Consumer Car Buying Advice Blog

Just be sure the great new car deal you get is a smart deal by avoiding the pitfalls of unnecessary extras added to the sales contract.

Car dealers

Here at Auto Credit Express, we’ve been around the retail automotive business long enough to know that most dealers are pretty straightforward when it comes to selling you a car. But even we have to admit that there are a few dealers out there that give the rest a bad name by trying to trick buyers into paying for things that they really don’t need.

The internet as a resource

Whether you have great credit or have less than perfect credit and need to finance your new car with a bad credit car loan, you need to know that the internet is probably the greatest resource ever devised to help you research all you need to know about new and used cars.

Many of these web sites, and their accompanying publications, such as Consumer Reports, will give you unbiased vehicle ratings that include such things as retail pricing and dealer cost information as well as detailed vehicle repair history reports.

Good and bad adds

But in addition to arming yourself with the knowledge of a vehicle’s specifications, you also need to know that car dealers sell a number of other products and services on the “back end” (the car is considered to be the “front end” of the transaction).

Many of these back end products could end up saving you money in the long run. Such products as gap insurance make sense if you have very little money down and are financing your car for more than 36 months. A service contract (sometimes called an extended warranty) might also help you if you drive a lot of miles and are planning on financing your new car beyond the original warranty term and it makes even more sense if you are buying a pre-owned car with little or no warranty and you’re on a tight budget (where a major repair would really strain your pocketbook).

But beyond these products, there are a number of adds that you should avoid:

What to turn down

Window etching – Window etching involves etching the VIN number of your car onto the windows of your new car – for a price. The cost of this service can range from as low as $200 to as high as $350 or more. You might think that you did a good job by bargaining the price down to a hundred dollars or so, but that’s still much more than it would cost you if you did it yourself (and you can). If you really feel you have to have your windows etched, you can buy a window etching kit in most auto shops for around $20.

Preparation fees – Believe it or not, in this day and age there are still a few dealers that think they can add preparation fees to your bill for cleaning, test driving and replacing fuses on your new car. But a closer look at the Monroney Label (window sticker) will tell you these fees are included in the MSRP as set by the manufacturer. If this is added to the buyers order, ask that it be credited back to you. If it isn’t, just walk away from the deal.

Market adjustment – This one can be tricky. If a customer can offer a dealer less than MSRP for a vehicle (which is done thousands of times every day), why can’t a dealer ask more than the MSRP if the vehicle is popular and in high demand? One way to check this out would be to take a poll of various dealers in your area to determine if you are able to buy it at or less than MSRP. If you can’t, it’s your judgment call as to whether or not it is worth the extra money to buy it now or whether waiting a few months might save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Warranty extension – Although this is one of the good adds (a warranty extension is the same thing as a service contract), it isn’t always a good one for everybody. If you don’t drive very many miles and keep your vehicles for only two to three years, turn it down (if you are buying a new car). You don’t need it. Above all, don’t let anyone tell you that you have to purchase an additional warranty because the bank requires it.

The Bottom Line

With General Motors and Chrysler scheduled to close thousands of dealers in the next couple of years, now is a great time to get off the sidelines and make a great deal on a new car. Just be sure that your great deal is also a smart deal.

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