What you need to know before buying a new or used car

18th April 2007

What you need to know before buying a new or used car

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As a mechanic I have heard so many horror stories of people getting the short straw in a car deal. Whether it be a used car that isn’t what it’s cracked up to be or people being taken for a ride with an over-priced new car.

Unfortunately the salespeople know the in’s and out’s of how to sell a car and nine times out of ten buyers go in with little knowledge of what is or isn’t a good deal. Arming yourself with a much information as you can is all important when purchasing a vehicle. It is a big investment of your hard earned dollars, second only to the family home so it pays to do your homework and be prepared before venturing out to search for that new car.

I have found a great report on how to be prepared for buying any new or used vehicle and in this post I am going to unashamedly promote it!! For an investment of $7 it has the potential to save you $1000’s! You could easily spend more than $7 going to your favourite fast-food outlet, so I see this report as extremely good value considering the savings that can be had by reading and implementing the information contained in it.

Some of the key points covered in the report are;

Know your reason for buying a car
Tips about Financing
What to look for in a used car
Common dealership scams
Where to investigate and compare prices
Buying a car online
What you should know about auto service contracts
And much, much more

So there you have it, for an investment of $7, you could save $1000’s just by being armed with the right information on your purchase. Car salespeople don’t have a bad reputation for no reason! Trust me, I worked in the industry for several years before doing my mechanics apprenticeship and had I known what I know now about motor vehicles I would have got out a lot earlier!

To get your copy of Car Buying Tips please click here.

I wish you all the best in finding the right car for you, at the right price as well.

Take care and be safe on the roads.

Craig

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 5:37 am and is filed under Automotive News and Views. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1 On December 17th, 2007, Dean said:

As a mechanic stick to fixing cars not scare mongering people for your own profit ,I get sick of hearing the same old stories .I`ve been in car sales for many years and while there`s still some shady characters out here you will find that an overwhelming majority of sales people are very professional in their approach .It is true that quite a few people walk in with no Idea of what they`re looking for ,but the job of the salesperson Is to ask the questions that alot of people have not asked themselves ,and many times once asked these question some people may realised they were looking for the wrong type of vehicle in the first place .As for mechanics ,I`ve found alot of the time they advise the purchase of cars they know that if there is a problem with that they will make a small fortune repairing it .I mean lets face it who`s trying to make a buck off a buyers insecurities right know SURPRIES a mechanic,enough said.

2 On December 17th, 2007, craig said:

Dean,
I understand where you are coming from and I would like to believe that everyone in car sales has the same attitude as you towards your profession. I have been on both sides of the fence, working the largest dealers only auction in Brisbane and then working for myself as a mechanic doing a lot of car yard work.
I’m not saying every salesman is the same but I can’t get out of my head the number of times that I have seen sales completed with the salesman nice as pie to the customers face and when they have left having a great joke about how stupid the customer was and how much they had happily ripped them off for. I have seen this on many occasions with my own eyes. One instance that stands out in my mind is when a customer showed some interest in a EA Falcon that had been on their lot for months but then decided they preferred a later model. To sway them towards the ‘pig’ as they called it they took them for a drive in a EF that had it’s gearbox stuck in ‘limp home mode’ and only had 3rd gear. They convinced the customer that all later model falcons where this gutless and the EA was a better buy for $5,500. Maybe I am being picky but I don’t see this as ethical.
Likewise I have seen this type of thing in the auto repair industry and I am sure this goes on in many other areas as well but I based that article on my own experiences.
I understand that car sales has become more professional in recent times and I know that the few car yards that we did work for that had below average vehicles for above average prices have gone out of business and the caryard with the EA Falcon had to move to a different area simply because of their reputation, and they where quite happy to admit that this was the reason for the move.
And by the way we haven’t sold one copy of that guy’s e-book!, so maybe my perception of the industry as a whole is all wrong, as I said I was basing the article on what I had seen go on. My intention is not to target car salesman as the only rogue operators around, I also have articles on how to avoid getting ripped off by mechanics so please don’t take it as a personal attack on your chosen profession.

Regards
Craig

3 On November 20th, 2008, auta ze szwecji said: