At Home with Tech

If you also don’t like the pain and uncertainty of buying a car at a dealership, here’s what I did to avoid the entire experience of having to negotiate with a sales manager.

It was time for a new car. And it was time to buy a new car. Throughout most of my adult life I’ve tried to follow the car-purchasing strategy to buy a vehicle that’s just a couple years old with low mileage.

And that’s supposed to be the magic equation that will save anyone a lot of money. They say a new car loses thousands of dollars in value as soon as you drive it off the lot.

Fear Drove Indecision
Well, the car-buying market has been upended over the last few years during and following the pandemic. There were the resulting supply-chain issues that made both used and new cars more expensive.

Honestly, I just haven’t bought enough cars over the years to begin to have the right skills to properly negotiate a used-car price on a newish model. Plus, I found the price differences between new cars and ones that were a couple years old never that significant.

The truth is I held on so long to my 2009 Toyota RAV4 that I bought over a decade ago, mostly because I didn’t want to travel the painful gauntlet of buying another car.

Angelo
I’ve loved my old RAV4. It became my rugged Battlestar Galactica for many journeys throughout my galaxy. It was so dependable, and it got the job done across the years. But after 186K miles, it needed maintenance dollars that Angelo, my mechanic told me would be money not well spent. Angelo said it was time for me to buy another car.

I am so fortunate to have a mechanic that I’ve trusted for almost two decades to take care of my cars. Yes, I’ll say it again…. I TRUST him. How wonderful is that?

So, when he tells me to buy another car, it’s like your family doctor giving you advice that you can’t ignore.

Playing Chess at the Car Dealership…
So, I finally decided to drop the newish-car strategy and go for a brand-new car. Of course, not everyone can buy a new vehicle. And I need to acknowledge how fortunate I am to be able to afford this choice. But that still wasn’t going to make the process any easier for me when it came to the inevitable price negotiation stage.

As I set out on my journey to research my next car, I squirmed at the prospect of having to show up at a car dealership for a test drive to figure out the model I wanted. But you need to do that, right? Unless, you already know the exact car you want, online research can only take you so far.

Now, I don’t want to overgeneralize and mention how uncomfortable it was dealing with all the car salesmen. (Yes, they were all men.) Many were nice. But you know that fundamentally, you’re playing a chess match with an expert.

Some were intense. Others were relaxed. But it didn’t matter. I knew I was outgunned and felt like I was in a trap that was quickly closing in.

Yes, I had to test drive the cars. But I absolutely didn’t want to make a deal.

• The stress!
• The hidden fees?
• The inevitable feeling that you were being taken advantage of…

Each of my car dealership trips was about how to escape after the test drive.

The Value of a Car-Buying Service
Well, you’re never going to buy a car that way. So, I wondered if there was another option… like a car-buying service that would do the dirty work for you.

And in fact, there is. After doing a little online research, I found a couple options in the region. One got great reviews. So, I focused on that company.

Here’s the value proposition. You pay them some money. Then, they call around and find the car you want among area car dealerships and do all the price negotiations for you. (They do this every day. So, they’re the experts.)

After that process is complete, they give you a call and present the best option. Their expertise and volume-buying business model should save you more money in your car purchase than what you paid them upfront.

Perhaps most importantly, you don’t ever have to talk to the car salesman and his sales manager after the test drive. That excruciating dance doesn’t happen.

How much money is that worth to you?

Paying Less for More
The bottom line is you pay less for a better experience! It can be argued that paying someone else to buy your car should cost you more. But, no… it’s less.

I’d say that’s a winning business model.

That’s the road I took. And I do believe I saved more money than had I tried to ineffectively execute the Queen’s Gambit myself. I couldn’t be happier.

…an experience for your consideration.

How Easy is Green?
So, that’s the beginning and end of my car story. But I left out the entire middle section.

What did I buy and why? How did I integrate EV, PHEV and hybrid technologies into my decision-making process?

I wanted to do the right thing for our planet while also paying attention to my wallet.

But let me tell you, trying to be green with a car purchase is more complicated than you’d expect.

We’ll get into it next time…