Has anyone bought a new car cash?
#31
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Glendale, CA
Posts: 285
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
From CA DMV
"If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days."
It is an often discussed topic. The general advise I've seen is don't hang around. The process can take a bit of time so may as well get on it!
Check the CA DMV site for further info.
Good Luck!
"If you become a California resident, you must get a California driver license within 10 days."
It is an often discussed topic. The general advise I've seen is don't hang around. The process can take a bit of time so may as well get on it!
Check the CA DMV site for further info.
Good Luck!
But given the time the SS card takes to arrive and that they seem to require one before they even begin the procedure with you, 10 days is possibly unrealistic in immigration cases. It seems to me like they wrote this instruction for US citizens moving to CA from another state, but that they didn't put much thought into new US residents' circumstances.
#32
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
A new car sale nets something like an average of 3%-5% above their cost... that is in part why the try to charge for and upsale a/c... mats... clear coat.... sound systems... dealer handling - the extra margin and potential profit and increase %age.
As soon as you sign on the dotted line of a new car; it becomes used... subject to trade-in value etc! If there wasn't good money to be made on those used cars, they wouldn't be sitting on the dealership lots!
#35
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
As for dealer financing, take it if they offer a better deal than the financing you walked in with. They often will. But make sure they put the loan all the way through before you leave with the car. If you leave in some kind of pre-approved status, it's a common trick to screw the loan up (or fail to qualify), then be reported for stealing a car. (Of course, the dealer will be happy to help you get out of that situation for a higher APR.)
#37
Forum Regular
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2010
Location: Glendale, CA
Posts: 285
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Hello everyone! Well, we're now in the US and I'm pleased to report that we bought our car last night - a new VW Jetta Sedan
I don't know if the deal was the best or not, and we might have been able to find it elsewhere for cheaper but we ended up buying one with a few upgrades and extras (which we hadn't anticipated, so were happy about that) from our local dealership that was well within budget, so we're happy.
The price we ended up paying was $1,100 below MSRP. In a nutshell, here's how it went:
So my husand called the Internet salesperson in the morning to get a quote and the guy gave him the standard "$100 below invoice" offer (of course, how can you ever know for sure how much the invoice price is? - and I'm sure they inflate it anyway!!) but the salesperson told him over the phone that invoice prices for the model we were looking at varied depending on the features of each vehicle, so he just gave a ball park figure for one of the lower invoice prices, which we'd be happy to pay.
So we went down there a few hours later (luckily it was only a 10-minute drive away from home) and the guy showed us around. It turned out (not surprisingly) that he had less cars of that model in the lot than he had hinted over the phone, and guess what - none of them was in the lower invoice price range he had quoted over the phone! Not surprising either!
To be fair though, like I said above, some upgrades and extras that we weren't anticipating (but were more than happy to have) were already included.
So after looking around, picking the colour we liked, doing the test drive etc. we found ouselves in his office to talk money He wasn't really surprised that we wanted to pay cash, and was totally cool about it - none of the hassle I was afraid he'd give us. So he quoted us $800 below MSPR (supposedly invoice was $700 below MSRP less another $100 that he supposedly deducted) which was ok but a little towards the high end of what we were looking to spend, so after a little bit of haggling and the usual "let me ask my manager" BS we got him to drop the price another $300 which was around what we had anticipated and were prepared to pay. He said he only did it because we were locals and they hoped that we'd be bringing the car in for service, so they were looking at repeat business from us. I'm sure that was partly true, but I also think we made a fair offer.
We had found the same car for the exact same price at another dealership much farther away (they were having a sale), but that one didn't include the upgrades or the extras, so all things considered, we felt we got ourselves a pretty good deal. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to find it anywhere else for any cheaper, so we didn't really have that negotiating card of "threatening" to go elsewhere, that could have helped to drop the price more.
But like I said, we felt we got a fair deal.
Thanks everyone for your advice and inupt!!
I don't know if the deal was the best or not, and we might have been able to find it elsewhere for cheaper but we ended up buying one with a few upgrades and extras (which we hadn't anticipated, so were happy about that) from our local dealership that was well within budget, so we're happy.
The price we ended up paying was $1,100 below MSRP. In a nutshell, here's how it went:
So my husand called the Internet salesperson in the morning to get a quote and the guy gave him the standard "$100 below invoice" offer (of course, how can you ever know for sure how much the invoice price is? - and I'm sure they inflate it anyway!!) but the salesperson told him over the phone that invoice prices for the model we were looking at varied depending on the features of each vehicle, so he just gave a ball park figure for one of the lower invoice prices, which we'd be happy to pay.
