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Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
2 Car ?s
Within the next day or so I will be purchasing my first car. YAY!!! I have only had three cars in my lifetime and they have all been really old ones so I am really excited.
The only place we have gone to is CarMax. DH wanted me to go there and purchase my car from there. Anybody else get a car from there? Pros? Cons?
Also I am really looking at purchasing a 2009 or 2010 Hyundai Sonata. I have heard good things about Hyundais. Does anybody else have one?
TIA for the advice, if any!
Re: 2 Car ?s
I've never purchased at CarMax, so I can't help you there.
I do suggest GAP insurance! It will help cover the immediate depreciation that will occur the moment you drive off the lot in case something unexpected happens.
GL and YAY for new cars!
Thanks!
Yea, we are definitely getting GAP insurance. Thankfully DH works for a big car insurance company so he knows all the ins and outs of that stuff.
DH is a mechanic and likes Hundai's. When we next replace a vehicle, we are looking at their small/mid-sized SUV's.
I bought my first "new' car from CarMax back in the day, and they helped a 20-yr old girl with no credit, but I probably should have done some more shopping around. I would find out who the local dealers are and google them, or look on the BBB site. Car dealers are desperate to make sales these days, so low ball them!
double post. Sorry... TN is getting screwy.
Oh, and if you can wait, I would wait until the end of the month to buy. Statistics show it's the best time to buy because they have quotes they need to make, so they will be in a better mood to deal. Go 2-3 days before the end of the month, and be prepared to walk out if you don't get the price you want. They will call you and you can go back and forth a few times. Also, don't make a classic rookie mistake of telling them what you want your car payment to be. They will find a way to reduce the price of the car, but slap on a whole bunch of other fees that go into their pocket. Concentrate on the price of the car instead.
Seriously, I am the QUEEN of car buying. If you need any more help/tips feel free to page me.
I've done this before (more than once). Once was b/c I guess they didn't think I was seriously looking for a car, and the other time they were trying to "play". The second dealer, when I walked out, they ran out the door and finally decided to work with me and what I wanted. I guess they could tell I wasn't going to fall for the pitches they were trying to sell.
DH bought a new Sonata in 2008 and LOVES it. He got it whenthey had the 0% deal going on which they have pretty frequently.
Also, in the past 2 years the ratings on the Sonata have really increased, I believe it is now one of the best selling cars.
Good Luck!
They both are used cars and came from rental places to begin with. They are pretty much like new. I would rather have a used (almost like new) car though. I would get a brand new car, but I think it is pointless to get a brand new car when something could go wrong with it still. Versus someone already owning it and most likely any glitches have been fixed.
I didn't know about the end of the month deal. I would wait, but the car I have right now is about to go out again and I can't afford it to so I might as well just get the new car now. And as far as I know, CarMax doesn't do any negotiating. Or does anybody know if they do?
Screw going to the dealer. Email them. You'll usually work with internet sales, which is a different division. Email several with the model and options you are looking for and you'll get a ton of quotes and compare those with the prices on Edmund's (TMV pricing, invoice pricing, etc.). Once you have a few to choose from, set aside the lowest one and email the others to beat it. Then you can go back to the lowest one to beat whatever lower prices the others respond with. Always work with the bottom-line price, and work out the payment amounts later.
That's how we bought our new car last year (2009 fully-loaded Nissan Altima) well under invoice. I already had the low price in my pocket, but we walked into the closest dealer to talk to them anyway. It was ridiculous! First, they came back with sticker (bwahaha!) and then they declared that the car we spec'd out didn't exist in the Southeast. We bought the car from the dealer I worked with online the next day.
This is why new cars come with warranties. But in some ways it does make sense to buy a slightly used car becuase the car has already taken the depreciation hit.
Also, if the car you are looking at came from a rental company, I would give it a very careful look-over. People tend to treat rental cars like crap, so even if they are well cleaned, there might still be some nasty/mechanical things going on.
In my experience, CarMax tends to be overpriced. I'd decide exactly what you want in the car and then look on autotrader.com or cars.com to see what is available. There are so many cars available right now that I'd definitely do my research before picking on to buy.
As pp mentioned, I'd have a rental car checked very thoroughly.
CarMax will not let you negotiate so the sticker price is the price.
That is true! Since the two I am looking at our a year old or so they do still have the manufacturers warranty with them and CarMax has a 30 day warranty on all cars just incase something were to happen within that first month. I am sure a 30 day warranty isn't the best, but it gives me a peace of mind.
Thank you ladies for all of your help!!!
DH and I have bought two cars and sold two cars on Craigslist. It takes some time, but we have bought two fantastic cars (Xterra and Altima). I will never deal with a dealer or Carmax again. It was very frustrating to go back and forth on a price and deal with all the extra fees and such.
IMO, it's not worth it to buy new, plus, with CL, you can negotiate a good price and there are NO extra fees/taxes etc. We paid for both of our cars in cash, so if you're able to do that, it's a great option. We set a price that we new we could afford and filtered ads based on that. I only look at ads with pictures and I ALWAYS run the VIN through Carfax (we bought the 28 day version to use while we were looking). You want to look for ads that answer all the questions you have. In addition, we took the car to our mechanic before purchasing because they will do a free inspection of the car you are interested in purchasing.
PM if you have any other questions! Good luck!
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