How to Find The Best Car Deals

Learn how to find the best car deals.

If you are looking for a new or used car to replace the one you have now, there are a few things you can do before you go car shopping to find the best car deals.

The following tips will help guide you through the process of finding the best car deals.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. First you should know how much you can afford for a new or used car. Was your old car payment affordable, or was it too high? If you have not had a car payment before, you will have to determine how much you can comfortably set aside each month to pay for a car loan.

2. When figuring out how much you can afford for a car per month, remember to include budget items such as gasoline costs, car insurance, and maintenance and repairs. If you are a driver under the age of 25, or if you have had driving violations within the past few years, your insurance rates will be higher than average. If your insurance premiums are higher than average, you will need to take that into consideration when you determine the price range you can afford.

3. Before you decide to go look at cars be sure that you're credit score is good. The better your credit score the better the deal you will get on financing. Get a copy of your FICO score and credit report and dispute all the negative marks on your report. It takes 30 days for an investigation of each item so be sure to plan ahead. Raising your credit score will dramatically increase your chances of getting the best car deals. (see the resources area below for a link to a reputable company to get a copy of your credit report and score)

4. Have you considered a lease instead of buying a car? There are some advantages over buying a car with a conventional car loan. What makes a lease one of the best car deals is that you can turn it in after a two or three-year period, depending on the length of your lease. The downside to a lease is the mileage. You must sign a lease for a preset number of miles that you can drive in a year. If you go over your limit, you must pay an expensive per-mile charge when you close out the lease.

5. Research the cars you are interested in. For new cars find out what the invoice price is of the car, not just the MSRP. There are websites that will allow you to find out dealer invoice prices that you can use to research prices.

   For used cars you will want to research local newspapers, car dealers, and websites like craigslist to get an idea of what cars are selling for. Also check Kelly blue book online for more information on values.

   With this information in hand you will have the ability to negotiate a better price with the dealer. Remember that you will have license fees and tax in addition to the cost of the car that you need to take into account.

6. Take any vehicle you are seriously considering as a purchase for a test drive. Also, use this time to see if the options that you want are really necessary. Unless a car's feature is standard, each accessory and option that you add will increase the overall price of the vehicle. If you don't need it, find a model without it.

7. If you really want to get the best car deals you need to bypass the sales person and go straight to the sales manager. This is the person that makes the final decision on the price. Usually what happens is the sales agent brings in the manager to help close the deal putting you in a hard sell position. By bypassing this step you will be on equal grounds and not feel as pressured into buying the car.

8. A few other ideas that you can look into for finding the best car deals are auctions. You can find local auctions usually done by the police department. Just do a search online. There are also online auctions for cars but I recommend against it. You can also purchase fleet cars which are vehicles owned by car rental companies. I would also recommend against those too since most people trash car rentals.

9. If you want to find the best car deals, you need to do your homework, and get your financial house in order. While you're here be sure to take a look around for more tips and information on finding the best car deals.

Resources

• Get a copy of your FICO score and credit report