Pricing

How much should you pay for that car? New cars are pretty easy to price out these days. There are a number of websites that offer pricing. To name a few, truecar.com, edmunds.com, nadaguides.com among others. It can get a little tricky though. The first thing you have to make sure of is comparing apples to apples. You may be at the dealership telling the salesperson that your neighbor didn’t pay that much for the same model they just purchased. Apples to apples. Easiest way to compare is MSRP to MSRP. If you think you’re buying the exact same car but your MSRP is $900 higher, than the vehicle you’re looking at must have more options. Keep in mind also, that perhaps your neighbor is fudging a little on what they paid. Everybody likes to think they got the best deal and it’s possible they’re fibbing a little. Manufacturers often times offer factory incentives on their vehicles. When you’re pricing the car out online, you may see $30,000 MSRP but the average being paid in your area is $24,900. A discount of $5100 off MSRP. It could be $2100 discount from the dealer and $3000 manufacturer rebate. However, the manufacturer may be offering an either/or discount. 0% financing for 60 mos./or a $3000 rebate. Which is better? There are a number of factors to consider here.  This is where knowing your credit score comes in handy. What credit score is needed to qualify for 0%? If you don’t qualify for the 0, but still qualify to buy the car, $3000 is a nice discount. If the manufacturer is offering 0%/or a $1000 discount, the 0% is probably the way to go. So a lot of factors to look at when determining best price. We’ll go into more detail in financing.