Speaker: When I went to buy a car, a couple of months ago, during the process, I kept walking out of the room and making a phone call. I called him. This is Rob.
Rob Gruhi: And I said no.
Speaker: Yes, we ended up getting anyone but Rob is here to talk about how to buy a car without getting screwed. Please welcome Rob.
Rob Gruhi: Alright, thanks, I think that Brady asked me to do this talk because I may be one of the few people on the planet that actually really enjoys buying a new car. It's kind of one of the few examples of bare knuckle boxing negotiation left on the planet, everyone is generally pretty nice. So here, the first thing that I want to talk to you about is give yourself a lot of time. The dealerships are counting on you being rushed on you not having enough time. Give yourself at least two weekends. This is going to give you enough time, to pick out a car and go through a couple of rounds of negotiation with the dealership.
The very first thing you are going to do is you are going to go to your bank and you are going to get a loan from your bank. This is going to do a few things. Well, it is very possible that you might get a better deal from the dealership, it is unlikely and getting a deal from the bank, you'll know how much you have, you'll know the rate that you are going to walk in on and you are not going to have to rely on the dealership at the end when everything is all figured out to get you the money.
So what do you do with your old car? Don't sell it to the dealership you are buying a car from, they have got you up against the wall. There is absolutely no reason why they should give you a good deal on this car. They are looking to make 1200-1800 bucks, selling it to someone who is then going to sell someone else, sell it on Craigslist, donate it. Sell it to a friend. Basically, anything you can do is better than selling it to them. Before you buy your car, you are going to pick out at least three different cars that you want and are interested in. You can go more than that but try not to focus on one car because it will really narrow your options and prevent you from adding options.
Once you've got it down to three cars, you are going to want to go and test drive those cars, and there are lots of articles on what to look for a test drive. You know what a test drive is, you have driven cars. Go out, play around with them, see what you like. Once you have test driven it and you've picked the car that you want, go home, don't buy a car when you test drive it. Whatever they say, they could promise you sun and the stars. Go home, pick out the exact model you want, make two lists. The options that you absolutely must have and the options that you'd like. Put together this list and you are going to use this list when you start calling dealers and getting prices.
So you should use the invoice, right? No, invoice is useless, the dealers have figured it out. They know how to add fees over, under, behind, around, everywhere. Ignore the invoice, it's just a distraction. The thing that you really want is competitive bidding. It's the only way that you are going to get the best price. Call eight to ten dealerships and tell them "I'm really interested in buying this car today, can you give me a price, I'm doing competitive bidding." They will say "We don't do competitive bidding." And you'll say "If you give me the best price, I will come down and buy it from you today" and they will say "let me give you a callback".
So you are going to the competitive bidding, but the key is don't try to tell your things like we'll give you invoice plus $500, you'll show up and they will say plus these 18 fees including the port fee, the ad fee, the paper fee, whatever. When you are doing your bidding get it, drive it off the lot price. If I were to write you a check today, what is the final, final price with all of your adds on to there and then once they have told you that and you've found the right car, make sure they actually have it. They probably don't, ask for the VIN number, ask them to walk you through all of the things on that car.
Okay, so you've got the car, you've got the price, you show up at the dealership, you are ready to buy the car. What are you going to do? You are going to leave, why, because something will have gone terribly wrong. Oh! we are terribly sorry, we don't have that car, somebody just picked it up. It turns out there is a gold nugget in the backseat and we have to charge another $1,000. You say "I am sorry I thought we had a deal, it's a shame I'm not going to be buying a car from you today" so you leave. Then you call around to a number of different places, maybe that person comes to their senses and gives you the original deal, you go back. They are going to try to wear you down. Bring a friend, bring a picnic lunch, bring a game, bring some patience and don't be afraid to go off and grab a cup of coffee if you have to. During this process, they will stick to your guns, if it seems weird, it is.
I have had people say, "Here, sign this at this slip, as this means no warranty." New car, no warranty. I have had people say, "We can't write it on the contract because there is not enough space." If it seems weird, it is weird, stick to your guns, you are smart people, right. However, you are going to feel like an asshole, because you are going to feel like the one person who can say "Really because everyone signs at this slip, what's your problem," right, stick to your guns, don't worry about it, you'll fell like an asshole that's normal. It means you are doing it right, okay, don't sign anything until you are done. They are going to keep trying to put things in front of you and have you sign it, do not sign a single thing until the very end. All the way at the end, when you have every thing lined up and the price is there and they have got the keys then you are gong to it and make sure everything is in writing.
Okay, so you have got the price locked. Now, you are going to go on to the back room. The back room is the Ninja salesperson, who has worked their way up to the highest margined room in the building. This person is smooth, they are swab, they are skilled, they will tell you about all the beautiful Carnauba Wax and extended warranties and tire rotations and all this fantastic things that just sound so good. Don't buy any of that. You wouldn't stock up on candy at a movie theater to go home. This is high margined stuff that you could buy anywhere else for half the price. Don't buy a single thing. It will make them cry and you'll feel awful, but just really don't buy anything at all. Okay, so in recap and I have two full slides of this, the same thing, give yourself time, take two full weekends to buy a car, it's going to take time, just set it aside, you might not needed but if you do you have it.
Sell your used car separately. Get competitive bid literally from eight to ten dealerships for the final, final price. Walk out when the deal changes, you could go get coffee it will freak him out and he will try to tackle you up the door, but literally walk out and don't buy any extras. You can get it from an insurance company, from a local car repair shop, there is lots of extra places you can get all that fancy stuff. Thank you very much.
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