Buying a car for the first time: A Learning Experience

Remember when I had dropped my 2005 Corolla off at the dealership for an airbag recall and how they opened it up before realizing they didn’t have all the parts they needed? And how I was given a rental which was hit by a deer before being provided with another rental. If not, then I guess now you are up to speed, or you could go back and check out the post “Two deer, two many: Part 1” 

When I got the replacement rental for my rental, I drove that thing so cautiously. Constantly keeping an eye out for any animals, my heart skipping a beat every time I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. And every time, it was a false alarm. But my heart was a little jumpy after that deer collided with my first rental.

Well, my dad and I went back to the dealership, for the fifth or sixth time since my car was having a recall resolved, and we asked them how long before I got my car back. We did not want to keep the rental for longer than necessary, especially after the deer incident.

Well, the guy at the service desk said it looks like the parts have still not arrived yet. At this point, it seemed like they were never going to arrive. Apparently, the parts were being shipped from Japan and on a ship. So that was going to take some time. Of course, our next question was what the estimated arrival time of the ordered parts was. Unsure, the employee went to get his manager to see if he had any knowledge about the status.

The response we got from the manger was starting to make me mad. Now I normally never get mad, unlike some customers, no matter how big the issue. I usually try to understand the situation, but this guy. Oh he got under my skin. His response was so rude and he was being so disrespectable.  Isn’t the first thing you are thought when you work in customer service is to treat you customers nicely? Well after the whole the customer is always right rule.

Obviously this guy didn’t get the memo. No idea, how he became the manager, but that is not relevant. He basically said, well you are not the only one with a car sitting here to get the airbag replaced. My car has been sitting her for x amount of time, too. And with that he walked away. What?! That is not what a customer would like to hear. Not to mention, he didn’t really answer our question about an estimate on how long it would take. But the way he said his response, it sounded like he did not care. As long as he was getting paid, he didn’t care how. He basically spent the entire time talking about his car before he just left.

The service desk man looked back at us apologizing sincerely for what just happened. He began to try to figure it out himself and gave the best estimate he could. My dad had enough of this I don’t know how long it is going to take BS and we walked right over to the sales department. You do not want to get my dad mad because it is not a pleasant moment. But I guess it was kind of a good thing for me because I was finally going to get a new car.

My dad, without filter, told the sales guy everything that just went down in the service department. The salesman was shocked for the treatment we received, and said your experience with buying a new car will be much better. We looked at brand new 2017 corollas, got a really good offer, and what does my dad say. Let me look around first as if that was not a good offer. No other place was going to give us that price. We were going to lose this deal if we left and came back another time. Typical dad.

And here I was getting so excited that this was finally going to happen, but I should have known that my dad tends to get my hopes up before changing his mind and crushing them. The whole let me look around basically meant I was not getting a car.

What I learned during the car buying process

1.      The best time to buy new car:

Personally, I feel that buying a new car is better than buying a used one, especially when buying from a big dealership. Smaller dealerships are a different story. Why you ask? Because the price they put on used cars with very lots of miles is so high that it is almost worth spending a couple thousand more dollars and getting a new car with zero mileage.

If you are in the market for buying the latest year model of a particular car,  then the end of the year is the best time to buy. Especially when it comes to Toyotas. Other dealerships might work the same way, but I have experience with Toyotas. Lots of dealerships have big sales going on towards the end of the year. It is the best time to get the most discounts that you possibly could on a new car.

Toyota usually has Toyatathon going on. To my knowledge, this is a competition between their sales employees to see who can sell the most new cars. This usually runs in the month of December, when the previous year cars are practically gone and the next year models start rolling in.

2.      Buy when you are in college

Another reason to go to college, besides going to get an education to get a better job. Being a student has its perks. You are able to get discounted tickets to museums, and in this case, discounts on buying a new car. Score! I was a college student once, and any way I could save money was always welcomed. We all know how much debt college loans give us. Why not use our student status to help save some money and reduce our loan debt.

Most dealerships provide a student discount, especially if you have good grades. All you need to do is provide proof of the grades by giving them a copy of your unofficial transcript. Easy and simple. Combine the good student discount with the end of the year sale, and you got yourself a good deal on that car.

Negotiation

Don’t just settle for the price the sales persons offers. You need to negotiate. The same way you negotiate for the salary you want when you are finding a job. The price that is put on a car is not the best offer. If you can talk, you can definitely get that price down. This was something I did not know. Growing up in an Indian household, negotiating is part of the culture. Everything in India is overpriced and the price is not set. No matter what one is buying, Indians always offer the price they are willing to pay for it. Of course, they low ball it, but it works. The seller counters back and you go back and forth until you come to a compromise. A price you both are satisfied with. This applies to buying a car.

Tell the sales person what price you think you should get for the car, the sales person will counter and possibly comment on your offer. He will tell you if that is way too low. In my case, my dad always offers a price for on the road, taxes and fees included. The best way to get the price you want because this is where they get you. You may think they are giving you the price you asked for, but then they add taxes and other fees and you are back up to almost the cost you started with.

On the road is a good term to add to your car buying vocabulary.

If it counter is still too high, stick to you amount taking into consideration that you are not offering a very low amount. It has to be reasonable.

But if you stick to what you are willing to pay and don’t budge, the sales person will work with you if he sees you truly are interested in buying a car. They want to sell the car, so they will try whatever they can to make you happy, but also sell it for a good price.

The sales person will often take that offer to their manager, and if the manager is a good one, he may counter back with a better offer, or as in our case, accept our offer.

Paperwork

You got the price you wanted, and you have shaken on it with the salesman. Now what? Now comes the long process of filling out lots and lots of paperwork to get this car to be yours. Trust me, it is long, but it will be worth it. At the end of it all, you will be a proud owner of a brand new car. Just make sure you have plenty of time set aside for this process, especially if you struck the deal closer to closing time. There are advantages to waiting closer to closing time because the employees are usually ready to go, but don’t want to leave without making one last sale. However, the paperwork process will take longer especially if you are planning on getting a loan for the car.

The finance guy, sorry not sure about what his title is, has to call the bank to get the rate for the loan. And if it is close to closing time, getting a hold of the bank takes longer. But don’t let that scare you because the wait is worth it. You will have a brand new car that is all yours! Not many people can say that.