We did the thing! My partner got a great car at a great price with very little hassle. It’s because we went in with a plan and stuck to it all the while adjusting as needed.
As you might imagine, I’m the very structured one who wants to make the right move at every step of the process, while she’s more comfortable with winging it. Due to some poor experiences in the past, I’ve developed an assertive approach to get to a great outcome buying a car with the least amount of bullshit.
A Little Background
My partner and I take care of her two kids, as well as have her mother as a part of our household. Fun tip – multi-generational households can be awesome. The amount of support for the family is everywhere. She’s been driving a Subaru Forester for a couple of years, but we haven’t had a car that can comfortably fit all of us, let alone any of the kids’ friends.
I’m also willing to estimate her Forester wasn’t given a whole lot of love by her last owner. We think it was a 24 yr old bro who thought it was a good 4×4 vehicle but did so without actually taking care of it. This led to bigger issues she was having to deal with. It was time to make a change.
Approach
Something that made a big difference in our experience – taking charge of the process. Before you get started I want to make one thing clear that will change your whole experience – you are in charge. Say that again – you are in charge. You don’t owe anyone anything in this process. You’re the buyer. Own the process and you’ll receive a significantly better outcome than being towed around by the first salesperson who tracks you down on a lot.
The Process
Neither of us had much experience looking for cars that hold 7-8 people. We had our preconceived biases on which brands we liked and which ones we didn’t. In our world today, there is so much information out there and more resources for car buying than ever, it’s easy to get overwhelmed with all of this. To combat this issue and give us some focus, I came up with a plan. Again, I love plans. My partner’s love of plans is “growing.”
- Develop Hard Requirements
- Driving Days (My Favorite)
- Narrow down to 1-2 Models
- Get Pre-Approved
- Find the Deal
- Drive 1 More Time
- Plan for the Price Talk
- Finish the Deal
Develop Hard Requirements
My partner is 31 and she (or me) is not ready for a minivan. We also need that 3rd-row seat and a hitch for any future camper we might use. We live in Colorado so having AWD in the weather out here is a must for us. From a financial perspective, she was comfortable with anything under $22,000. She was going to have $2,000 from her previous vehicle tacked onto this loan. This is not ideal, but we were looking at putting more money into her existing vehicle which was just not tenable. We were willing to manage that in lieu of pouring more money into a tough situation. That leads us to these requirements:
- SUV (No Minivans Here)
- Under $22,000
- Less than 90,000 Miles
- AWD/Four-Wheel Drive
- 3rd-Row Seat
- Tow Hitch
Driving Days
This is my favorite part of the process. We left as many assumptions at home as possible. We cut out 1-2 days to go see or drive all the vehicles that fit within the requirements we were looking for. We drove numerous different makes including Volkswagen, Subaru, Buick, Kia, Dodge, Infinity, Honda, Mazda. During this process, I was also very upfront with our rep on what our process was; we intend to drive a bunch of different vehicles to narrow down what we like.
We spent the first day driving 10 different vehicles. It was a blast. During this process, we also realized there was a liberal definition of “3rd Row Seat.” Some can actually fit a family, some are more suited for The Three Dwarfs and that’s being generous.
It was also enlightening to drive different vehicles to understand how they feel, accelerate, and handle. Doing all of this in one day made it very easy to contrast and compare what we liked.
We were also flexible during the process testing our hard requirements while we looked at the cars. It’s actually a great way to take a 2nd look at your requirements to justify or modify, if necessary.
Narrow the Focus
Our goal at the end of our driving days was to narrow down to 1-2 models. We actually got it down to 1; Honda Pilot. The older generation of Pilots (think boxy) has so much room in them. We loved how roomy it felt. It also drove very nicely and handled like a sedan. We both agreed that this was the type we wanted and it met all of the hard requirements, all of them held throughout the driving days. 2012-2015 Honda Pilot was going to the baby.
Once you’ve completed this step, it’s worth having a quick conversation with a local mechanic. We have a great shop here that specializes in foreign cars. I gave them a quick call to see if the Honda Pilot sounded any alarms for them. No red flags which gave us the green light to move forward.
Get Pre-Approved
Getting pre-approved gives you ammo prior to any pricing discussion or chatting with the finance manager. In my first car-buying experience, I was a little relaxed with this part and was getting ripped off on the APR. Get a couple of pre-approvals from places like Capital One, a local credit union, your bank, etc. This gives you leverage when you get into those conversations. Many times they’ll end up beating your quote because they want to take the cut on the financing. Don’t take this step and you might end up with an inflated interest rate which turns into a pain in the ass to fix. We applied with Capital One and a local credit union here to get two quotes with APRs we were comfortable with.
