One of my friends recently bought a new car and  shopped  around via her phone  having used her  buddy’s car buying service (ps.  her buddy being me.)  . She told the dealers that her best buddy is in the car business and that she was looking to only buy her car if she can get the car below invoice price. After two car dealers rejected her proposal, the third one who had 3 cars that she liked agreed to her proposal. Of course she did go around to multiple dealerships test driving various vehicles, and had determined exactly what she wanted before doing her telephone shopping. What surprised me was the ease of her getting the friends and family discount once she made it clear that she knew how the car dealer insider deals are all about, and that she qualifies. Kuddos to you buddy. (I have been asked to keep her name anonymous. )

Moral of the story: If you have a friend or family member in the car business, definitely have them shop a car for you, or at lease use their leverage of being an auto dealer industry  insider to get you an awesome deal.

Not quite! The only thing my Lexus car dealer let me put on my credit card the last time i purchased a new car was the tax. The rest of the amount had to be paid by other means. Anycase, putting $3000 on my credit card earned me miles and also enabled me to defer spending $3000 for another 30 days. I have never heard of a car dealer allowing anyone to put the whole car on a credit card. If you have, would love to hear your story. Also, the car dealer rater give you a car loan himself (via his loan provider) than have you benefit the credit card companies. The biggest motivation for the dealer to do this is of course that fact that the car dealer has to pay the credit card companies 2.5% of the amount just to provide you a convenience of enabling you to pay by your plastic. That is money right out of the car dealers pocket.  Bottom line is that its worth asking the dealer what he/she is ready to do. In today’s economic times many car dealers are ready to go the extra mile to close the sale. Good luck!

Car bargains are everywhere in this economic downturn, but every insight we have into the great deals out there saves us a few extra hundred dollars of our hard earned money. I found the following Forbes compilation interesting. You should check it out. This lineup shows some great car deals in the market today in a fun format. Enjoy!

Oh don’t forget, while these are great deals, you will always get a better deal using my insider tips on getting a better discount.

Wow, some people seem really scared to talk to dealers. Some car dealers have picked up on this fear and have come up with the complete car buying experience online. Check out this news story about the A-to-Z of car buying completely online.

Come on, we (car dealers) are not so bad. While the in concept the complete online car purchase idea seems wonderful,  you will be leaving many a dollars on the table for the luxury of avoiding your car buying fears.

I still advocate, doing your car buying research online, and getting multiple quotes from dealers from the ease of your home computer, and then doing the legwork and talk work at the dealers who respond so that you get the car you really want. Besides, there is no substitute for actually getting behind the wheel of a car before making the purchase.

Good luck!

Insane as it sounds, its actually a real marketing gimic used by a dealer in Butler, Missouri. Apparently it is a retort to a comment made by Barack Obama. Well apparently the unique marketing angle has worked!!! Read more about this unusual marketing here. What will they offer next? A set of knives or swords with every car purchase? I guess so long as its legal, and turns heads, some dealers are ready to try anything.

Ask any car dealer and they will tell you. Price of gas efficient cars of course. Looks like this is happening across the country for many different car models. I read that some buyers are also paying more than asking. Don’t believe me? Check out the car prices article here. What is driving the price hike you ask? Gas prices of course. With this logic, if you are in the market for a gas guzzler, expect to pay below invoice. Let me know if you succeed.

Excerpt from the article:
“It’s extremely high right now,” Haile said. “The small cars are very hard to get right now. The cars that were $5,000 are now $7,000.”

In the past year, the average used small car price has gone up 2 percent, from $9,278 to $9,470, according to wholesale auto auction data collected by the National Automobile Dealers Association. There’s evidence that the prices are accelerating, according to recent data from J.D. Power and Associates.

The increases are in contrast to used full-size sport utility vehicles, whose prices have dropped $1,600 to $2,000 in the past year, said Paul Taylor, the NADA’s chief economist. The average sale price of all used vehicles in the U.S. dropped 2.5 percent in the past year, the NADA reported.

The swings are directly related to gasoline prices. For the past three years, small and midsize used car prices would rise with seasonal oil price increases, then drop when fuel prices moderated, Taylor said. But gas prices haven’t dropped and continue to rise this year, which has kept the small-car trend going, Taylor said.

Are you more likely to buy an 2008 Audi A4 if you can drive it at the same time as 3 other cars within 30 min of each other? Well that is what Audi car dealers are banking on with this new initiative called: New 2008 Audi Driving Experience and Signature Competitive Comparison Program.

Interested? Check out this press release and find out when they will be hitting your city next.

My 2 cents on Audis: Sheek, sophisticated comparable to BMWs or Saabs or Volvos but still prone to some malfunctions as compared to say a Lexus or Acuras

Here is an excerpt from the press release:
The 2008 Audi driving experience, running July through November, features a national tour with signature events in eight major markets – Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., New York, Atlanta, Miami, Dallas and Los Angeles – conducted on renowned racing circuits, including the Autobahn Country Club, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Summit Point Motorsports Park, Pocono Raceway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, Homestead Miami Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway and California Speedway, respectively. The tour will offer participants the opportunity to explore the remarkable performance capabilities of Audi vehicles by putting them behind the wheel of signature models, including the 2009 A4, RS 4, TT, Audi Q7, S5 and the 420-horsepower R8.

The Audi driving experience offers two driving programs: Competitive Comparison and Enthusiast. The Competitive Comparison is a complimentary two-and-a-half-hour introductory program in which participants will test the all-new 2009 A4 alongside three other vehicles in its comparable class, including the BMW 328 Xi, Mercedes-Benz C300 4Matic and Lexus IS 250 AWD. To both teach the fundamentals of driving and demonstrate, through hands-on experience, the superior handling capabilities of the A4, six exercises were designed to replicate real world conditions, including Acceleration, Swiss Slalom, Wide Turn, S Slalom, Emergency Lane Change and Braking – each will be carried out in all four vehicles. Participants, split into two groups, will also get a chance to drive the all-new A4s on the racetrack.

Helping you find your perfect car for the right price is a competitive space. We, the online car dealer liaisons do our very best to get you a great deal. While my competition offers vast knowledge base of different cars to engage you, and extensive dealership reach to almost all the dealers in USA, MissCarDealer works hard to give you a unique insider knowledge of the car dealership industry, how the dealer thinks and also puts you in touch with the exclusive dealers with internet departments who are ready to make a lowest price deal. We are a boutique website with very compelling pitch to our customers. All we ask is you give us a chance to serve you and show you why we are better than our bigger competitors. Check out an interesting article comparing online car dealer sites here.

In a world of “gimme more gimme more” good to see a car dealer getting creative to let some of its customers skip on monthly payments. Of course they are trying running a business, and the least they ask you to do is refer them to your friends and family. Kuddos to you Nemet Auto Group for such a creative idea. Tell me, you think I can get a car if i send you one customer a month?

Click here for more info

Amazing what the car dealer and manufacturing industry can do when pressed for by the public or government.  I wonder why they did not think of this earlier?

While impressive, that is not all in the world of better milage. Another car in the making is the 300 MPG Aptera. Both cars are slated to hit the market in 2010.

More info here.