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The 2 Things Every New Car Shopper Must Do Before Buying

The vast majority of new car shoppers only focus on one thing: making sure they don't pay too much for their new car. That's great and all, but the problem is they lose focus on the other two main areas of car buying: the trade-in, and car financing.

If you're paying cash and don't have a trade-in, then you're fine to focus only on the price of the car and you don't need to read any further.

But if you're like the majority of car shoppers, you will most likely have a current car that you need to trade or sell, and you will need to finance your new purchase.

The two biggest profit centers for most dealers are used cars and financing. This is exactly where most shoppers fail to do enough research.

Shop Your Trade-In

Before you negotiate the price of your new car, it is vital that you first shop your trade-in to other dealers in order to get a good idea of what it's worth.

Without knowing how much your trade-in is worth, how are you supposed to negotiate its price? Dealers know most shoppers don't take the time to figure out exactly what their car is worth - so they will low-ball you several hundred or even thousands of dollars - and you'll have no idea.

Shop for Car Financing

The vast majority of car buyers get their financing through a dealer. This is one of the biggest mistakes car buyers make. Why? Because if you don't shop for car financing before going to a dealer, they can AND will take advantage of the fact that you don't know what rates you qualify for.

Take the time to compare your financing options and figure out what rates you qualify for - then when it comes time to see what the dealer can offer, you can compare your best rates with whatever the dealer can provide. Sometimes they will be able to beat your lowest offer - but the only way they will do that is if you already have it lined up.

3 Steps Every Car Buyer Needs to Take to Save Maximum Money

The key to getting the best deal is to gather price or lease bids from as many local dealers as possible. Then shop that best price around until no one can beat it. Here are the steps:

Step 1 Get Prices From My Trusted Network

Select the vehicle you're interested in to see if there are local dealers in my network who will provide you with their best upfront price. You will get direct access to an internet sales manager who you can further negotiate with online (no need to visit dealership).

Select Vehicle to Get Local Pricing

Step 2 Get Prices From TrueCar / CarsDirect

TrueCar, and CarsDirect are my top 2 online price quote recommendations. These services show you pre-negotiated prices from dealers closest to you - and the deals are usually pretty decent. But remember, you can still negotiate further.

Step 3 Complete my Checklist

Follow this up with my checklist to make sure you squeeze out every last bit of savings.
- Gregg Fidan

Each week, I'll keep you up-to-date on the latest car deals and news that might affect your purchase. This includes...

Best Rebates, Incentives, and Lease Deals
Latest Car Buying Scams and Tricks
The Best & Worst Time to Buy a Car
Which Cars You Should Avoid

About The Author

Gregg Fidan is the founder of RealCarTips. After being ripped off on his first car purchase, he devoted several years to figuring out the best ways to avoid scams and negotiate the best car deals. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject of car buying and taught thousands of car shoppers how to get the best deals.

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