car prices MSRP/Invoice

benwin

benwin

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hi,
i am looking for websites that can give me MSRP and Invoice prices for cars. i am trying to get the dealer to come down to a reasonable price on Toyota Camry or Honda Accord Cars.

any tips or suggestions are very welcome.

i hope you can help me out by pointing me to some good sites.

is this website really does what it says? is it a fake website for collecting user data??? www.carpricesecrets.com


i am also hearing about hybrid cars, how good are they, i have been recommended by some people that i should get these since they are money savers?


thank you in advance
 
edmunds is pretty accurate. hybrid cars are not mass produced yet so you wont be getting any deals on them especially in places like CA. the new accord hybrid is supposed to be really good though.
 
benwin said:
hi,
i am looking for websites that can give me MSRP and Invoice prices for cars. i am trying to get the dealer to come down to a reasonable price on Toyota Camry or Honda Accord Cars.

any tips or suggestions are very welcome.

i hope you can help me out by pointing me to some good sites.
Click to expand...
I use KBB and Edmunds to get a general idea and I also like
http://carpoint.msn.com - you can add options and see how much invoice vs MSRP is. Nice summary - quick and simple.

http://www.carbuyingtips.com - Gives you a great idea of how to haggle.
http://www.google.com - I don't of one, but if you can find a fan site of the car you are looking for, everyone is always talking about what price they were able to get.
Your local ad - believe it or not, sometimes they'll have a price that goes way below what's invoice. It doesn't matter if the ad states "only 1 at that price," just take it to another dealer and tell them to beat the price, they usually will. You can keep calling different dealers saying "this dealer gave me this price, can you beat it?" Some dealers will tell you "go ahead and buy it from them," and some will give you the price. Got my Civic for $600 below invoice using this method.

is this website really does what it says? is it a fake website for collecting user data??? www.carpricesecrets.com
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Never heard of this.

i am also hearing about hybrid cars, how good are they, i have been recommended by some people that i should get these since they are money savers?
Click to expand...
This is just my opinion, but I wouldn't buy a hybrid for money saving purpose. Sure you get 30~50mpg, but you also pay a high price for the car itself. I would get it for 5 reasons
- It doesn't hurt the ozone layer as much as a regular car.
- I heard the car is very quiet when running on battery.
- I can park in the front lot of Fry's where only electric cars can park.
- In some states or areas, I can drive in the carpool lane alone. (I heard, not confirmed)
- Just to make people go "he's the guy that drives a hybrid car, it doesn't consume as much gas.. blah blah"
 
The best car pricing I found is at www.carsdirect.com .

Use the forums at www.edmunds.com to find out what prices are being paid by other buyers for the make/model you are interested in. Don't use Edmund's "TMV" pricing because it assumes a "reasonable" profit for the dealer.

You can also price cars at www.cars.com .

The carpricesecrets.com URL is registered to an individual in the LA area named Sandy Ganz. I couldn't find anything about him on the net. My guess is that he might be an auto broker.
 
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As for buying a car out of the classified ads: the dealers run the same ad all weekend, and the ad normally first appears on Thursday morning (sometimes Friday). Dealers often advertise one "loss leader" that is a great deal. If you show up first thing on Thursday morning, you can often get the car for a great price. The game they play, though, is that the loss leader often is standard transmission. If that's what you want, grab it.

Don't buy undercoating/paint protection; shop around for extended warranties if you're interested in them. You often have 30 days after you buy to add them on (altho then you can't finance the cost of the warranty along with the car). The finance manager of a car dealership is often the highest earning employee since they get a % of what they sell. You can convert a great deal on a car into a mediocre one with the add-ons, because your defenses are down.
 
johnc said:
edmunds is pretty accurate. hybrid cars are not mass produced yet so you wont be getting any deals on them especially in places like CA. the new accord hybrid is supposed to be really good though.
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If I remember correctly if you you do buy a hybrid you get a break on your federal taxes. I believe the tax decuction is $2,000 for a hybird and $4,000 for a fully electric. Check with your tax advisor to make sure though.

Kage_
 
There is a tax-deduction, as you mentioned, but not sure of the amounts myself.

Gabriel
 
how true is it that every time someone runs a credit check on you, your credit score goes down by five points.


Many dealers are honest and will photocopy your license on a copier at the front desk and give it right back. But some, while you're out on the test drive, run a credit check on you. Then they give your info to local banks, who run credit checks. Now you have 5-6 credit checks on your record. This will haunt you when you buy furniture and apply for credit. You'll get rejected for 5-6 checks on your credit with no credit issued.