So we went down there a few hours later (luckily it was only a 10-minute drive away from home) and the guy showed us around. It turned out (not surprisingly) that he had less cars of that model in the lot than he had hinted over the phone, and guess what - none of them was in the lower invoice price range he had quoted over the phone! Not surprising either!
To be fair though, like I said above, some upgrades and extras that we weren't anticipating (but were more than happy to have) were already included.
So after looking around, picking the colour we liked, doing the test drive etc. we found ouselves in his office to talk money He wasn't really surprised that we wanted to pay cash, and was totally cool about it - none of the hassle I was afraid he'd give us. So he quoted us $800 below MSPR (supposedly invoice was $700 below MSRP less another $100 that he supposedly deducted) which was ok but a little towards the high end of what we were looking to spend, so after a little bit of haggling and the usual "let me ask my manager" BS we got him to drop the price another $300 which was around what we had anticipated and were prepared to pay. He said he only did it because we were locals and they hoped that we'd be bringing the car in for service, so they were looking at repeat business from us. I'm sure that was partly true, but I also think we made a fair offer.
We had found the same car for the exact same price at another dealership much farther away (they were having a sale), but that one didn't include the upgrades or the extras, so all things considered, we felt we got ourselves a pretty good deal. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to find it anywhere else for any cheaper, so we didn't really have that negotiating card of "threatening" to go elsewhere, that could have helped to drop the price more.
But like I said, we felt we got a fair deal.
Thanks everyone for your advice and inupt!!
#38
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Hello everyone! Well, we're now in the US and I'm pleased to report that we bought our car last night - a new VW Jetta Sedan
I don't know if the deal was the best or not, and we might have been able to find it elsewhere for cheaper but we ended up buying one with a few upgrades and extras (which we hadn't anticipated, so were happy about that) from our local dealership that was well within budget, so we're happy.
The price we ended up paying was $1,100 below MSRP. In a nutshell, here's how it went:
So my husand called the Internet salesperson in the morning to get a quote and the guy gave him the standard "$100 below invoice" offer (of course, how can you ever know for sure how much the invoice price is? - and I'm sure they inflate it anyway!!) but the salesperson told him over the phone that invoice prices for the model we were looking at varied depending on the features of each vehicle, so he just gave a ball park figure for one of the lower invoice prices, which we'd be happy to pay.
So we went down there a few hours later (luckily it was only a 10-minute drive away from home) and the guy showed us around. It turned out (not surprisingly) that he had less cars of that model in the lot than he had hinted over the phone, and guess what - none of them was in the lower invoice price range he had quoted over the phone! Not surprising either!
To be fair though, like I said above, some upgrades and extras that we weren't anticipating (but were more than happy to have) were already included.
So after looking around, picking the colour we liked, doing the test drive etc. we found ouselves in his office to talk money He wasn't really surprised that we wanted to pay cash, and was totally cool about it - none of the hassle I was afraid he'd give us. So he quoted us $800 below MSPR (supposedly invoice was $700 below MSRP less another $100 that he supposedly deducted) which was ok but a little towards the high end of what we were looking to spend, so after a little bit of haggling and the usual "let me ask my manager" BS we got him to drop the price another $300 which was around what we had anticipated and were prepared to pay. He said he only did it because we were locals and they hoped that we'd be bringing the car in for service, so they were looking at repeat business from us. I'm sure that was partly true, but I also think we made a fair offer.
We had found the same car for the exact same price at another dealership much farther away (they were having a sale), but that one didn't include the upgrades or the extras, so all things considered, we felt we got ourselves a pretty good deal. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to find it anywhere else for any cheaper, so we didn't really have that negotiating card of "threatening" to go elsewhere, that could have helped to drop the price more.
But like I said, we felt we got a fair deal.
Thanks everyone for your advice and inupt!!
I don't know if the deal was the best or not, and we might have been able to find it elsewhere for cheaper but we ended up buying one with a few upgrades and extras (which we hadn't anticipated, so were happy about that) from our local dealership that was well within budget, so we're happy.
The price we ended up paying was $1,100 below MSRP. In a nutshell, here's how it went:
So my husand called the Internet salesperson in the morning to get a quote and the guy gave him the standard "$100 below invoice" offer (of course, how can you ever know for sure how much the invoice price is? - and I'm sure they inflate it anyway!!) but the salesperson told him over the phone that invoice prices for the model we were looking at varied depending on the features of each vehicle, so he just gave a ball park figure for one of the lower invoice prices, which we'd be happy to pay.
So we went down there a few hours later (luckily it was only a 10-minute drive away from home) and the guy showed us around. It turned out (not surprisingly) that he had less cars of that model in the lot than he had hinted over the phone, and guess what - none of them was in the lower invoice price range he had quoted over the phone! Not surprising either!
