Buying a used car

[emirate25]

What steps should I take in buying a 2006 certified vehicle? (ex. run carfax report, how much should i negotiate etc...?)

By having a pre approve loan from bank, will I be in a advantage position when negotiating for price?

Thanks for your advice.

Edited August 12, 2007 by emirate25

[travelguy_73]

What steps should I take in buying a 2006 certified vehicle? (ex. run carfax report, how much should i negotiate etc...?)

By having a pre approve loan from bank, will I be in a advantage position when negotiating for price?

Thanks for your advice.

IMO, an excellent place for your question is the car buying forum on Edmunds.com. There is a wealth of info there for the reading.

As far as what steps you need to take...theory is that a certified pre-owned vehicle has been through a rigorous inspection and any issues have been fixed. They also come with nice long warranties. This is why you are paying a premium versus a 'standard' used vehicle. Negotiation is completely product-driven (might be able to negotiate on a Grand Cherokee but not on a Mini, for example), so unless you have a specific vehicle in mind, it's hard to say how much savings you might see.

You definitely need to be pre-approved before you go shopping. Otherwise dealers see you as a window shopper and won't give you the attention you deserve. Plus, they are always going to push their inhouse financing and you need to be in a position to know if it is a deal or not.

Good luck!

[jm1fd]

What steps should I take in buying a 2006 certified vehicle? (ex. run carfax report, how much should i negotiate etc...?)

Don't buy certified. Why do you think you need to buy a certified vehicle? It isn't any better than a non-certified vehicle, except for the extended warranty which you probably won't need anyway unless its something like a Range Rover which is notorious for breaking down all the time. Don't think you'll get a higher quality car because its been certified either. I've seen several certified cars that had previously been wrecked and repaired.

If you're looking for a deal best bet is to find a private party car that is well documented then take it to a mechanic to have it inspected.

CarFax is more or less trash....I wouldn't pay for a CarFax report. It is good to have to see where the vehicle has been and if it has had a salvage title at some point, but you could do $13k in damage (pretty major, but not to the point where it is totaled) to a $20k car and it wouldn't necessarily show up on a CF report. Any mechanic with half a clue should be able to tell if it has been wrecked and repaired.

By having a pre approve loan from bank, will I be in a advantage position when negotiating for price?

If you play it right, sure. Let the salesguy think that you're going to use in house financing and then hammer on him for a better price on the car. He might give you better numbers on the car thinking that he can make it up with profit on the financing. Once the price is ironed out, tell him you've changed your mind and will be using your own financing.

[TAK]

research the kinds of cars you want... search the various car forums for advantages, disadvantages, problems, etc... check various websites to find a good price (edmunds, kbb, ebay, cars, autotrader, etc.)

depending on what it is, skip "certified" as mentioned above. if you're buying a car under 30k miles, it probably still has a warranty. if you're buying a truck under 75k miles, it's probably still in very good shape. save the "certified" money to address anything you don't like.

carfax is best for telling you where the car was previously owned:

if it was in a northern state, it may be rust prone due to salt on the roads in the winter... if it was in FL, MS, LA, or even TX, it may have been in a flood...

used is the way to go. i get a lot more car for a lot less money. For under $20k (including TTL) you can get a VERY nice two or three year old vehicle with 40k miles or less. (I drive a Chevy Avalanche and my wife drives a Volvo S80 - both used, fully loaded, and under $20k drive out - check the new prices on something like that... no way.)

good luck... used car is the (relatively) smart move... if i could get myself to actually not care about the kind of car, i would just get a ford taurus for $7k and be done with it... i'm working on it, but i'm an american and whatnot.