I bought my car in 2006, so I’m even rustier. (Rusty by name, rusty by nature…)
I bought a new Subaru, and my car buying technique was to research what I wanted online, including getting a quote from a broker. Walked into the dealership, said “I want one of those” and got a price. Got offered a discount plus accessories for a car built in the last year (which apparently makes a difference to people) which would save me a few thousand so took that. Agreed for them to give me a quote for finance and was surprised when it was a better deal than the pre-approval I had already arranged, so went with that too. Car arrived a few weeks later and I still have it.
Basically, I did everything they say you should not do and it worked out really well. 🤣
Realistically I think the best thing is to make sure you know what price range you think is reasonable in advance and what features/problems actually matter to you. Then disregard everything else the salesperson says to try and sway or distract you. Trying to focus on tricks and techniques for haggling tend to just be a distraction to you. Know what you want and ask for it. Know what you will accept if you can’t get best case, and be prepared to walk away if you can’t get it.
I pretty much followed what you said here. I had an idea of what the car was worth, what promotions were available (2 years free servicing) and a rough figure on a trade-in for my car. They came in low on my trade-in figure so I managed to bump them up a couple of grand to where I was happy to settle. Otherwise there are things I would have had to do to the car to get it ready to sell privately and then the fees for selling privately etc… it wasn’t worth the hassle.
I pick it up early next week! Wooo new car summer!
I bought my car in 2006, so I’m even rustier. (Rusty by name, rusty by nature…)
I bought a new Subaru, and my car buying technique was to research what I wanted online, including getting a quote from a broker. Walked into the dealership, said “I want one of those” and got a price. Got offered a discount plus accessories for a car built in the last year (which apparently makes a difference to people) which would save me a few thousand so took that. Agreed for them to give me a quote for finance and was surprised when it was a better deal than the pre-approval I had already arranged, so went with that too. Car arrived a few weeks later and I still have it.
Basically, I did everything they say you should not do and it worked out really well. 🤣
Realistically I think the best thing is to make sure you know what price range you think is reasonable in advance and what features/problems actually matter to you. Then disregard everything else the salesperson says to try and sway or distract you. Trying to focus on tricks and techniques for haggling tend to just be a distraction to you. Know what you want and ask for it. Know what you will accept if you can’t get best case, and be prepared to walk away if you can’t get it.
It’s done. I bought it lol
I pretty much followed what you said here. I had an idea of what the car was worth, what promotions were available (2 years free servicing) and a rough figure on a trade-in for my car. They came in low on my trade-in figure so I managed to bump them up a couple of grand to where I was happy to settle. Otherwise there are things I would have had to do to the car to get it ready to sell privately and then the fees for selling privately etc… it wasn’t worth the hassle.
I pick it up early next week! Wooo new car summer!