Buy Your Next Car Online

Prediction: Five years from now, 90% of all new cars will be purchased online. Currently, in 2018,  it’s less than 30%. The reason this percentage will balloon is simply that the online price is usually your lowest price. More and more car buyers are figuring that out every day. Dealers must give their best price to a prospect inquiring over the Internet because that dealer will have that one chance to sell the car. If they try “the old negotiating game” the Internet prospect will simply choose the lowest price from several other quotes he gets. When my friends ask me to advise them on how to get the best price on a new car, I always tell them to use the Internet.

I’m not suggesting that you don’t visit your local dealer to see, touch, smell, and drive the new vehicles you’re considering. This is very important. You can’t make a valid, final decision on which new vehicle is best for you by solely reading data and looking at pictures on the Internet. Research of that nature is important, but you should finalize your decision with visits to the dealers to experience the vehicle.

Once you have made your final decision on the year, make, model, color, and accessories, you are ready to use your smartphone or PC, and choose the dealer from whom you will buy this specific vehicle. If you’re not handy with computers, ask a friend or relative who is. First go to the manufacturer’s Web site like www.ford.com, www.toyota.com, www.chevrolet.com, etc. You will be able to type in your zip code to find all the dealers of that make within a given radius, usually about 40 miles, giving you 3 or 4 dealers. To expand the radius, choose another zip code further from yours. The dealers within your radius will show their Web site addresses. Click on their Web site and ask for a quote on the specific car you have selected. Most Web sites have a page for what is called a “quick quote”. You type in the year, make, model, color, and accessories. It will also ask you for your name, telephone number, address, if you have a trade (always indicate you do not have a trade), whether you are ready to buy now (yes), and other questions. All you really need to fill out is year, make, model, and accessories and your email address. If you prefer not to be contacted by phone, don’t fill in the phone number. If they require it before you can submit your request, type in any 10 digits so that the Web page will allow you to. If you can’t find a “quick quote” link, just email your request to their Internet sales department.

Depending on your computer skills, this whole process should take less than half an hour. Think of all the time, gasoline, shoe leather, and especially aggravation you are saving compared to visiting several dealerships in person. The time it will take to get back quotes varies from dealership to dealership. You may get some back within a few minutes, some will take a few hours, and some may take a day or two. Believe it or not, some might not respond at all. There are even a few dealers who will not quote a price on the Internet, but try to lure you into their store with false promises. Ignore them. I recommend that you get a minimum of 3 valid price quotes on your specific vehicle. It’s so easy to get quotes, why not get a half dozen or so? You are not necessarily even limited by driving distances. If the best price is from a dealer who is too far away, show that quote to a dealer nearer you and ask him if he will match it.

There are some things that you must be careful about. Be sure that that the price you get is an “out the door” price. That is a price which excludes only federal, state, and local fees and taxes which are usually just for tax and tag. Most dealers in Florida tack on fees of their own which are variously referred to as “dealer fee”, “delivery fee”, “do fee”, electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, etc. Typically, there are more than one of these phony fees. This is illegal or highly regulated and enforced in many states, but not in Florida. These fees vary from around $700 to over $3,000. Be sure that this fee (which is just profit to the dealer) is included in your “out the door” price. Also, be certain that you’re comparing “apples and apples”. When you select your low bid, double check that this dealer is quoting you on the same year, make, model, and accessories as the other dealers. A good double-check is to compare the MSRP. The MSRP, manufacturer’s suggested retail price, will be identical on identically equipped cars of the same model and year. Also, be sure that the car  you are considering will actually be there when you come in. Give them deposit on your credit card to hold the car for you. I they try any “flim-flam”, you can always stop payment on your credit card.

One “trick” you can use on a car dealer who is reluctant to quote you his real out-the-door price is to tell him your bank or credit union requires a signed buyer’s order from the car dealer with total (itemized) out-the-door price. Tell the dealer that gives you the lowest online price to email or fax you a copy of this buyer’s order so that you can take it to your credit union or bank, pick up the check, and bring it to the dealer. If he refuses to do this, you know he’s lying to you about his price. I mystery shopped a dealer last week that gave me an impossible low price on line. I emailed him that I liked the price, would come in the next day to buy the car, but he wouldn’t send me a copy of the buyer’s order. I asked him three times and he would not respond.

Online car buyers are the wave of the future. The retail car business is going through rapid changes and the old fashioned, price-haggling way of buying cars is slowly but surely becoming obsolete. If you haven’t already, now is the time to join the ranks of the smart, sophisticated car buyers.