How to Buy A Used Car For The Right Price

Most people dread shopping for a car. The fortunate ones have never had a poor experience purchasing a car.
With a little knowledge preparation you can insure the car you buy is for the right price. Buying a car is one the most expensive investments you will make, take the time to get the best value for your money!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Best tool is to go online.
• If not possible get an NADA book, Copy of Auto Trader & classifieds.

1. Try to determine what model of car and year you are looking for. Do some research on line to get an idea of what the price range is for the car. Know your budget! A couple good sites are: Auto Trader, Car Soup & Edmonds.

2. Find out the value of the car you would like to purchase. The best place to get the value is NADA. Not many dealerships use Kelley Blue Book. Banks may sometimes use this for loan amount on cars. Go to the NADA web site and look up the car you are researching. You will see several prices listed for the vehicle. This gives you a price range for the car.

3. Very rarely will a dealer sell a car below what it paid for via trade-in. A reputable dealer will also not ask more than high retail for a vehicle. The best value for the car lies between the trade-in value and full retail. Obviously the closer to trade-in value is best for you and the closer to full retail is best for the dealer.

4. Find vehicles in your area to look at and test drive. Many of the cars you may see listed on the recommended sites may actually be at a dealership. In any event set out your car shopping stops. You may need to make a couple calls to insure the car is still available.

5. Take the car for a test drive. If you like how the car drives inspect the exterior, interior & engine. If buying from a dealer ask to see the Car Fax report. Any reputable dealer has this on file (odds are it was run before an offer was made to even take the car in on trade) If the dealer balks then you may want to take your business elsewhere. If buying from a private party it is smart to get a Car Fax report and take the car to a local mechanic for inspection.

6. If you are satisfied at this point then you are ready to make a knowledgeable offer for the vehicle. In the end you will know you are getting the best possible value for your money and much less likely to suffer from car buyers remorse!

Tips & Warnings

• If you are trading in a vehicle please do the same research to make sure you will get the right amount for the trade-in!
• Know your financing options before you go shopping. Check on line for current rates, check with your local bank.