buying new car - which way works best?

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Reminder: AMA members get Car Cost Canada quotes for free!!

Sweet!

[Madman]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Well, I just put through my order with dealfinder. I should have my car next week. Wish me luck. Good-bye, salesmen.

What didga get????

[TimSJ]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Good-bye, salesmen.

We gotta eat too...

good luck.. i am interested to see how this works. let us know the outcome

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by TimSJ

We gotta eat too...

good luck.. i am interested to see how this works. let us know the outcome

Tim, you've been generous with your pro-bono advice on this site to many people, including me. If you sold the car I was interested in and were in my city, I'd trust you. Problem is, I can't get a sense from the others in a 45-minute discussion and a test drive as to whether they're worthy of my trust. And I have no trouble paying a commission, but I have no trust for 90% of the car salesmen who are out there. I have no idea which one of the 10 is good and honest and which nine are not. I expect to take possession of my new vehicle next week. It's a Toyota Rav4 Limited Edition. It's their best RAV. I'd have settled for a lesser vehicle but the wife wants the luxury. A happy wife is a happy life, right.

[Byrns]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Tim, you've been generous with your pro-bono advice on this site to many people, including me. If you sold the car I was interested in and were in my city, I'd trust you. Problem is, I can't get a sense from the others in a 45-minute discussion and a test drive as to whether they're worthy of my trust. And I have no trouble paying a commission, but I have no trust for 90% of the car salesmen who are out there. I have no idea which one of the 10 is good and honest and which nine are not. I expect to take possession of my new vehicle next week. It's a Toyota Rav4 Limited Edition. It's their best RAV. I'd have settled for a lesser vehicle but the wife wants the luxury. A happy wife is a happy life, right.

Please keep us updated! I'm thinking about getting a RAV4 as well.

[MoneyGuy]

Originally Posted by Byrns

Please keep us updated! I'm thinking about getting a RAV4 as well.

If I forget, PM me about midway through next week and I'll update you. I may even share my price with you, if you're also looking for the Limited. If not the LImited, it would tell you what percentage they dropped the price because I dealt with a car buying service.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

Tim, you've been generous with your pro-bono advice on this site to many people, including me. If you sold the car I was interested in and were in my city, I'd trust you. Problem is, I can't get a sense from the others in a 45-minute discussion and a test drive as to whether they're worthy of my trust. And I have no trouble paying a commission, but I have no trust for 90% of the car salesmen who are out there. I have no idea which one of the 10 is good and honest and which nine are not. I expect to take possession of my new vehicle next week. It's a Toyota Rav4 Limited Edition. It's their best RAV. I'd have settled for a lesser vehicle but the wife wants the luxury. A happy wife is a happy life, right.

Although I can understand a lot of peoples hesitations with dealing with car sales people from stuff that used to go on in the business, it pisses me off beyond what you can imagine when I hear statements like that in today's market. Since AMVIC was created in Alberta about 10 years ago, this province has become one of the safest places in North America to buy a new car.

All new sales people have to pass a criminal record check, cannot have declared bankruptcy within 7 years, a stand to be personally fined if they are found to have violated the fair trading act or plain out lied to a customer. In my first year when I used to be on the sales floor in 2000, I lied to try and close a deal with a customer and got caught. In the 70's or 80's a sales manager would have shrugged his shoulders and said "whatever get the next one tiger" Instead I had to beg to keep my job, and was under scrutiny of the dealership for months until I could be trusted again.

As hard as this sounds to believe we do work in the best interests of our customers now, if for any reason so we are not fined. On the other hand, if I lied to my customers as much as they have lied to me over the years in search of a good deal, I would be in jail. A lot of people don't realize how tight of a community the car business is and when I have a guy in front of me telling me 'X' dealer offered me the exact same car for 'Y' price or 'Z' amount for my trade in, and I call that dealer and find out otherwise by a huge margin, it makes me sit back and ask myself why we can't have a "Better customers Bureau" that can warn us of all the people that are going to come in, waste 2 hours of my sales guys time, and then give him some ridiculous, fabricated low ball offer on a vehicle that will only net my store a loss if we accept it. All while bold face lying along the way. I have had customers doctor registrations to try and hide written off or salvage status vehicles, do they not think I am going to run a history check? If I did that, and knowingly sold a customer a car without disclosing a previous salvage title, I would be criminally charged, fined $10,000 and be fired on the spot. Yet customers are immune as long as I catch the error when they are pulling a fast one on me. So basically I am protecting the people trying to rip me off. It makes no sense, and we encounter this stuff every day.

I just spent 2 weeks mailing out every single customer we have had in the last five years (close to 10 thousand people) about the phone warranty scam going on right now simply to make sure our client base was not victimized, and this was done at a cost of nearly $5000 dollars just to protect the interests of our client base. Yeah, real shady.

Seeing as that we are still looked at as these dishonest crooks according to you, maybe I should have just saved the money and bought more Coffee, Donuts, and balloons for the kids.

[Draug]

Originally Posted by pylon

In my first year when I used to be on the sales floor in 2000, I lied to try and close a deal with a customer and got caught.

Right there .... that is why car salesmen have the reputation that they do. End of story.

