10 Secrets From a Car Dealer - Read Before Buying!

Making the purchase of a new car can be a daunting task. Most people look forward to the idea of a new car or truck but they can pass on the idea of buying a car with a car dealership because there is always the fear that they are getting ripped off. Not all car salesman are shady, not all car dealerships are shady, but there are a lot of people who have a less than positive experience when it comes to dealing with a car purchase. Don't Believe me? Perform a Google Image Search for car salesman and this is what you'll get:

10 Things to Know Before Buying a Car

With any purchase, especially major purchases such as a car, it is always good to budget and see what you can afford. Just because the bank can loan you the money doesn't necessarily mean you should do it. In the same vein, you should have a good idea of your priorities with the car once you have the budget nailed down. Do you need an SUV or Car? Do you make a 30 minute commute to Des Moines or drive just down the street? Do you need bluetooth? What about All-Wheel Drive for the winters? It is important to quantify what is most important and make sure your priorities and your budget line up correctly when buying a car.

We have all heard horror stories of someone with a bad experience with a car purchase. The gas mileage on the car was terrible, there wasn't enough towing capacity, buyers remorse immediately set in after purchase, while we would all agree that these are bad experiences, there doesn't remain much of an excuse for this to happen anymore. Edmunds, Cars.com, Autotrader, AOL all have car review and they have consumer reviews from customers who have purchased the vehicles and driven them thousands of miles. With the transparency the internet has provided there is hardly any excuse for a consumer not to be educated when buying a car.

We have all purchased a car before, we searched hours and hours for the best deal on a new car and we finally find exactly what we want. 2 months have passed since the initial inkling of a new car purchase had entered your head and now you are at a crossroads. You have found a car for a $100 cheaper then anywhere else and you are ready to go sign on the dotted line. But wait...what about the interest rate on that 5 year loan? You are paying 7% on that $20,000 loan that you set up with your bank and you could've shopped around and found a loan for 6%, which would've saved  you over $560. The reality is we spend months finding the exact car, concentrating on a good deal then only look at 1 bank. Make sure the car dealership searches multiple banks to find you the best deal.

The reality is your credit does matter when obtaining a car loan. Many dealerships will advertise that they can get you a great interest rate if you have bad credit history. If you haven't paid your mortgage in a year, you're late on bills, or you've hit a rough spell, while there are places to obtain credit out there banks find your loan more risky. You will pay a premium for a loan and it can be tougher to be financed. However, the biggest asset on your side is if money down or equity in your current vehicle. If you have saved a few thousand dollars to put towards a new vehicle that will help prove to the banks that you can turn it around.

A lot of Car Dealers will advertise a lower price and then charge a customer hidden fees to make up for the difference on the back end. This is a great way to attract customers who are searching for the lowest price but is not always the most straightforward way of doing things. The most common fee that car dealers charge is a "Doc Fee" or Document Fee. The purpose of this fee is to cover the expenses of processing paperwork, applying for title, and processing the administrative paperwork that comes with a car loan. This is a legitimate fee and helps the dealer cover the office expenses that are incurred with the purchase of a vehicle. Typically this fee should be around the $100-$150 range considering the amount of work involved. Beware of the Doc Fee if it climbs above to $200-$300, the dealer is using it as a tool to make up for that "low price" you received. It is always good to ask the dealership up front what there Doc Fee is and if there are any other fees involved with the buying a car.

I consider myself a generally optimistic guy, but in any type of situation that requires the signature of multiple pieces of paper it is always good to get that promise the salesperson said in writing. All too often a promise is made and 2 months after buying the car you come back in to cash in on it the sales team has forgotten all about it. This doesn't necessarily mean they have bad intentions in all cases (If there memory is anything like mine they don't know what they ate for lunch yesterday), but it is always good to get promises in writing before taking delivery of the vehicle. The salesperson's job is to sell you a car, and they do a great job finding cars that fit your needs (or they should) just make sure that all your i's are dotted and t's are crossed.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news to those of you who put a lot of stock in Kelly Blue Book car pricing, but it isn't accurate. Kelley Blue Book has never purchased a car from anyone who has entered their information into their Trade-In-Value Estimator. I'm not saying that Kelley Blue Book can't be a valuable resource, because it can. There is a lot of information provided on make and models available on their website. Take the trade-in value with a grain of salt. The majority of their revenue is provided by advertisements on those web pages and it may give them motivation to inflate the values of their trades because everyone likes their trade to be worth more. I'm not saying...I'm just saying. Ok, so how do I find an accurate value for what my car is worth then? I'd recommend taking your vehicle to at least 3 different dealerships and telling them you are selling your car, not trading, but selling it to them outright and see what type of value they give you. Average those 3 together and you'll probably have an accurate assessment.

The internet is one of the greatest inventions ever made. It has allowed us to connect in ways we could not have imagined two years ago and allows for a level of transparency not seen before. This is a great advantage for a car shopper and allows you to communicate with a car dealership much more clearly. However, I would always recommend seeing the car in person because "condition" is a very relative term. Most sales people try to be very honest about the condition but everyone's opinion is different. You don't want to tell someone its really rough on the outside and scare them away from buying the car, but you also don't want to promise "Like New" and then upset the customer when they arrive at the dealership. Also everyone has a different interpretation, if your last car was a 1996 Dodge Neon then a 08 Honda Accord is like new, but that might not be a case for another buyer. .

This might disappoint some of you and thrill the majority of you, but the internet has killed the negotiation process. The day of marking a car up $4,000 over its value are over. Over 90% of people do their research online before ever stopping at a store. You will not visit a store that has their vehicle priced $2,000 over the next car lot. This has forced a competitive marketplace and has been a benefit for the customer. With this in mind, don't expect the dealer to drop the price for the car because "No one pays sticker price for a used car!" That is the reason you stopped by and the markup isn't there like 10 years ago. If you find your car online don't expect a huge discount, maybe you can work a deal for a few hundred bucks, but the huge discounts are gone.

The image of a car salesperson at the beginning of this article portrays a shark ready to take advantage of any weakness. If you meet a car salesman like that, just leave. The right car salesman is as scared of you as you are of them. They are hard-working and desire to find you a vehicle that fits your needs when buying a car. They already have to overcome the stereotype of our friend at the beginning of the article and are fighting an uphill battle. Car salespeople are people too and the right one is genuinely trying to find you the right car for your needs and budget at a fair price.

The right car dealership will be open and upfront about the process of buying a new or used car. Many dealerships are stuck in their ways of pushing people into cars and jerking people around with tricks. When you've found the right dealership you will know, but don't blame the car dealership if you are suffering from buyer's remorse. There are too many resources available online and a responsible shopper will know what they're doing when they walk in the store. At Granger Motors we practice honest sales tactics and believe in treating the customer honestly and transparently and we hope you find a dealer that does the same!

And remember be nice to the salespeople, they're people too!

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If you are looking for Used Cars in Des Moines just remember to do your homework!