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My dream car fa sho.

I'd like to keep it around $20,000 or fewer (less? I dunno the grammar here) I guess. Absolutely sub $30,000. Most of the vehicles I'm looking at are good, in theory, but not at all luxurious or spacious.

For reference, my car after taxes and shit was $17,000 so you can definitely get something nice around $15k.

God damn, car dealers are the worst, here are the big things I recommend doing when dealing with dealers:

- Only discuss total cost of a car. A dealer will oftentimes try to discuss the monthly payments you'd be making to make the car seem cheaper, stress that you only want to talk totals.
- E-mail a bunch of dealers first that carry the model of car you want to see who will give you the best deal. Prices are always negotiable.
- Paying for everything up front with cash may not save you money. Most car prices are listed with the assumption that you are taking their financing, be sure the ask what the price is with and without financing. (http://www.autotrader.com/research/arti ... ou-can.jsp)

You do have to pay taxes when buying from a private seller. I'm not sure how strictly this is enforced but a quick Googling tells me that you do need to pay sales tax on a car purchase from a private seller.

Merk wrote:- Only discuss total cost of a car. A dealer will oftentimes try to discuss the monthly payments you'd be making to make the car seem cheaper, stress that you only want to talk totals.

Agreed. Decide what you want to pay ahead of time and work toward that. They'll try to hit you with $x-hundred off this or $x-thousand off that. And it's not until you do all the math that you find out whatever it is they're offering you maybe isn't as good as it sounds. Negotiate by telling them what you want rather than letting them tell you what they'll give.

Merk wrote:- E-mail a bunch of dealers first that carry the model of car you want to see who will give you the best deal. Prices are always negotiable.

When I bought my first new car, after I determined what I wanted, I visited 6 dealerships. 3 were immediately eliminated and the other 3 basically fought it out for who wanted it more.

These days there's enough information out there that you can pretty much determine your price before you ever set foot in the dealership and all the dealer has to do is say yes or no.

Merk wrote:- Paying for everything up front with cash may not save you money. Most car prices are listed with the assumption that you are taking their financing, be sure the ask what the price is with and without financing. (http://www.autotrader.com/research/arti ... ou-can.jsp)

Especially the manufacturer promotions can be pretty damn aggressive. You might get a lower price if you bring your own financing (or cash--but if you have $20k just sitting around, you're buying lunch today ), but those crazy manufacturer deals of 0% or 1.9% or whatever are better than you're going to get on your own. So, you could make up in financing savings whatever extra you might pay to get them.

Merk wrote:You do have to pay taxes when buying from a private seller. I'm not sure how strictly this is enforced but a quick Googling tells me that you do need to pay sales tax on a car purchase from a private seller.

You do. The seller puts the sale price on the title when he/she signs it over to you. You pay sales tax based on this amount. The BMV charges you for it when you get your license plates for the car. Sometimes people play games and agree to put some other amount than the actual amount paid in this space. I don't know how closely they check this, but I'd imagine it would raise some eyebrows if the amount was unreasonably low.

I think dealing with salespeeps is the thing I'm looking forward to least. I try to be sociable in general, which someone will absolutely try to capitalize on. I really just want to tell whoever it is, "All I care about is buying a car. If you try to fuck me, you're dead. Fucking dead." but then I'll go to jail

Yeah, I agree. I am a shut-in so if you can work with them via e-mail then that's all the better. GOTTA HAVE DAT PAPER TRAIL.

Well, that was the reason 3 out of 6 dealerships were eliminated immediately. I treat it like a game. I think it can be kind of fun. But I do understand why many people don't like it.

I've thought about being a real jerk of a customer. Asking for changes at the point of closing, and walking out of the room unless my demands are met. One to ten how much of a scumbag should I be?

1 - Nice, talkative, and generally not arguing.
5 - Asking for thrown in items and trying to wheel and deal.
10 - Wasting their time to the point where they sell the car just to make the nightmare experience finally end. The kind of stuff that will end up on someone's "you won't believe my day..." Facebook post.

I'd approach it with a gameplan and a firm will, don't let them talk you into anything that is outside of your plan. Go in with a set dollar amount and car you want to pay for and if they can't accommodate you then walk without a fuss. I'm sure they deal with angry rednecks every. fucking. day.

"Hi I would like to buy this Nissan Juke for $12,000 please"
"Sure but first take a look at this Subaru STi that you could have for $260 a month!"
".... Thank you for your time *walks away*"

Are you saying I should, or should not do that?

You should

If they ask you to look at a different model the fastest way to stop them dead in their tracks is to sandbag them by saying "I have no interest in any other vehicle and wish not to hear about them again." Should they try it a second time, then excuse yourself promptly from the dealership.

Chad when are you going to buy a car?

Weekend after this one I'll be out test drivin'! Gotta narrow it down to 4 cars I'm feeling. Still not sure which.

So you might have your car by....... Early March?

Narrow it to 4...and the BUY ALL OF THEM! You can drive a different car to work every day by borrowing Yeye's on Tuesdays.