Home
| Lifestyle
| Cars
| Buy Cars
| Internet Car Buying Tips
Internet Car Buying Tips
by Jeffrey Jenkins
-
Overview
The days of walking into a car dealership to be greeted by several eager salesman drooling for a new car sale are not gone, but they are numbered. Thanks to the Internet, car buyers can now go online and check out the latest car reviews and consumer reports, view photos of new and used cars, and close the deal without leaving their homes. But is the Internet the best way to purchase a vehicle? Maybe. A few Internet car buying tips will help.
-
The Internet Sales Department
Before the popularity of the Internet, car dealers made higher profits on their transactions by keeping the actual costs hidden from the customer. The price of the car was whatever the dealer could convince the buyer to pay. The transaction included so many different variables, such as interest rate, loan terms, trade-in value and other various fees, that the customer oftentimes could not determine the real price of the car.
Then came the Internet, and some websites began to post the true invoice prices of vehicles. This took the confusion away from buying a car. The Internet buyer can locate the invoice price on the vehicle he is interested in, add on a 3 percent profit for the dealer and make an offer. Salespeople, however, despise dealing with Internet buyers because there is not as much profit.
Dealerships did not want to lose so many buyers to new technology, so they have created Internet Departments. Buyers can deal with an Internet salesperson by email or phone and get the price of the car minus the confusion. The Internet has nearly eliminated haggling over a price. It usually involves a take it or leave it offer. The Internet Department is interested in quantity, so the quote they give is usually going to be the bottom line offer.
-
Search the Internet
Conduct an Internet search for the car you want to purchase, and contact the dealership by email to request a price quote on the car. They will email you back with the price plus license and tax. Search the true market value of the car on Edmunds.com, and if the price the dealer quotes you is close to that price, you are getting a good deal. If it is nowhere near the true market value, then look somewhere else.
-
Internet Vs. Walk-In
You will always get a better deal buying a car on the Internet because when you walk in to a car dealership, the salesperson's goal is to sell the car for the sticker price, or as close to it as possible. The Internet salespeople are not as pushy and will lay everything out on the table. Some of the Internet salespeople are selling 20 cars and upward per month, so it is not as crucial to them to make all of their profit on one sale. For those salespeople dealing with walk-ins, they know that sale might be one of only five or six they make that month. Do your research. If you know what the car costs, you can get an excellent deal purchasing your car via the Internet. Be sure to give the Internet salesperson a day or so to return your email. They are usually more swamped with emails than the average car salesperson.