Find The Deal
Now that we had the car narrowed down and the red tape taken care of, it was time to get down to the details. This is where the internet is so great. We used AutoTrader and TrueCar to find all the vehicles that fit our criteria. By doing this, we were able to narrow the possible vehicles down to 7-10 which kept us from getting overwhelmed by all the noise.
It can also get exhausting looking at all the prices, mileage, models, etc., so I, of course, made a little excel sheet to track these things. I found it really helpful for comparing the different vehicles and where we were going to get the most value. The human brain can handle only so much simultaneous information, so organizing it this way can be helpful. Pen and paper can also be just as helpful if that’s more your jam.
Last Drives
Even though we had found the make and model we were looking for, we still drove all the Pilots we were interested in. You can get a great feel for the car by doing a simple drive. We would do the beginning of the drives with the radio off so we could listen to the engine for any abnormalities. We’re not car geeks, we were literally just using our gut on this. It won’t tell you everything, but when we drove a few of these, you could get a sense for how it was running. We also paid attention to how it rode and handled. We drove two Pilots that had almost identical mileage, but one rode really smooth and one didn’t. The latter had probably been driven a little bit harder. Pay attention to the details.
Plan for the Price Talk
My partner was buying the vehicle, but I was deemed the lead on the process including the negotiation. We spent our day driving a few pilots and we got the one we wanted. After being in for 10 minutes, we both knew that this was going to be it. I chatted with her about what she thought was acceptable for the trade-in and what her highest price was for the vehicle. Knowing this ahead of time keeps from getting crossed up once you’re in the dealership.
I actually encourage people to negotiate off of the dealership grounds, there can be a lot of undue pressure on site. However, the vehicle we were in was a ticking time bomb and we wanted to make the move that day.
The vehicle was stickered at $16,900 with a KBB price of $17,300; there was also a $400 Dealer Handling Fee – always important to know what this is; some will charge much higher than this. There was some slight hail damage that put us at a target price of $16,300 with the dealer handling fee.
Finish the Deal
I calmly stated with the hail damage off the KBB price, that we would like to get out at $16,000 flat assuming a $4,000 (fair price already priced out by two other dealers) trade-in on the existing vehicle. They stated that the “internet price” of $16,400 was the lowest they go.
The key here is there are two numbers that are negotiable. Since they weren’t willing to move on the price of the Pilot, I asked for $500 more for the trade-in which does the same thing. They agreed to this increase which essentially put us at a sales price of $16,300 with the dealer handling fee. Right at our target price!
Luckily for us, we were working with a pretty low-key salesman who fit our personalities. We got to the price talk. We felt really good about the value of the vehicle and were able to get out of there right at our target price. The key to this was coming in with research and facts. You can easily piss off a salesman by coming in with an outlandish first offer. Be calm and be reasonable and it will go a long way.
What Went the Best
To my initial comments, taking control of the situation and telling the dealerships what you want was key. Be respectful of their time and honest about your process. We did this and didn’t have hardly any pushback. When we did and were trying to get coerced into something else, we politely packed our shit up and moved on.
Narrowing your focus over the course of the process is also key. If you don’t narrow down the vehicle you want to a couple models at most, you’ll feel overwhelmed and making an intelligent decision will be difficult. Figure out what you like and move forward.
Lessons Learned
We could have given ourselves more time. Even though we were happy with the end result, we were running up against time on our end with the health of our trade-in. The more time you have, the less pressure you’re likely to make a bad deal. Being able to walk away from a negotiation is one of your most powerful tools.
In an ideal situation, it’s also good to have your car checked out by your local mechanic. Especially, if you’re buying in a private sale or a shady used lot. We felt comfortable with the establishment we purchased from. Combining that with the time, we didn’t take this step. It’s not do or die, but if you have the chance, it’s a small fee for peace of mind.
Sum It Up
I’ve stressed this throughout and it doesn’t apply to just cars. Anytime you’re making a purchase, especially pricey ones, you are the one who has to take control of the process. Being your own advocate will give you leverage in many situations and this one is a great example.
The experience we had was all about having that process, being assertive, and having focus. If you strive for these traits during your car buying journey, I have confidence you’ll be happy with your result.
