spoken with and talked to him about it. Apparently he misquoted me and it was actually 125,000 miles. Don’t be surprised when you see that.

*One technique that we pulled that did not work all that well was the “call us if you can do it for that price.” It may have been that our number was extremely low and that they really couldn’t do it for that amount but we only received one call back. It was from a guy who was trying to sell us a completely different vehicle that we had no interest in.

*The reason we picked the eventual vehicle that we did was because of research that I did on JD Power, Edmunds, and Consumer Reports. I did as much as I possibly could to find the best truck for the money. I did spend a great deal of time researching and felt the time I did it was worth it.

*When putting the finishing touches on a deal, try to get a full tank of gas included. We did not realize that the truck would come with a bone dry gas tank. When we eventually had to fill it up, I almost came to tears as it took $89 in gas. That was just something I never ever would have guessed to think about.

*The place that we eventually bought our truck pulled out all the stops. We had negotiated with them on two trucks (One weeks before) and they pulled out all the stops. I don’t know why but they brought three different people to talk to us. On the second and final time, we told them that we had a price limit. They brought in guy number two to tell us about how much money they were losing on the truck and how they didn’t want to lose money. He asked if we could go any higher because they were losing (Supposedly) $1,300 on the deal. We said no and got the truck for the price we set.

*Make sure to realize how much the taxes cost in your areas. It really depends on where you live and if you are in the city. When making our bid, we told them that we wanted to spend this amount and that would include the dealer handling fees, taxes, and anything else of interest. Since taxes were around $1,000, keep that in mind when looking for a vehicle.

*If your car comes with a warranty, expect to receive many letters after the fact saying that you need to renew it. These get extremely annoying but all go in the garbage.,

*While we have had no problems with the truck, I would recommend getting a Car Fax Report and having a mechanic look at it. Yes, it is a huge pain and very impractical if you want the vehicle now but it is a good thing to do. I wish I would have done it when looking back because the vehicle was not cheap.

For those looking for a vehicle, best of luck because it really is a difficult process.