On 2/11/98 the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reiterated that dealers are prohibited from getting your credit report while out on a test drive. Violators can be fined up to $2,500 under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. Credit reports may not be obtained until you approve it in writing. By running a credit check, dealers have an unfair advantage because they know your financial status, plus it lowers your credit score by about 5 points.
from www.carbuyingtips.com
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does that means if i apply for loans from different banks, i am lowering my credit score? i don't understand this? i am really confused now.
:cry:
 
benwin said:
how true is it that every time someone runs a credit check on you, your credit score goes down by five points.





does that means if i apply for loans from different banks, i am lowering my credit score? i don't understand this? i am really confused now.
:cry:
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It is true, not sure about 5 points though. Everytime a bank or insurance company pulls a credit check it will show up on your credit reports at the very end of the report under credit inquires.
 
its ture but i dont know how much it effects it either. when i was 17-18 i applied for a bmw credit card like 8 times! i kept getting declined but kept trying and then a few years later i got a credit report and it was listed on there everytime and i now i have crappy credit cause what little i had to begin with got screwed up.
 
on the same website it says, the dealers can check your credit from your driver's license.


how can they do that without the person's Social number???? is it possible?
 
Latest update:

The car dealer with whom i made initial deposit has refused to refund the deposit. as per him, either i buy the car or forget about my money.



everyone i have talked to says that the money is refundable and that shouldn't be a problem at all.
 
benwin said:
Latest update:

The car dealer with whom i made initial deposit has refused to refund the deposit. as per him, either i buy the car or forget about my money.



everyone i have talked to says that the money is refundable and that shouldn't be a problem at all.
Click to expand...

I would be sure to get ahold of an Attorney and ask questions. :hmm:
 
Choochoojr said:
It is true, not sure about 5 points though. Everytime a bank or insurance company pulls a credit check it will show up on your credit reports at the very end of the report under credit inquires.
Click to expand...
I used to subscribe to a credit reporting service wherein I could pull my credit three times a day if I wanted. At one point, I checked my FICO score right before I applied for a $1000 loan at the bank. Afterwards, I did the same thing; my score dropped 20 points just from that one inquiry. Both scores were checked in the same day, and nothing else had changed on my report.

As with everything in life YMMV and hopefully you won't get dinged as badly as I did.
 
Any credit inquiries are wiped if they're within 2 weeks (may be 30 days) of getting a mortgage or auto loan.

Also, if you make multiple requests within 2 weeks, they all only count as 1 request.
 
Sorry for the delay in my reply.

well for that dealer, he's a thief. I have filed with BBB and called my CC#.
I hope i can get the money back.

I have talked to a few other dealers, they say they return the money all the time. they even called him a robber. :claps:



I have a question, is keyless entry that comes pre installed with the honda accord LX, just a remote door lock? so that means i will have to get an alarm installed from somewhere else?

and how true is it that if i don't get the alarm installed from the dealer i am buying a car itself, that the warranty of the car will be null and void??

buying a car is turning out to be a nightmare. :banghead:



Thank you to you all for trying to help
 
benwin,

I don't know the details about Honda, but in my experience it's better to put the alarm as dealer option, rather than factory installed. If that's not possible, I would install it elsewhere. Why is that? The factory installed alarm is usually very basic. I like programmable one so that I can make it passive arming to reduce my auto insurance (different insurance companies have different policies, but that's another thread).

The warranty is only void for the items broken caused by the malfunction alarm (for example, they cannot reject your warranty claim on a window rubber seal). That's why you're better off having it installed at the dealer, as I said earlier, so if something's wrong, you deal with one entity, the dealer.

I hope you've answered questions on why you wanted new car instead of used, and you've figured out how much the insurance will cost you. If Honda Accord is one of the popular stolen car in your area, your insurance will likely be more. And insurance does go into your bottom line, your cost on owning a car.

And I hope you already researched Honda maintenance costs in your area, because in my area it's more expensive than Toyota for the same exact thing. And for Honda vehicles, you have to change the timing belt BEFORE it's broken, otherwise all your engine will be messed up. Different story on vehicles that run on chain timing belt. But then, you may not need to worry about this if you don't plan to keep your car for long.

I know there are a lot of things to consider, but hey, you have to start from somewhere and learn your mistakes (like I did). Good luck!
 
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well, thanks for your insights.

i asked about the alarm because usually they ask 500 bucks for a basic alarm, and when i asked him that i don't want it, i'll get it cheaper outside, he says then your warranty on car will be void. you know how they try to trick you, so i thought ok well let me find out about it.


honda is the car recommended by almost everyone to me, the car mechanic, friends, and even other car dealers.

and i am planning on keeping this one for long long time.

maintenance costs i believe are going to be less than having a car whose parts are almost all foreign and you pay a lot for each part if anything goes wrong.


but if you know of any resources on how to find out the maintenance costs let me know.

thank you
 
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