Buying a new car. Any input?

[98gstaherns]

So I'm looking to replace my wifes car seeing how we have a baby on the way and that her car is kinda a pain in the ass. Right now we are looking at the Ford escape and the Jeep patriot. Gonna hopefully point a decent amount of coin down for it and try to get a finace though my own bank and not the dealership.
But anyway what are some tip tricks that maybe you wish you would have used when you got a car or anything i should be on the look out for. For both of them we are looking at the 2010 models to save some coin also. My slef I'm kinda turned off of the jeep right now because of the dealership we went to was super pushy and wanted us to leave with a car that day when i made it quite clear that i only wanted test drive.. Needless to say that place lost my sale, and they werent a dealer that USAA recommands.

[mlomker]

Credit unions are always a good bet unless they're offering low rates for some reason. I'm personally a lousy negotiator so I plan to use a car buying service next time. It probably wouldn't cost you anything to get a quote from those kind of outfits. If a dealer is being stupid I always bring in the carsdirect.com price as a place to start from. You can also get better rates by not dealing with a conventional salesman...call up the dealer and ask for the fleet sales or Internet guy.

I'll be curious to hear what other people advise. I always seem to get fucked somehow when I buy a car.

[98gstaherns]

Yea thats why im using usaa cause it will be cheaper though them and the dealership works with them also so not to bad. looking at some that are about 23k come out to be 19-20k depending on what it has.

[Kracka]

Most manufacturers have 0% or other very low percentage financing offers going on right now so try and take advantage of that. I got 0% on my X. With 2011 models coming in you should be able to get a really nice deal on a leftover 2010.

[btleier]

There is nothing wrong with financing through the dealership. Just be educated. Know what rates your bank can offer, many times they will be able to beat it which is a win/win for everyone. Where people run into problems is when they wander into things blindly and don't do their research in advance.

[cudvig]

Why buy new when slightly used will do?

Make sure if you have USAA to check around with other insurance companys, I saved half off my bill every 6 months by switching to progressive!

I love USAA, but cheaper, is well, cheaper!

-Colin

[twack]

skip the patriot you will be bored of it in a month like a neon. Get a jeep liberty much much better

[Kracka]

There is nothing wrong with financing through the dealership. Just be educated. Know what rates your bank can offer, many times they will be able to beat it which is a win/win for everyone. Where people run into problems is when they wander into things blindly and don't do their research in advance.
Very true! Dealerships have a lot of wiggle room with financing rates; its a huge profit driver for them. No matter what they offer you tell them you can get better and they'll drop it.

[Kracka]

Why buy new when slightly used will do?
Sometimes after closeout pricing, rebates, and financing deals, new can actually be cheaper than used. Just gotta research all the options.

[98gstaherns]

There is nothing wrong with financing through the dealership. Just be educated. Know what rates your bank can offer, many times they will be able to beat it which is a win/win for everyone. Where people run into problems is when they wander into things blindly and don't do their research in advance.


Cool i will keep this in mind also and bring what my bank say too. The jeep dealer ship has called me twice in 2 days and want me to come in and buy the car. As far as the jeep being boring its my wifes car.

@cudvig yea that is true, but what i mean with Usaa is the car buying service.