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Posted
Jul 06 2009, 05:43 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly.
When I bought my used Mini Cooper in April, things didn't go exactly as I'd planned. Part of this was because I hadn't done enough research. But a lot of it was because the dealership had some tricks up its sleeve and I did not.
At Car and Driver, Jared Gall has compiled a list of car dealer tricks to watch for when buying a vehicle. He says the following are common practices:
- Juggling the foursquare. The "foursquare" is the worksheet on which the salesperson jots down the terms of the deal. It's an easy way for her to manipulate one factor (purchase price, down payment, monthly payments, trade-in value) or another.
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Posted
May 26 2008, 11:59 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
As the price of gas goes up, many people's desire to own a big honking SUV heads south. And so may be the value of that SUV sitting in your driveway. A growing number of SUV owners are finding that they owe more on their vehicles than they're now worth. And those folks are going to have a heck of a time getting rid of them at a satisfactory price.
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Posted
Sep 25 2008, 12:56 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from Truman Lewis at partner blog ConsumerAffairs.com. The credit crisis and record high gas prices have teamed up to drive the world's largest Chevrolet dealer out of business. Bill Heard Enterprises is closing all 13 of its stores today, the company told its local managers on Wednesday. Insiders said the company notified the stores' general managers of the closing at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Automotive News reported. It closed a store in Arizona earlier this month.
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Posted
May 20 2009, 02:59 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Get a Chrysler at half price? That unheard-of deal is being considered by a Chicagoland dealership, Automotive News reports. It's one of nearly 800 showrooms desperate to move inventory before Chrysler shuts them down next month.
That may be an extreme, but dealers are reportedly accepting deals at well below cost. As Windber, Pa., Dodge dealer Keith Hollern told The Associated Press, "Want to buy one? We're having a fire sale." Come on down.
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Posted
Jan 05 2009, 08:38 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Are you confident that the ailing economy will rebound quickly? Apparently Hyundai is betting that you aren't. Under the new Hyundai Assurance plan, if you buy or lease a new Hyundai and lose your job within a year, you can take the car back without credit hassles.
Depending on what the car is worth at the time, you may not even owe another dime.
This may be what it takes to get nervous buyers into showrooms. Of course, there are a few little hitches in this unusual marketing approach. Among them:
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Posted
May 15 2009, 03:08 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
You've probably heard that 1,100 General Motors dealerships got word today that their contracts will not be renewed in October 2010. Earlier this week, Chrysler announced that almost 800 of its dealerships will close next month.
What if the dealership you do business with is among them? What should you do?
Here's some guidance we found from car bloggers and others:
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Posted
Jul 29 2008, 04:42 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Call it a desperation move or marketing genius. A Florida car dealer is offering a free energy-efficient car when customers buy a big truck or SUV.
BOGO in the showroom seems to be working. Dealer Jack Holcomb at New Smyrna Chevrolet in New Smyrna Beach said he's generating interest in his previously shunned gas-guzzling inventory. (And, as you'll note by reading the comments section below, it's not a unique idea. Readers are reporting similar promotions across the country.)
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Posted
Sep 05 2008, 04:17 PM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
There's an interesting debate going on at Prime Time Money about whether it's smarter to buy a new or used car. Right now, used seems to be winning. What do you think? Before you jump in, read the exchange between "PT" and contributor "J." It's instructional and highly amusing. PT also gives great tips to use whether you're buying a new or used car. Here's a serious part, with J arguing for a new car: PRO (J): Interest rate of 1.9%.
CON (PT): The rate may be low but your monthly payment is almost certainly going to be much higher. Not to mention off-the-lot depreciation. That's money you could be using for retirement savings or your kid's education.
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Posted
Feb 22 2008, 09:19 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
Blunt Money's first job after graduate school paid $42,000, so what was one of the first things she did? She went shopping for a new car. "Why was I doing this?" she writes. "When it came right down to it, I didn't know. It just seemed like what people did. Get a better job? Get a better car!" It was 1999, and the car she test drove was a BMW Z3, which, she recalls, cost about $40,000 at the time. Sounds crazy, but not totally out of line with current car-buying practices. A 2007 MSN Money article said that, according to Edmunds.com, car buyers on average put a measly $2,400 down, finance $24,864, and pay $479 a month. To make matters worse, the most popular loan is for more than five years, dragging those interest payments out longer than people reasonably should. So what did Blunt Money do?
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Posted
Jun 24 2009, 11:18 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
Money Blog: Smart Spending Blog - MSN Money
This post comes from partner site ConsumerAffairs.com.
It should come as no surprise that as soon as the U.S. Senate passed "cash for clunkers" -- legislation granting vouchers to people who trade in their gas-guzzlers for new, more fuel-efficient cars -- a host of scam operations would pop up trying to profit.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is warning consumers not to be deceived by official-looking sites that claim to offer information on how to trade in your car. Sites that ask for personal information or offer a preregistration opportunity should not be trusted, the agency said.
"There's only one official site for the government, and that's NHTSA's CARS.gov Web site," said NHTSA press officer Eric Bolton. "Folks should go there and not rely on ‘cash for clunkers' sites on the Internet as they are not official."
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