Finance Questions

Posts Tagged ‘carmax’

Question: Buying a used car?

I will soon be buying a car for the first time. I can really only afford a used car max $12,000. How should I go about financing(pay for it all at once, or in payments), where can I get the best deals, should I get it certified, and what kind of car would be best to purchase?

Answer: Your best bet would be a Honda, Toyota, or Nissan. The Honda may cost you more but they have a great reputation, and great resale value. I see a lot of recomendations to go to Carmax. Carmax is supposed to be a one price store. But shop around and compare prices before you buy. If you can pay cash that's the best way to go, and not have any monthly payments. Remeber that a car is a depreciating assett, so don't go overboard and waste your hard earned money.

Some tips on buying, don't tell the salesman how much you want to spend, do some homework first and you'll have an idea of what the cars should run. You can always check car prices at Edmunds.com but I would just use them as a guide.
Don't tell the salesman how much you just love the car. Act like you don't really care and that it might be a second or third choice.
Don't say I have to have a car right away because I have something I have to do.
Don't be afraid to get up and leave without buying if you don't like the price.
And if you are a payment buyer, don't tell them your max payment amount, or the car you get will be at your max or above.
That goes something like this.
Hi welcome to ABC Motors, what can I show you today, Oh hey I'm just looking, "that's great were you looking for a two door or four door?" A four door, "great, you looking for a lite or dark color? A lite color, "Was there a particular model you were thnking of?" Well a friend of mine has an accord, "we have some of those over here, lets go look." Will you be paying cash or do we need to help you arrange financing?" I probably need financing, great we can do that, what kind of monthly payment were you thinking you could afford?" Oh I was thinking about $400. "Ok so from around $400 up to?"
Right there is where they get you. You were thinking $375 but said $400, now he's gettin you to bump yourself by saying, I guess I could go $450. At about $25.00 per thousand, they can increase the price of your car by $2000.00
Remember a good salesman sells about 20 to 30 cars a month so they have lots of practice, you may buy a car once every few years.

Hope my thirty years of car experiance helps someone.
Carguy

http://buy-here-pay-here-dealers.com

Carmax - Prairie Dog - SUPERBOWL

Question: selling car privately or by dealer? best option?

my bf has an '06 lexus IS that is practically brand new. he needs to sell this asap. how do we go about it? would it be profitable or just to break even to sell to a dealer or car max for example?

Answer: That is tough. Selling privately is hard because you gotta list ads and such. But try it anyway, list ads on Craigslist and in newspapers. Maybe you will get a buyer. But dealers will likely rip you for at least 3k off what you paid.

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