I am probably never going to write one of those computer geeky 'How to' guides, so I can offer a 'How to' in some other of life's situations. So, in my effort to feel a little bit like a geek, I offer this 'How To' guide on “how To Buy a Car'.

Before we get started: Make sure you have your finances in order, have checked your credit report (you can do this for free at https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp), Have chosen your car along with the color and any accessories you would like it to have, are in a calm frame of mind (you will need to remain so for some time) and be prepared for some real subtle mind games.

So here we go, lets have some fun!!

One last thought: STAY DISAPLINED and be prepared to leave room for giving what you need to in order to get those options you really, really want or need. AND BE PREPARED TO ALLOW A MINIMUM OF 2 WEEKS BEFORE YOU CLOSE ON YOUR VEHICLE AND MAKE THAT AS CLOSE TO THE END OF THE MONTH AS POSSIBLE.

THERE IS ONLY ONE CRITERIA WHEN DECIDING WHICH CAR WE WANT IN MY VIEW, AND THAT IS 'RESALE VALUE'. SOONER OR LATER, YOU WILL MOST likely WANT TO EITHER SELL OR TRADE THIS VEHICLE IN, SO RESALE VALUE IS EXTREMELY IMPORTANT. Besides, cars with poor resale value are not that much less expensive than vehicles with high resale value.

For the purpose of this cool 'How To', I will use a 2007 Subaru Impreza as a subject vehicle.

If we visit New Subaru Impreza Sedan (Natl) 4dr H4 AT i Cars - Buy a Subaru Online Model Prices and Edmunds.com - 2007 Subaru Impreza Car Pricing Guide, we see an invoice price $17,906. for a base model, and Kelly blue book Kelley Blue Book - Enter Your ZIP Code show s us $17,796., If we look further, we could probably find a variety of invoice prices. The dealers we contact will inevitably show another Invoice price on what looks like an official copy of an invoice, which most likely, is not what it appears to be.

HOLDBACK: Hold back is money sent to the dealership from the manufacture after the sales of a vehicle is made. It is usually about 3% of msrp, or , in our case approximately $600.00 , and is not reflected in any invoice price. There are also other incentives in the way of rebates for the dealership based on 'time on lot' and so on. There is so much hidden money in automobiles that it can make you dizzy. Another trick being played theses day's, I suspect, is the dealership actually overpays for vehicles and gets refunded for the overcharge after the sale is complete, that is why invoices prices, while technically correct, are a lie.

The first thing we have to decide after we have chosen our vehicle and done our research is, we MUST decide on a price we are willing to pay for this vehicle. This is not the price we offer to pay our dealership representative, it is where we will make our stand, win or lose. BTW- I don't lease cars because I think it is a foolish thing to do for an individual.

We will decide to pay no more than $16.500.00 for this vehicle, win or lose. However, we will make an offer to several dealerships over the Internet for $16,000.00. That is our starting point. Since this is a well made car and has an excellent reputation, we don't have much room to give before we reach our target price, so we must now decide whether or not our target price of $16,500.00 is still reasonable in our mind. At this point you will probably begin to feel a little anxiety in your stomach as to whether or not you are willing to let this car go if your target price is not met, if you do not think so, you have options; you can either raise your target price or consider an other vehicle or less options. HOWEVER, BEFORE YOU MAKE YOUR INITIAL CONTACT FOR NEGOTIATING PURPOSES, YOU MUST DECIDE, PERIOD. NO WAVERING HERE, THIS IS HIGH STAKES UNLESS YOU HAVE ABOUT $20.000.00 TO BLOW. Personally, I do, but I think it is a foolish thing to do. Besides, I love this game!

What our next step is, is to send an email to all the dealerships within say 200 miles of where we live. We will eventually have phone conversations with some of them and we will personally visit at least 3 of the closest dealerships in our area. We prefer to do business with a local dealership because we want to develop a rapport with one for long term use. If that does not work out, we have left ourselves plenty of alternatives in dealerships.

We now want to try to choose which salesperson we want to deal with. This is where the fun begins. We want either the dealerships absolute best salesperson or one of the middle of the road, upcoming, promising salespeople. WE DO NOT WANT A ROOKIE. There are ways of finding out who these people are. I like to call the parts department or service department in a dealership and pick their brains to find out which salespeople have been with the dealership the longest and who have been there the shortest amount of time. Remember, this is a game, and the rules are; who is going to walkaway with what they want the most of and that is, 'money'. Money saved for you and money made for them.

