Buying a New Car Stories

[DrDawkinstein]

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but most car dealerships are just financing banks disguised as car dealerships nowadays. Make most of their money in financing deals, and will jerk you around through all sorts of shenanigans to get you into one of their loans. Buyer beware.

 

Once they ask you "What do you want your monthly payment to be?", or they break out a piece of paper and draw out the 4 quadrants... just get up and walk away. Theyre about to ***** you over.

[Augie]

On 8/12/2025 at 1:34 PM, DrDawkinstein said:

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but most car dealerships are just financing banks disguised as car dealerships nowadays. Make most of their money in financing deals, and will jerk you around through all sorts of shenanigans to get you into one of their loans. Buyer beware.

 

Once they ask you "What do you want your monthly payment to be?", or they break out a piece of paper and draw out the 4 quadrants... just get up and walk away. Theyre about to ***** you over.

 

My wife’s cousin has a “used car dealership” here in town, but when asked what he does he says he’s a banker who sells cars. The money comes from the financing more than the sales. 

 

The wife does all of our car shopping now (she actually enjoys “the game”) but we generally stay vague about how ŵe’ll pay for it. We like them to think maybe they can make some money on the financing as well, so they can leave a few pennies on the table from the sale and trade in, then we pay cash. We knew a guy with a bunch of dealerships who said he’ll practically give the new cars away to get your trade-in. That is where the money is for him. 

 

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Edited August 14 by Augie

[aristocrat]

My mom wanted a new car about a decade back. Found her a nice 2 year old jeep grand Cherokee coming off a lease real low mileage. Was haggling with the guy and I mean I hammered him on price. I was like this is my number and I’ll write a check and you get a sale today. His manager comes out and is like why don’t you want to pay 2k more? I’m like I can take a vacation for that price and I’m not donating money to you lol. Guy was just like alright we got a deal. Asking me why I didn’t wanna pay 2k more was a crazy question.

[The Jokeman]

The wife and I were looking for a new car about two years ago. She's 4'10 but we wanted a SUV so we need a trunk with remotely controlled/power lift gate as well she can't close the trunk if it's fully open. We started with a Chevy dealer who showed us a 2023 trailblazer that had everything we wanted and more yet was a couple thousand more than we wanted to spend. We then head to Honda to look at CRVs but again a little higher than we wanted. We went back to the original dealer who was still trying to push that same 2023 on us but we flat out told him no as it had a sun roof and honestly not really needed in Buffalo. He then had us test drive an Equinox which I loved as had duel climate controls but the infotainment center was less than stellar. We finally settled on 2024 Trailblazer and got it below the 2023 was selling for but gave us all we needed. I can't say I have a single complaint with it thus far. 

Edited August 14 by The Jokeman

[Just Jack]

23 hours ago, PetermansRedemption said:

I feel like the pendulum has actually swung heavily towards new cars in recent years. The value has seemingly been sucked out of the used car market. Many of the dealers price their new cars within 1-3k of their new cars, and the used ones have 20-30k miles on them! 

 

My nephew was looking at used Tacomas a couple years ago, and the salesperson he was dealing with told him they had three new ones coming in the next week, two were already spoken for, and he could get the third one for just about $3K more than the used ones they had on the lot. He took the new one. 

[PetermansRedemption]

8 hours ago, DrDawkinstein said:

I'm sure it's been mentioned, but most car dealerships are just financing banks disguised as car dealerships nowadays. Make most of their money in financing deals, and will jerk you around through all sorts of shenanigans to get you into one of their loans. Buyer beware.

 

Once they ask you "What do you want your monthly payment to be?", or they break out a piece of paper and draw out the 4 quadrants... just get up and walk away. Theyre about to ***** you over.

What I’ve started doing is buying with their financing and then immediately refinancing. They tell you that you can’t for X months, but that’s just how long they need you to in order to hit their financing kickback. There is never anything in any contract that prevents you from financing nearly immediately with your local credit union at a much better rate. 

[Sojourner]

Walk away from their first and second offers if it’s the brand new model/year of a vehicle. 
 

Wait until the new models are being out on lots. They’re desperate to get rid of the previous year, managed to get a new Suburban 5 years ago doing this; was around 20% off. 

[Your Brown Eye]

Nothing crazy like some of you guys. I always bought cheap used cars. I had a 2014 toyota cruze that I liked and that I wanted to beat into the ground, but 1) going down the highway and busy main roads with my 1 daughter felt completely unsafe, especially with the amount of crazy "me first drivers" 2) it had a progressive oil leak that was getting worse and worse, so it was time to get a new/newer SUV.

