Car Buying One Year Later

   I was hell bent on buying a new or prior year (leftover) car almost exactly a year ago this week. I did my research, had financing in hand and went looking. I had narrowed my choice to a 2013 or 2014 Hyundai Elantra GT but hadn't looked at them. I was on the fence on the trade off in value vs. savings and it seemed like a wash. On one hand, you get a brand new car but pay more or less market value.

   When buying a leftover, you can save thousands but your new car is already a year older seeming once you drive it off the lot. Even with no mileage, it loses book value. Although I had a good idea of the specs, there were a ton of difference on each. They changed the engine, trim and accessories as well as changed package options. If I wanted navigation, I had to buy both of the top of the line option packages, That adds over $5k to the price.

  This is a 2014 GT I saw at the Providence Rhode Island RIATA  car show January 2014  I never want a white car but they do look sleek. It looks much like other 2014 models with its wide "mouth".

  I looked at well over a hundred cars and saw many beautiful cars. Of course, the Corvette, Z-28, Mustang, Charger and  Camaro always look great, but the one I thought was the best new look in  a car I would consider was the new Dodge Dart. I'm no longer a fan of the brand, but time will tell if it's a hit or miss with consumers.

  At a local Hyundai dealer, I got the chance to see the 2013 model and make a valid comparison between them . The 2013 model has been reported to be a bit under-powered, so they added 25% more horsepower and 18% more torque. Available LED taillights and hidden rear camera round out a refreshed back end.

  When I looked at the two together, it was obvious that the newer 2014 model was the one I wanted, but all the toys I wanted (Navigation, sunroof, rear view camera, heated leather seats, it was above my upper limit of $25,000. The leftover now lesser model was available for a discount of about 44,000 but lacked the appeal of the '14.

Car Modifying

  Then the salesman managed to ruin my day by overplaying the sales pitch. I made an offer on the new model but he immediately brought out his "manager" who, armed with reams of paper, showed me how they could not possibly meet my price. It was likely a hot model and they knew they didn't have to budge. I dropped my business card and left. Of course they badgered me day after day to come back, but it was for the best that I had a change of heart.

  So I decided to keep my 2007 Elantra Limited, with most of those toys and a much lower payment. The car owes me nothing and runs great.  In four years and almost 80,00 miles, I've only had to replace tires, brake pads and rotors and plugs and wires. It still has the original Autumn 2006 battery is it. Now that I brag about it, sure enough, with Massachusetts winter out in full, it will surely die an inconvenient death.
 Here's hoping. Hello, Advance Auto Parts?

 

Domestic Comparison- Ford vs. Chevy and Who Owns Who?

It seems as though Ford and GM have the most sales for domestic autos. In fact, they may be about the only domestic manufacturers left in the US. So who owns who? BMW is owned by Mini and Rolls Royce. Fiat owns Alfa Romeo, Chrysler, Dodge, Ferrari, Jeep, Lancia, Maserati, Ram and SRT. Ford Motor Company owns: Lincoln and a small stake in Mazda. General Motors owns: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, and GMC. GM owns a controlling interest in Opel and Vauxhall in Europe and Holden in Australia. Honda owns Acura.Hyundai owns Kia. Tata Motors (India company) owner of Jaguar and Land Rover. Mazda is mostly independently owned while Ford has small stake in the company. Mitsubishi is independently owned and Daimler AG owns Mercedes-Benz and Smart. Nissan owns Infiniti. But Nissan, however is owned by Renault. Saab is owned by National Electric Vehicle Sweden or NEVS. Subaru is owned by Fuji Heavy Industries and Toyota is a minority partner in that venture. Toyota is a minority partner of Tesla, with a partnership with Daimler AG. Toyota Motor Company owns Lexus, Scion, Daihatsu and Hino Motors and holds a a stake in Fuji Industries, which is Subaru's parent company and Isuzu. Volkswagen owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche brands and overseas-brands SEAT and Skoda. Volvo is owned by Chinese-automaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group, aka Geely. Discount Car Parts

AxleGeeks | Graphiq

Car Buying , Part Two

I've been doing more extensive research this time, looking on the Internet for all the prices for many dealers from a wider area that I normally would have looked in. This allows me to get more comparisons and start to try to play the dealers against each other. Sometimes I wonder if they already know that I'm trying to play them and they're going to play me double instead. I also went to Consumer Reports and I paid to have a pricing report made out for the specific model but I want. It cost $14.00, but I figure for $14.00 it's a small price to pay to have pages of information handy.


I also learned some things I didn't even know about the cost of cars and options before I go to the dealership In addition, I used a service called TrueCar.com and submitted my request to three area dealers. TrueCar allows you to print out or save to your phone a saving certificate so that you can go to a dealer with the preprinted certificate in hand and they will take off a particular figure from the price without hassle. In my case its about $3500. You would think that should be in addition to everything else that I can negotiate with the dealer but in reality its just that price of off the MSRP or manufacturer's suggested retail price. Now in my research I have realized and found out that the MSRP is just a number. It's not really what the car costs or what it should be priced at, its just a number, merely a starting point for them to sell up and me to try to get them to come down.


As with anything Internet related, they passed my information to the dealers, and they emailed me my “Savings Certificates” within a minute. Of course, they all called me repeatedly until I answered. This, like using a service like Lending Tree for home loans, turns your phone into a constant ringing machine. Don't use these services if you don't want to be contacted. You could use a different email address and fake phone number if you just want to see the pricing.


One other piece of advice that I got was to make sure that I already know that I am qualified to buy a car in the first place. by going to your bank or any bank and getting pre-approved. It makes sense that way because when it comes to financing you can say “I'm all set I just have to go to my bank and sign paperwork” or in the case of Bank of America if I go to one of their authorized dealers I can just simply have them find out that I'm already pre approved and it shouldn't be a big deal except for paperwork with the bank. My guess is that the authorized dealers do the paperwork on behalf of the bank.