Take that paperwork with you when you negotiate the price of the car. Dealerships make a lot of dough doing their own financing and if they know you already have yours in hand, they may be able to get you an even lower rate with their preferred lender.

Oh hell yeah. I kind of take that for granted, after using it so many times.

Any car-buying project should start at Edmunds. Handy as hell. (But don't buy a new car.)

BadComrade wrote:You should also do some research to try and find out what the dealer paid for the car you want. You really shouldn't be paying more than $500 over dealer invoice for a car. If there are any rebates going on, you could actually wind up paying less for the car than the dealer did.


This page might help you out with the Yaris sedan.

Do not negotiate at the dealership.

Use Fighting Chance.

Do it.

www.fightingchance.com

Buy the packet.

Follow the instructions. Your timing is great--end of the month right now.

You will save time. You will save money. You will actually ENJOY buying the car.

Go ahead and try to bargain on price, but don't get your hopes up.

little cute fuel efficient cars are flying out of dealerships these days - if you don't buy it for MSRP, the next person through the door will do so gleefully.

Honda Fits sell out as soon as they hit the ground.

Now, if you were in the market for a pickup truck, well, then I am sure they would do whatever it took to get you into a car today, ma'am.

the$inmusicisallmine wrote:Honda Fits sell out as soon as they hit the ground.

That thing looks fun as shit. I'd get 6 miles to the gallon, tops, beating the tar out of that car.

EDIT: Fucking utility mode! I could put the FZR in there and go to the track! Holy shit!

Wow. You are some nice people all up in this joint.

So, I test drove a zippy silver car today. It was more tricked-out than I wanted, but the guy went down to $15,999 -- which I, of course, told him I would sleep on. Edmunds tells me that a similar car with the more-important-to-bumble-options is worth $15,450.

I also ordered Fighting Chance. Wish me luck!

Thank you for all your input; I really appreciate your help.

bumble wrote:I also ordered Fighting Chance. Wish me luck!

Awesome.

I'm telling you: read that Fighting Chance stuff. Call the guys at FC if you want (they like to talk).

A lot of people cut corners here--I don't know why but they do. I suggest doing exactly as they suggest, with the fax and all that, and send it to as many Toyota dealers around Chicago as you can stand. You can probably hit 15 or 20 within 30mi.

Some of the big, obvious dealers will ignore you, but you'll get bids from a lot of people.

You'll get as good a price as possible, and you will expend very little effort. The more you follow the dude's plan, the easier the buying is.

I have used FC twice, and both times, it was super, super easy. The first call I got the first time I used it was Evanston Subaru telling me to fuck off. Ha ha! They were freaked out by it. Those guys are dicks, anyway.

The last car I bought, Evanston Subaru told me there were only two of them in IL and blah blah they were giving me as good a deal as I would ever get so fuck me. Tried to play hardball.

Well, Grand Subaru had exactly what I wanted brought down from Milwaukee, for a lot less money.

Hardball doesn't work for them when you have other options. Dealerships like to sell cars, esp at the end of the month, so the more dealerships you involve, the better off you are.

I wrote in the fax that I didn't want any goofy extras like undercoating or any of that, and I wanted the deal to be no B.S. and to take as little time as possible. I spent 15min at the dealership. It was great.

Sold.

Thanks, guy.

vockins wrote:

the$inmusicisallmine wrote:Honda Fits sell out as soon as they hit the ground.

EDIT: Fucking utility mode! I could put the FZR in there and go to the track! Holy shit!

you would not get a full sized motorcycle in the back of that thing upright. Sideways maybe, but it would probably hang out the back.

Have you been to NJMP yet for a track day? I am thinking of going on 9/1.

the$inmusicisallmine wrote:you would not get a full sized motorcycle in the back of that thing upright.

I think it's close:



Granted, that picture has the back seat folded up. You'd have to fold the seat down to put a bike in there. They claim 7'1" to the dash if you remove the shotgun passenger seat. I think it's the hatchback dimensions that would make carrying a race bike possible/impossible. Maybe I'm nuts. Not that I'm in the market for a car anyway.

]Have you been to NJMP yet for a track day? I am thinking of going on 9/1.

I'm supposed to be saving money to buy a house, but I might figure something out.