 

I never went full on new car before, I grew up in a family were we wore or rode everything into the ground so I knew if I got a good one, and kept it nice it could last me 10-15 years or better. Did lots and lots of research, narrowed it down to Toyota Rav4, Honda CRV and Subaru Forrester. My favorite of the bunch, the Rav4 is what I ended up going with. Now it came down to where to buy it.

 

I did not need the one with all the glitz and glamour, my parents both grew up extremely dirt poor, we did fine growing up (dad a teacher and mom a nurse), but dad's mentality was to always stretch a dollar, so we did not have anything fancy whether it was cars, clothes, house, etc. So I have slightly acquired a little of that mentality in the sense that I do not need anything fancy, so I went with the basic model, because it had everything I need to go from A to B.

 

I read up on strategies to lower the price tag, admittedly I suck at negotiations, but one tactic I thought I could employ easily was to pit the 3-4 main dealerships in the area against each other to see who would give me the best price. It worked I was able to work them down until they started dropping out 1 by 1, and eventually the last two remaining were trying to outdo each other with "their best price" even got to the point of them asking for the offer sheet of the other dealership to make sure I was not lying, which I gladly showed them. I ended up getting about 5-6 thousand off the listed price in addition to 2500 for the chevy cruze (oil was pretty bad a this point, but my mechanic cleaned up the engine pretty good prior to trading it in, so it was not very noticeable).

 

The only part that was bad in this process from my standpoint was the guy trying to sell the extended warranty. He acted nice, I had my wife and daughter with me, and he was trying to sell me an additional warranty by saying that it covers rotors and what not in addition to something else. Something did not feel right, I bought one when I got the Cruze and it was a nightmare to get the company I bought the warranty from to cover something that was listed in the warranty in black and white, so I was very cautious about this. Anyways I took the sheet home with me and told him I would let him know in 24-48 hours, and when I googled it, I found out the warranty he was trying to sell me in fact did not cover what he was telling me as his main selling point, that it was a different warranty that the company sold that covered these things, not this one. I unloaded on his ass like no other, I was not pleasant saying he knowingly lied to my face, my wife's face and I brought the proof of the two different warranties off of the company's website. He backed off pretty quick when he realized I found out he was lying and that the dealership was about to lose the sale if he said another word to me.

 

[ExiledInIllinois]

Who's got time for a car... They are already juicing the poor on so many other angles.  World needs ditch diggers too. 

 

https://www.buzzfeed.com/victoriavouloumanos/it-takes-so-much-more-time-to-be-poor-25-costs-of-poverty

[ICanSleepWhenI'mDead]

Some years back I bought a new car for cash, and agreed with the salesman on what I thought was a reasonable price.  So far so good.  But before they print out the paperwork for me to sign, I need to meet with some closer guy who is gonna try to upsell me to buy add-ons.  He asks me a bunch of irrelevant questions to which I patiently answer yes.  When he thinks he has me in an agreeable mood, the upselling starts.  "You really ought to get the extended warranty". "No thanks."  "Our dealer installed floormats will protect your car's carpet". "No thanks."  The rustproofing will maintain the value of your car". "No thanks".  "Well how about our super duper theft prevention system that allows the police to track the location of your vehicle if it gets stolen - - it even comes with this highly visible window sticker making it readily apparent to thieves that they shouldn't mess with this car and should pick an easier target."  "I'll pass on the theft protection system, but how much do you want for just the window sticker?"    Heavy closer sigh, followed by - - "I'll print out the paperwork."

[BuffaloBill]

I just do not understand why the auto industry continues this adversarial BS with their customers. For most people a car is the second most expensive item they will buy. Dealerships make it a complete hassle and they often fail to represent themselves, the product and the experience well.

 

I drive my cars longer than maybe I should. A big part of the reason why is that I can’t stand the purchase process. 

 

With my wife’s car purchase I ended up in a shouting match with the sales guy because he was to also serve as the technology rep.  He had no clue on how some features worked and I had enough when he became condescending to my wife. Sad thing is the car is excellent and has some really cool tech. YouTube is your friend when you want to figure stuff out.

 

 

[Mr Info]

I do not want to interact with vehicle salespeople any longer. Direct to consumer sales is available from newer companies such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. You pick which options you want and pay for it. I did this with a Telsa Y when it first came out about 6-7 yrs ago and sold it 2 yrs later for more than I bought it. I have a deposit on the new Rivian 2. The Y was the most fun car I ever had. Drove all over the east coast with no charging issues. 
But I digress. I went to a local Tesla dealer to test drive a couple models. Then ordered the vehicle on line and it was delivered to the dealer. No more sales people. 

