Oct
28
Car Warranties The Basics
Filed Under Car Warranties
Car Buying Story, Part Two: How?
So how can I buy a car once I know what I like? There are several options, plus a few payment options as well. It can make all the difference two silver, wise in regard to your own satisfaction. This is I considered:
Buy a new car
This is the best option of course. It has many benefits, and only one drawback: you pay the price of all these amenities. Ultimately that's what I did, for the following reasons:
- I do not think the way the previous owner maintained the car.
- New car should be no problem for a few more years of a used vehicle.
- Warranty is usually 3-5 years, or 60K-100K km, so that you have to use longer. Of course, with the new car, there is less chance that you'll actually use, but you never know.
- If you're financing, you get a better interest rate. It varies from 0% to 4% (currently models this year), while if you buy a used car and want to finance using bank loans, the best you can get is currently about 8%.
- If you buy replacement insurance – it is usually too expensive for the car over 5 years. With the new car, you can obtain a fair price for the first 3-5 years.
- Once you decide what you want, it is easy to buy: you walk into the dealership and within couple of hours you have the car. And in my situation that was beneficial because I have no car. Otherwise, this may actually work against you.
- You can get exactly the model you want, including color and other things.
Buy a new car in a rural area
This is something I heard, but did not address in its entirety. The idea is to leave the city to the dealer with the smaller sales figures, and try to negotiate better prices with them. Now I'm not the best negotiator, if I was not really counting on this option, but I tried anyway. I traveled far and 150 km after a day talking with the dealers and has almost nothing – I have $ 250 reduction. I would have done better if I had more time and I wanted to come back and spend it. But I gave up.
One can certainly benefit, but you must be ready to go every dealer in your area. It is certainly not a quick victory.
Buying a car used
It is certainly my preferred option, but it takes time and effort. And you can find a good car is not really worse than another, for a low price. But you have to wait and search and negotiate. If you have a car to drive and you have time to devote to finding a new, still do. The depreciation of the new car is the most important in the early years, so that You save by purchasing a bouquet 2-3 years old car. And sometimes, these cars have low mileage. Just beware of rental cars – sometimes, they are not maintained too well because they are leased and the landlord knows that this will change in a few years.
Buy a car with U.S.
However, it is a great way to buy a good car and save money. The cars are generally less expensive in the U.S. and Canada, and the difference is greater with more expensive cars. Today, with money being almost equal, you save on this price difference. Then you do not pay tax U.S. state since you are from Canada, and you pay taxes in Canada only as if you bought the car here. Of course, you pay a service fee, currently 6.1%. But I do the calculation and with all duties and taxes for every car I look, you're still better at least $ 1,000. I looked Civic (saves about $ 1,000), Accord (Gain of $ 4,000), CR-V (gain of $ 6,000).
Then there is another interesting models Perk: United States and Canada are not always the same. There are versions of the model that exists in the United States, but not in Canada (I suppose the reverse is also true). For example, I watched the models Subaru and I found the base model Outback United States was much cheaper than Canada. And the only difference is that the model U.S. does not have the characteristics of pure convenience – those I do not care. But it was $ 9,000 cheaper (31,000 against 22,000 MSRP)
Now, there are obstacles, of course. Nothing comes easily. Automakers are not like you go to buy U.S. cars for less money. They have priced the cars differently for U.S. and Canadian markets and that you do not enjoy. Toyota and Honda have actually told the dealers U.S. not to sell its cars to people from Canada. I called about 10 dealers and told us exactly that. A guy I said they have done this before, but then they say they can lose the authorization of the sale if they do. So I thought I should try to find a dealer who has not been warned at the moment. And I did – two of them told me they will sell it without problem. With Subaru, it seems that there is no such issue – all said they sell cars to Canadians.
Then there is the guarantee. If you buy a new car in the U.S., the warranty is not honored in Canada. It means that for routine services or repairs that you payable, or if you live near the border, go to whenever the United States of maintenance is needed. It also depends on the machine: Honda and Toyota does not honor while VW is no problem. With Subaru, I have heard both yes and no, if I decided to go, I would certainly first ask dealers about it.
As an interesting side note: I discovered that Some time ago, the situation with regard to imports of cars was opposite: it has been very beneficial to buy a car in Canada and import in the United States. Automakers have raised the same obstacles told dealers to sell cars and did not honor the guarantees across the border. However, seems that Americans are more agile these situations, then they quickly formed a very few consumer organizations, made a class action and forced the dealers to lower ridiculous rules.
The process itself is not negligible – there is lots steps you must take, but it is simpler. There are no surprises once you get all the preparations done or planned. There good resources on the net describing the whole process:
Importing a vehicle into Canada: http://www.mr2.com/TEXT/Import.html
Chat Import Car: http://www.discovervancouver.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6825
costs of the border: http://www.myborderpro.com/2006
Website dedicated to importing vehicles to Canada: http://www.importcartocanada.info
Info on taxes related to importing a car: http://www.importcartocanada.info/faq/do-i-have-to-pay-tax-on-a-car-i-import-to- canada-from-the -Usa
You can also hire an agency to do everything for you, but I do not really need that.
Now, if you are looking for a car Used (in U.S.), you can save even more money, but you have to do more work. You must find a way to inspect the car before you buy and you may be other travel for this vehicle of choice. You should exercise caution and attention to the problems that exist not in Canada, as the possibility that the car was flooded in a flood in the south (eg New Orleans). But if you go hollow all you can find an excellent deal and happily bring it back to Canada.
Paying for your car
Internet has been a great help for that. First, all decision makers have good sites that allow you to calculate prices, specific to your province, and they match exactly what the dealers say. Besides these, there are many other useful resources on the web. Here are some:
Canadian Black Book tells you the price dealers that you pay when you make a trade-in. These two links point to the same service
Toyota Black Book Link: http://www.toyota.ca/NWS/english/confighelp/appraise_tradein_vehicle.html
GMC Black Book Link: http://www.gmcanada.com/NASApp/app/services/gmc/cbb?lang=en
There is also the Canadian Red Book, the equivalent of Blue Book, but I have not found online. But there are other websites indicating that you have used car prices, such as:
VMR Canada http://www.vmrcanada.com/canada_makes.htm
What I also picked up is the price of Auto Trader:
Auto Trader classified ads: http://www.canadatrader.com
I chose the price for the last 5 years. It is a good way to understand and average depreciation.
There also are pay sites that will give you comprehensive reports on the values of new and used cars, but I did not use them.
A good way to get the realistic value for the car (even for a new one) is to go to several banks and ask them how they would be ready to for this car specific. You give them the make, model, year, and the rest (some banks in its fairly o provide the VIN), and they tell you what is the maximum they give you a car loan. There are good chances that this is less than the dealer will ask you to pay. You can then use this to negotiate with the dealer.
To determine the best loan options, you can use online calculators like this:
Calculator Loan: http://www.canadiandriver.com/tools/loan.htm
All this is very fun to do, but again, it takes time – do not save. There are only two ways: either you put in your own effort or pay you money sooner or later.
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Read the rest on the following pages:
First Party: Why and How?
href = "http://www.cheapgasoline.biz/page.cfm/id/10132"> Part Three: models and makes
Party Four: brokers About the Author
Michael Thornessen is a typical car buyer that has recently spent some substantial time and effort researching the auto market.