METHOD 1 : BEST SALESPERSON SCENARIO:
It is important to understand how automobile dealerships operate. They all have what is called an “UP' system. That means they rotate taking sales calls via the telephone and as well as getting to talk to potential buyers who visit the dealership. However, once a customer talks to a particular salesperson, that customer is his or hers for life, unless the salesperson leaves that dealership.

A dealerships best salesperson is the number one money maker. So, its important to make this person as available as possible because he or she is a good closer and can usually come to terms quickly in most cases.

Our purpose is to tie this person up as much as possible through constant visits and phone calls. Chances are the salesperson will not take phone calls directed at them and will have you leave a voice message. If this happens, do not leave any messages, go visit this person and sit with them to ask questions, bring them coffee or even a bite to eat so they will not turn you away easily. As long as a salesperson has a customer to attend to, they are not permitted to take 'UPS'. This particular salesperson not taking new potential buyers hurts not only him or her, but the dealership as a whole because they know they are most likely loosing sales and profit. Every person in the dealership is keenly aware of the fact that this person is not taking 'UPS' and therefore we are the one creating the anxiety, not them.

With enough persistence, and since this number 1 salesperson is most likely the sales managers and finance managers best friend, eventually they will want to get rid of us and will eventually give in to our demands of a better deal because what they are potentially loosing in sales is much more than what they are holding out in their negotiations with us. We are truly a thorn in their side when we do this. They will not blow us off because then it would have been a total waste of everyones time, and time is money to these folks.

METHOD 2; PROMISING SALESPERSON SCENARIO:
In this scenario, we take a different approach.

The promising salesperson is a person who is most likely a favorite of the sales manager and finance manager. They want to see him or her do well, so they throw him or her a bone now and then and are willing to work harder for this person than for a rookie. There is a vested interest in this persons success because the sales manager has probably touted this persons ability to the owners of the dealership. We are going to use this against the sales manager.

Everything most salespeople do in automotive dealerships when it comes to sales is really simply playing 'fetch' for the sales manager, that is why they retreat often into the sales office.

In this case we are NOT going to visit often or even bother much after our initial visit. We will let this person know we are a serious buyer, take our test drive with this person, let them feel 'in charge' of the entire situation , spend a significant amount of time on our initial visit and we will reluctantly reject their offers (unless of course they meet our target price, which they won't), we will negotiate a little but let them know we are pretty firm. We may at this point have given fifty or a hundred dollars as a reward if they have made a seriously, good faith effort to come down enough to warrent one.

We leave and let this person believe he/she is our person and we MAY eventually return to close the deal. We make it crystal clear we ARE going to buy a car and it is simply a matter of where. We let this person know we would like him/her to get the deal because we personally like this person.

This promising salesperson needs to be near the top each month and so every sale is especially important to this person as well as the sales manager. Come crunch time, at the end of the month, they will be more willing to deal.

We will begin to receive phone calls, emails and even some cute little cards in the mail by this person. We will engage this person at their request, but not for very long. We will make excuses of needing to get to work or attend to the kids or grandpa, always leaving room for hope and potentiality of closing the sale. We say we still want this person to get the sale, however we let them know we are not dumb enough to not check out other dealerships.


BOTH METHODS:

When talking to either salesperson we will be honest about our intentions regarding trade in. Why? Because trade-in is easy to deal with. We know what our trade is worth and as long as we meet our target price or better and receive what Kelly blue book says we should get, we can be satisfied. In the end, it is simply a number we want to reach, how we get there makes little difference.

Another thing we are going to do is let everyone believe we are going to finance through the dealership. Why, you ask again? Well, we want as many people in that dealership to be vested in the sales of our vehicle to us because we want to put the pressure on. The finance manager works off commission as well and will want to make sure every salesperson is giving him/her a chance of selling their stuff too. Besides, dealership can usually offer some pretty nice reasons to finance through them like low interest rates and rebate offers. In the end however, be sure to read all the paperwork very, very carefully because some finance managers have been known to play dirty tricks.

IN THE END:

Don't forget we have given ourselves plenty of options to make our deal. Chances are, someone is going to give us what we are looking for. When we get a better offer from one salesperson, we can use that as leverage against another by saying something like."I have an offer from another dearership for $17.000.00, beat it and you just may get yourself a deal.' If anyone is to ask you that if offering us that price will get your business, we may respond with, 'someone is getting my business very soon, and I hope it is you'.


Well, there you have it, my first 'How To'.

There may be some things I have forgotten and I will add them as I think of them. For those who would like to add substance to this' please feel free to in subsequent posts..

Thanks for reading and enjoy your new car..