It doesnt matter how much improved the rules are. It doesnt matter that lying can (and probably does) happen in almost all business negotiations. It doesnt matter how honest you are now. All that matters is car salesman have the stereotype of lying.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by Draug

Right there .... that is why car salesmen have the reputation that they do. End of story.

It doesnt matter how much improved the rules are. It doesn't matter that lying can (and probably does) happen in almost all business negotiations. It doesn't matter how honest you are now. All that matters is car salesman have the stereotype of lying.

And so do politicians, lawyers, investment advisors, doctors, mechanics, cops, etc, etc, etc.

The point I was trying to make was when I was a new fresh face in the business I just went with the assumption of "do what it takes to make the deal." And I learned very quickly and harshly that behavior is no longer tolerated in the business. I can honestly say that is the first and only time I lied to a customer in 10 years in the business. I work as a finance manager now, and I have turned away business on high interest loans on a personal recommendation to customers, when I didn't feel loan terms being offered by the lender were fair to the customer, and I have been backed up by the General manager in these decisions as to not put some one in a situation that could potentially cause them long term financial distress, even though they were prepared to pay extremely high finance rates to get a car. Even though these people will usually go somewhere else to get the loan, I can't with a conscious do something I feel is predatory or unfair.

I am not saying our industry is lily white, there are still a few bad seeds floating around out there. But the odds of running in to one that has not been flushed out of the industry by now is very slim. Nowadays, you are far more likely to get ripped off buying a mattress, a dishwasher or any other number of large ticket retail items, than a car.

[The Fonz]

I asked this in the car salesman thread but never got an answer, maybe I'll get a reply in here.

Dealer prices for the G8 V6 are 34k-36k, and the prices for the V8 range from 38k-41k. With GM's struggles, how good of a deal could I expect to get on one of these models?

Has anyone else bought a G8 recently?

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Reminder: AMA members get Car Cost Canada quotes for free!!

I am an AMA member, how can I take advantage of this?

Thanks,
ers

[REDVAN]

You could do some research about what kind of cars fit your needs, then you could go testdrive until you find one you like, then you can put in an offer on it and negotiate with the saleman. Go in with a set max you can afford, and don't go over that amount. Also, this way you don't get a crappy car, and you hopefully get one that "feels right" rather than one with the "best features."

That's the way I do it.

[Bobblehead]

BTW there are a couple new brands on the top of the "new car reliability" heap.

Lexus has been knocked off, but I was surprised by one of the names that replaced it.

British luxury carmaker Jaguar surged to the top of J.D. Power and Associates' closely watched vehicle dependability study this year, tying Buick for the No. 1 spot and dethroning Lexus for the first time since the Japanese luxury brand has been a part of the survey.

http://business.theglobeandmail.com/...l_gam_mostview

Buick!

Unfortunately for GM (or any other domestic maker) it would take being at the top of this list for a few years before buying habits would begin to change.

The scary thing from the article:

The industry average was 170 problems per 100 vehicles, or somewhat less than two problems per vehicle.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by ericschand

I am an AMA member, how can I take advantage of this?

Thanks,
ers

Go here: http://caacarbuyer.ca/ama/

Also, if you're a member of the Social Club: http://www.scdl.com/category.asp?8, you can talk directly to the fleet manager, which is by far the best way to purchase a car.

[ericschand]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Go here: http://caacarbuyer.ca/ama/

Also, if you're a member of the Social Club: http://www.scdl.com/category.asp?8, you can talk directly to the fleet manager, which is by far the best way to purchase a car.

I'm missing something here, perhaps a few screws.

I get a page that says

Exclusive offer for CAA & AMA Members

Get 25% off a CarCostCanada Membership


Not free :-(


If I click on "build a vehicle" I get taken to pages with MSRP.


ers

[Shazam]

Just register, you will be able to see price reports.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by The Fonz

I asked this in the car salesman thread but never got an answer, maybe I'll get a reply in here.

Dealer prices for the G8 V6 are 34k-36k, and the prices for the V8 range from 38k-41k. With GM's struggles, how good of a deal could I expect to get on one of these models?

Has anyone else bought a G8 recently?

Go buy that G8 V8 right now! That car is a monster, and I don't know if you'll ever see a V8 4 door RWD car for that price ever again. The Euro competitors for that car are easily in the 70s. Granted they are a bit more advanced/refined, but if you want a high powered 4 door without all the computers between the pedals and the throttle body and brakes, get this car!

GM has come out with so many great cars recently and had so many great ones on deck, it's such a shame they are likely toast.

[Calgary '89]

Originally Posted by DESS

I've been to Certech in Ranchlands as well (few years ago now). I gave the mechanic $20 to say the car needed a bunch of crap it didn't. Try to do that if you can as it will give you a lot of leverage in negotiating the price down. Just don't go too far or it will be obvious what you're up to.

And people are afraid of dealing with car salesmen... at least a salesman is licensed and subjected to consequences for misrepresentation.

All you have to do to buy a car the right way is communicate what you want/need and how much you can afford/are willing to pay per month. If you've done your part as a consumer and you've researched what you're interested in, there's no way you'll lose because dealerships are like any other business, they need repeat-business.

Just be up-front. If you can't, it probably means you have your own sneaky agenda, and therefore you should just do what you do quietly and stop being such a loud whiner about not getting your way with the dealerships.

[Shazam]

Psst... I think he's pulling your leg.