Last month I embarked on the car buying journey. Like any newly minted MBA graduate, I came prepared and ready to negotiate.
My criteria were pretty straight forward: small, four-door, hatchback, excellent gas mileage, reasonably priced.
Initially my boyfriend and I were going to buy the car together. We researched our options online...and also asked our Lyft driver for recommendations.
She suggested we download the app: TrueCar. We did and we were super stoked about it at first. But, after a while the dealerships just bombard you with quotes. If you have very specific criteria, this app can help you find the best dealer in the area. But, if you're more flexible and looking for the best deal, it's a little overwhelming. All in all it helped in the research stage, because we could quickly get estimates on car prices throughout the Bay Area. However, we did not end up using it to make our final purchase.
The first day of actual car shopping was brutal...and not necessarily because of the dealerships. Mainly because when it came down to making a decision, we were not on the same page: I wanted automatic and my boyfriend wanted manual.
We would sit down with a sales guy having discussed our walk away point and our BATNA (best alternative to a negotiated agreement) beforehand. I would pull up my handy dandy spreadsheet. Here's a screenshot for reference (very useful for figuring out what package you want to negotiate):
[This spreadsheet will help you calculate monthly payments if that's most important to you, but also break down in total what you're paying in interest and principal. This helped me decide that I wanted to pay more now, so I have less interest to pay all together.]
But, then we wouldn't be able to commit because we couldn't get the price we were targeting. Now our target was pretty low for the type of car and features we wanted.
On the first day we passed by a used 2011 Ford Fiesta for $10,899 that caught my eye because it was in great condition and well priced. Finally, when we couldn't come to an agreement on the new ford cars, I decided to go for the used car on my own if I could negotiate a lower price, which I did!
So to recap, in order to buy a car in 2 days: do thorough research beforehand, figure out your budget, and commit.
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