Archive for the 'Tips' Category

There are plenty of online and in-print articles, going into great detail about  buying a car.  Many of them give you all the little details on how to get the best deal, to really pull a fast one on the dealership.  The rest also go into great detail, and give you ways to get a good (but not great) deal on a car.  I’ve read plenty of them, and I can tell you this:  the ones I have read are all too complicated, or go into too great a detail, to be of much help to the average car buyer.  In the paragraphs below, I will tell you the easiest and simplest way that I’ve found to buy a car, get a pretty good deal, and drive away from the dealership happy.  I was going to do this all in one post, but I found it just too long for one sitting, so instead, I will be posting each of the steps individually, starting with the list of steps, and Step 1, today.

For the reading-averse, here’s a list of steps, followed by deeper explanations, still in easy-to-understand terms.

Step 1: Find out what your trade-in is worth (skip this step if you don’t have a car you want to trade-in, or are selling it in the open market).

Step 2: Create a “Short List” of 5 or less cars you are interested in.

Step 3: Test drive all of the cars on your list.

Step 4: Narrow down the Short List to your favorite car.

Step 5: Buy the car!

Continue reading ‘Buying a Car, the Easy way; Overview + Step 1′