By Kevin M
Have you ever decided to buy something—furniture, an appliance, even clothing—but walked out of the store thinking “I can get that same item in another store for less”?
Why is it then that so often we don’t shop around when buying a car? I can think of a few valid sounding reasons: 
- We don’t feel qualified to make the purchase so we throw ourselves on the mercy of the dealer
- We think, “it’s the same car; all dealers charge mostly the same price”—then hope we’re right!
- We’re overwhelmed and thankful for anyone who will step in and make it easy for us
- Your friend Fred bought his car at this dealership and they took care of him, so they’ll take care of you
- You need a car now and don’t have time to shop
- You just want to get it over with so you can get on with your life
Now at a given time and place each of these may satisfy us that we’re making the right choice by relying on a single dealer to get us a fair deal, but each also has the potential to put us right where the dealer wants us. And that can cost us thousands of dollars more than we need to pay.
Job One in working with car dealers: make it clear that you have options!
Continue reading Never Lock Yourself into Working With One Car Dealer →
The attraction of an auto lease arrangement is that it typically requires little cash up front (the cap cost reduction fee can usually be satisfied with your trade in and/or the rebate program de jour), and the low payments for the initial 24 to 36 months of the lease. In fact for a person who likes to trade for a new car every two or three years, the arrangement seems made to order. And if all that matters is the monthly payment then that may be true–within limits. 
