salesman | Pastor Partridge

Last week I shared some of the ways that we were able to save money when we finally had to go shopping for a new car (Seven Car Shopping Tips to Save You Money). Our experiences were mostly positive, but there were times that were not. While we were ultimately successful in finding a great car for a price that we could afford, there were a number of times that we just shook our heads at the attitudes and behavior of various car dealers. On the other hand, there were a handful of them that were doing an awesome job. Here is a list of things that we wish all car dealers knew:

1) It would be nice if automakers would make the cars that we want: Chevrolet used to make the Venture, which we liked so well we bought two of them. It was comfortable, affordable, reliable, had eight seats, and got good gas mileage. We would have happily bought another one, but they don’t make them anymore. Our local Chevy dealer only carried other brands of minivan in their used car lot and almost no one makes a van with eight seats. Brilliant.

2) Dealers should know that we own computers and know how to use them: Thanks to the Internet, before we left the house we knew what car we wanted and every dealership within 50 miles that had one. We knew the Kelly Blue Book recommended price, and how much the dealerships wanted for them. Several dealerships seemed to have no clue that this technology exists.

3) Just because it looks like a van, doesn’t make it a van: One major brand advertises that they have the highest fuel economy in a minivan but when we looked into it, their minivan only has seating for five. Seriously? Our Aunt Gladys’ Buick LeSabre has more seats than that, it gets better gas mileage, and its big overstuffed leather seats are almost certainly more comfortable.

4) Comfy seats do not always make the sale: The dealer whose lot is literally across the street from our church was courteous and polite but failed in two ways. 1) They had nothing close to our price range because the vans on their lot were all loaded up with leather seats and all the extras and 2) while these vans were only a little more than we were looking for, they made absolutely no attempt to negotiate. We left.

5) Rudeness never pays: Downtown Ford in Canton offered one price online but when we asked how much the car cost, the saleswoman made two mistakes. 1) She nearly demanded that we drive it before she would tell us the price and when we insisted, she copped an attitude and gave us a base price that was $2500 more than the price quoted online. We left.

6) We don’t negotiate the price of most things, but we expect it when buying a car ANDsome of us prefer to pay cash: One dealership we visited had two, reasonably priced, low mileage vans that we liked. We test drove both of them. They wouldn’t budge on price and insisted that because they were a wholesaler they couldn’t negotiate. They did, however, try very hard to offer us a “better deal” if we would only take out a loan, despite our offer to pay cash. How is paying interest supposed to save us money? We left.

7) Being polite and helpful never hurt your business: The salesman at Greg Pruitt Honda met us in the lot almost as soon as we got out of the car, asked what we were looking for, and actually listened. He told us that they didn’t have any in stock but got several in each week and would, if we wanted, let us know when one came in. He was polite and helpful even though he knew he didn’t have what we wanted and also knew that we would continue to look elsewhere. I will almost certainly go back to their dealership the next time I am looking for a car.

See last week’s blog, “Seven Car Shopping Tips to Save You Money.”

Recently, it became obvious that it was time to replace our 2001 Chevy minivan. We had already replaced or repaired the windshield wipers four or five times and they were broken… again. It was also time for the brakes to get some major work, the rust was so bad we were worried about structural things instead of just cosmetics, and to top it all off, the odometer was nearing 250,000 miles. As much as we both hate it, Patti and I agreed that it was time to go car shopping. Our experience made me remember a few simple rules that saved us a lot of money.

1) Decide what you need – Before you start looking at cars, decide what you need first, and then decide what other options you might want, but can live without if necessary. We decided that, we needed seating for at least seven (eight is better) and since we drive our van about 20,000 miles each year, we wanted the best fuel economy possible. Our Chevy Venture got 27 miles per gallon on the highway when it was newer and still was getting a little over 20. We hoped to get a new car with 27 mpg but could live with a little less if necessary.

2) Decide how much you can afford – The time to figure this out is at home and not on the dealer’s lot while you are having an emotional reaction to plush, leather, heated seats or an awesome big block V-8. Pick a number you (and your spouse) can live with and stick to it. Dealers will always try to push you higher than you want to go. Stick to your guns and be prepared to walk away.

3) Do your homework – Before we left the house we went online. If you don’t have an Internet connection at home, go to the library but research what’s out there. You should know what you want, how much that car should cost, and which dealerships have the cars that you are looking for at a price that you can afford (or can haggle down to). In our search we found that only two or three manufacturers make a van that met our requirements and only a few dealers who had them.

4) New cars are for suckers and rich people – Okay, not everyone is going to agree, but for those of us who are trying to make every penny count, new cars just don’t make good sense. A new car loses about $5000 in value the day you drive it off of the lot. Is it worth five grand just so you can say it’s new? Buy a car that’s a year or two old and the price can drop as much as 50 percent. Because our Venture had almost 250,000 miles, buying a car with 50,000 on the odometer was no big deal and well worth the savings.

5) Pay cash – What? Many of you will think that this is impossible, but it isn’t. Dave Ramsey explains this in more detail (I strongly recommend his class – Financial Peace University) but simply put, if you take out a 5 year car loan, you will pay for your car TWICE. Once for the car, and once for the interest on the loan. This is not a good deal. If your loan is almost paid off, don’tbuy another car. Instead, keep on making payments… to yourself. Write the same check every month and put it into a savings account. You should be able to make your car last a few years longer. Then, when your car is on its last legs, use the money in savings to pay for the car. You might not reach this goal on your first try, but if you can get halfway there, you’ve saved a bunch of money and can make it all the way the next time. If you haven’t done this, you can’t imagine how good it feels to own a car and owe… nothing.

6) Don’t get emotionally attached – Decide what you want and then go look for it. Don’t hang all your hopes on one deal. If this deal doesn’t work out, another one will. Someone has the car you want andcan afford. Keep looking until you find it.

7) Be willing to walk away – I said this before but I cannot overstate this. Car salesmen want you to fall in love with the car you are buying. They will do anything in their power to make you think that this is THE ONE. In the end, we finally found a 2010 Honda Odyssey that was close to our price. The dealer tried to get us to a higher price several times. They encouraged us to drive the car home for a while hoping that we would fall in love with it. Once you fall in love, they gotcha. Once you’re in love you will pay $500 or $1000 more than you planned. We knew how much we could afford to spend and were willing to walk away no matter how much we liked the car. We walked away… twice… and they finally came down to ourprice.

These are a few of the things that helped us, I hope they help you too.

(Next: Seven Things Car Dealers Should Know)