To be fair though, like I said above, some upgrades and extras that we weren't anticipating (but were more than happy to have) were already included.
So after looking around, picking the colour we liked, doing the test drive etc. we found ouselves in his office to talk money He wasn't really surprised that we wanted to pay cash, and was totally cool about it - none of the hassle I was afraid he'd give us. So he quoted us $800 below MSPR (supposedly invoice was $700 below MSRP less another $100 that he supposedly deducted) which was ok but a little towards the high end of what we were looking to spend, so after a little bit of haggling and the usual "let me ask my manager" BS we got him to drop the price another $300 which was around what we had anticipated and were prepared to pay. He said he only did it because we were locals and they hoped that we'd be bringing the car in for service, so they were looking at repeat business from us. I'm sure that was partly true, but I also think we made a fair offer.
We had found the same car for the exact same price at another dealership much farther away (they were having a sale), but that one didn't include the upgrades or the extras, so all things considered, we felt we got ourselves a pretty good deal. Unfortunately we hadn't been able to find it anywhere else for any cheaper, so we didn't really have that negotiating card of "threatening" to go elsewhere, that could have helped to drop the price more.
But like I said, we felt we got a fair deal.
Thanks everyone for your advice and inupt!!
#39
Just Joined
Joined: Apr 2011
Posts: 16
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Well done, I am a bit late to the party here, but in case anyone reads this thread in the future, this may be helpful , or a touch wrong.
I was told by people who claim to be experts that given the importance of building credit, to try to get a car loan and make payments for at least a year,
Aided by this, and with no credit score, I paid about $23k cash and borrowed a nominal $8k ( over 3 years) on a AMG Mercedes.
I got a very reasonable APR of 6% given the low risk of the loan, and my payments of $250 are very easy to deal with.
Result has been that my credit is now 760 after 5 months, which is likely to save me a lot of money over the next year, far far more than the unnecessary interest I incurred.
I'll likely pay the loan off with cash in about a year if my credit score seems to be stabilizing.
I was told by people who claim to be experts that given the importance of building credit, to try to get a car loan and make payments for at least a year,
Aided by this, and with no credit score, I paid about $23k cash and borrowed a nominal $8k ( over 3 years) on a AMG Mercedes.
I got a very reasonable APR of 6% given the low risk of the loan, and my payments of $250 are very easy to deal with.
Result has been that my credit is now 760 after 5 months, which is likely to save me a lot of money over the next year, far far more than the unnecessary interest I incurred.
I'll likely pay the loan off with cash in about a year if my credit score seems to be stabilizing.
#40
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Well done, I am a bit late to the party here, but in case anyone reads this thread in the future, this may be helpful , or a touch wrong.
I was told by people who claim to be experts that given the importance of building credit, to try to get a car loan and make payments for at least a year,
Aided by this, and with no credit score, I paid about $23k cash and borrowed a nominal $8k ( over 3 years) on a AMG Mercedes.
I got a very reasonable APR of 6% given the low risk of the loan, and my payments of $250 are very easy to deal with.
Result has been that my credit is now 760 after 5 months, which is likely to save me a lot of money over the next year, far far more than the unnecessary interest I incurred.
I'll likely pay the loan off with cash in about a year if my credit score seems to be stabilizing.
I was told by people who claim to be experts that given the importance of building credit, to try to get a car loan and make payments for at least a year,
Aided by this, and with no credit score, I paid about $23k cash and borrowed a nominal $8k ( over 3 years) on a AMG Mercedes.
I got a very reasonable APR of 6% given the low risk of the loan, and my payments of $250 are very easy to deal with.
Result has been that my credit is now 760 after 5 months, which is likely to save me a lot of money over the next year, far far more than the unnecessary interest I incurred.
I'll likely pay the loan off with cash in about a year if my credit score seems to be stabilizing.
#41
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Result has been that my credit is now 760 after 5 months, which is likely to save me a lot of money over the next year, far far more than the unnecessary interest I incurred.
I'll likely pay the loan off with cash in about a year if my credit score seems to be stabilizing.
Last edited by lansbury; Jun 12th 2011 at 6:13 pm.
#42
Forum Regular
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 221
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
From what I have read elsewhere, most fleet sales will sell to the general public, and I guess that they do not deal with financing in that department.
#43
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
True, but a loan is a good kick start to building up a score and more importantly that history, with more than one line of credit of a card alone.
#44
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Which raises another interesting question - why should 'credit rating' have anything to do with house insurance rates! I know it does, I just don't know why ...
#45
Re: Has anyone bought a new car cash?
Just speculating/trying to think like an insurer might (I may be way off the mark...)