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Never Faced This Before...
DH and I have been very fortunate to have older vehicles gifted to us from family members or to be able to buy used vehicles in cash at highly discounted rates from family members. Neither one of us have ever purchased a dealer car or bought from a private seller outside of our family.
Our third child is arriving in July. We will need a minivan.
We have discovered that our infant car seat can fit with our other two full-sized carseats (for DS and DD) in the backseat of our Impala. The plan is to use that car for a year (until July 2014) and then at that time switch our new baby over to a full-sized seat since he will have outgrown the infant seat by then. Once we move to three full-sized carseats, we will absolutely need a larger vehicle.
We will be buying used. We want a Toyota Sienna (only minivan with AWD - we live where there is a lot of snow).
I have a few questions to those who have bought used vehicles from dealers or private sellers.
1. What's the general step-by-step process?
2. DH and I will want to take whatever vehicle we're interested in to our own auto mechanic to have it checked over by an independent 3rd party. How does this process generally work? Do you leave some form of collateral with the dealer while the car is being checked off the auto lot?
3. What words of awareness or caution can you provide?
4. How do those CarFacts vehicle history reports work? Are they easy to get? Do most dealers provide them?
5. We will be paying cash - so how much additional negotiating power does an all-cash buyer have with a dealer?
6. If you think of something else to add. Please do so.
Thanks!
Re: Never Faced This Before...
I think it would be worth your while to look at Toyota Certified Pre-owned vehicles. It comes with a great warranty and you could skip the step of bringing it to your own mechanic. I would say that is more common in private sales as opposed to dealer sales, it is a smart thing to do though. Any reputable dealer will supply you with the CarFax for free. Please note that even that can be inaccurate. I had a car once that got in an accident and had over $5k of damage, including replacing 2 doors and it never showed up on CarFax.
I don't think cash is king anymore when dealing with cars. Most dealerships get kick backs from the banks for financing so you might get the better deal that way. It all depends on the dealership. If you happen to get a better price to finance, just do that and then pay it off right away - it's an option anyway.
It sounds like you have your mind made up on the minivan, but if you are open to suggestions, the Toyota Highlander is a great SUV that would fill your needs. Personally I like the ride better, minivans make me car sick! Good luck!
CarFax is a voluntary program. Not everybody reports into it. So it is possible for a car to have been in an accident and not have it reported. So while a CarFax with items on it is a good to know, a clean CarFax isn't a clean bill of health.
We bought out last car new with cash. We looked at Toyota and Honda and wound up with a Hyundai. The Toyota and Honda dealers didn't take us very seriously because there was a line of people waiting to look at their cars. We were going to pay cash, but they gave us $500 off to finance. I then turned around and paid the loan off.
you should look at new as well especially if you plan to keep it for a very long time. The new ones might not be that much more than a newer used one.
Hi, I'm not a regular but I did just recently do this. I would recommend buying privately if possible. You will pay less that way. It can take longer to find what you want, but you will get more for your money. The other thing I recommend is selling your car privately too. You will get more for it.
There is of course more paperwork to do, though it isn't that big of a deal. If you check you state DMV website, they have forms that you can use and instructions on what you need to do. One financial down side is that if you buy from a dealer and trade in your car, the trade in value will be subtracted from the purchase price, so you will pay less in sales tax.
I recommend using Edmunds.com to help guide you in appraising your car and getting an idea of how you will be spending to get the care you want. It has comparisons or private vs dealer prices to help you decide.
I will say that in general used is a better financial decision in my opinion, but used car prices have been high lately. We definitely noticed that when we were looking.
how much cash do you have saved?
we also have a sienna and fond that the price difference between new and used was only a few thousand dollars, like less than 5k (maybe 2-3). for that it was worth it to us to buy new and outfit what we want and have a warranty
if you buy used you may have a hard time finding one with AWD that is used and NOT fully loaded if you cant pay that. Id consider new base or LE model and add AWD.
paying cash does give you any negotiation. plsu the sienna is kind of fixed so there is very little leeway on price.
we buy our cars through the fleet manager who gives ytou the nest price. No negotiaiton this route but really good proce. fleet mgr does not work on comission. you can tell them what you want and they will get it or all you when it comes in. we did that as well.