[BarleyNY]

On 8/11/2025 at 7:38 PM, Mike in Horseheads said:

Today I ventured out in search of a new car and I get a kick out of the BS and exaggerations you will get fed. Its not like it used to be when the salesman had a idea what the product  is and how it works that for sure. For example:

 

     1) I had a salesman tell me that the MSRP on the window sticker is not necessarily the lowest price.  Unfortunately my long time GF was with me and gave me "the look" so I didn't unload a bundle of sarcasm back. Instead I just said well I hope so. Then the kid had a hard time finding the keys (I think he unlocked every car on the lot).  Then said you can look at our other lots and we can transfer it here. WOW.  Off to next dealer

     2) I asked if the Hybrid still had a federal tax credit. Well this set off a chain of confusion. (I still don't know) . So we drove a regular gas one and returned for the exchange of numbers .

     3) Salesman says what do you think your car is worth. I say Carvana offered me X.  Well he ran down Carvana that they won't give you what they say. I reply a friend of mine sold his car to them. Tow truck showed up handed him a check and deal was done, 

 

Tomorrow off to another dealer!  Please share your stories.

 

 

When I was looking for my first car I took a test drive and the car died on me in the middle of a busy intersection. I had to walk back to the dealership. Before I left the salesperson asked me “If we fix it would you still be interested?” WTF do you mean “if” you fix it?

 

Many years ago the wife and I walked into a Lexus dealer to look at an RX300. I asked what the stopping distance was since the wife had had issue with that in the past. The older sales rep said he didn’t know, then popped the hatch and told us that it easily fit two sets of golf cubs. We didn’t even play golf at the time. 

[LeviF]

I know way too much about the industry to take any dealership employee seriously. To the point where I'm an unmitigated, wife-embarrassing ####### if there's anything I don't like happening while I'm there.

 

The one contribution I will share is that for those of you who lease your vehicles, make sure you check the car's actual value vs. what your contract price is for a buyout. Sometimes you can profit a bit by buying out your lease and just turning around and selling it to Carvana.

[Mike in Horseheads]

I learned this week that some new cars don't have spare tires anymore, not even the cheap one. They give ya a can of fix a flat and a air compressor. cheap bastards

 

[PromoTheRobot]

On 8/11/2025 at 7:47 PM, Augie said:

 

THIS is the reason I’m still driving my 12 year old Toyota dog taxi my wife wants to get rid of.

 

There are very few experiences I enjoy less than car shopping.

 

Why would I want a new car? My car is already all perfectly “used”.  Making me break in a new one would make me anxious for a while. 

 

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What you do is you make it clear that your are only talking bottom line numbers. No "how much payment can you handle?" No four-square diagrams or "what will it take to get you in this car?" That starts, you walk. 

Edited August 16 by PromoTheRobot

[Augie]

8 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

 

What you do is you make it clear that your are only talking bottom line numbers. No "how much payment can you handle?" No four-square diagrams or "what will it take to get you in this car?" That starts, you walk. 

 

My wife kept hearing they would give her $10k for the trade-in. They were just going to clean it and mark it up a few grand, so she sold it to her niece for $10k. Win/win for us. 

[Just Jack]

On 8/15/2025 at 9:27 AM, Mr Info said:

I do not want to interact with vehicle salespeople any longer. Direct to consumer sales is available from newer companies such as Tesla, Rivian, and Lucid. You pick which options you want and pay for it. I did this with a Telsa Y when it first came out about 6-7 yrs ago and sold it 2 yrs later for more than I bought it. I have a deposit on the new Rivian 2. The Y was the most fun car I ever had. Drove all over the east coast with no charging issues. 
But I digress. I went to a local Tesla dealer to test drive a couple models. Then ordered the vehicle on line and it was delivered to the dealer. No more sales people. 

 

I remember when Saturn was doing that, the price on the sticker is what you would pay, no haggling. 

[Mike in Horseheads]

23 hours ago, Augie said:

 

My wife kept hearing they would give her $10k for the trade-in. They were just going to clean it and mark it up a few grand, so she sold it to her niece for $10k. Win/win for us. 

Not really at least in NY. If you do that you pay the sales tax that would have been deducted. At 8% thats  $800

[Augie]

11 minutes ago, Mike in Horseheads said:

Not really at least in NY. If you do that you pay the sales tax that would have been deducted. At 8% thats  $800

 

It’s the same here I think. I know we ate the sales tax benefit, but it was worth it to help out the niece with her first post-college car that was not a hand me down from her parents. We could have gotten that and it’s still a nice win for everyone, but the wife really likes this niece. The $800+/- means a lot more to her than us. 

 

 

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Edited August 17 by Augie