New Car Buying Service....

[Wallace's]

I imagine dealers make the most off used vehicles similar to gun shops.

Absolutely, since they can control how much they buy them for.

A good dealer that is successful in used vehicles lives by "It is not what you sell them for, it is what you pay for them". New cars are set, used cars, you can "scoop" the trade, especially if you switch a buyer to payments and get them off of focusing on the bottom line.

 

[jcountry]

Everything pisses you off. I would go with usaa. I've heard good things about the buying service and getting everything done before hand would help aleve alot of the bs at the dealership. I would check at least one or 2 other banks if you are financing though. I had boa beat usaa's ass one time on percentage rate.

This is true. Grumpy Cat got nothing on me

 

[TresMonos]

OK.

I am a cheapskate.

The last new car I bought was nearly 15 years ago. I like driving beaters.

My wife, however-is of a different mind. As her car slowly decays into a decrepit old beater, I find myself in the unenviable position of needing to sort through the available options to locate a new red (go dawgs) Chevy Cruze 4 door for her. (Yeah, I know.... She loves UGA-and must drive a red car. It's a thing.)

I want to see what tricks y'all have found for finding the best deal. I know there are a million internet options these days, but I haven't used any.

Anyone tried the USAA car buying service? What about Sam's or Costco? Is there a way to find out the price the wholesale clubs can come up with short of actually buying a membership?

Above all, I HATE dealerships. No offense to anyone who works in the business, but I hate the places with a passion. Some people hate dentists or flying, or the thought of getting on a ship. I hate car dealerships. I'd like to find a deal online and avoid ever setting foot on a dealership beforehand.

Also-is there a way to look up dealer invoice? Is that even a real number anymore? (I remember being able to find it ages ago, but I hear the dealers have all figured out how to work that system. I am not interested in paying junk fees like destination charges or any protection package nonsense. I want a car at the best price, and no jibba-jabba.)

Thanks for the ideas!

Buy a 2016 Dealer Certified Used car....best option out there...less than 10K miles and you get an extended warranty to boot. We just bought a Dealer Certified 2016 Subaru Forester Limited with less than 9K miles and the warranty extends out to 100K miles on engine and drive train because it is a Dealer Certified Used car.

Here is a link to the GA TAVT Calculator... https://onlinemvd.dor.ga.gov/tap/welcome.aspx

GM Certified Chevy Cruz in RED below...

http://www.gmcertified.com/vehicle/...rrentPage=1&SortColumn=distance&SortOrder=asc

 

[Smoothie]

Play the email game with several dealers. Don't visit the dealership until you have it all in writing. Also consider yourself fortunate that the car she's looking for is relatively inexpensive.

Even that is a pain. They want your number to call. Then they do the hard sell to come in. Then they call 10 more times over the next month and flood your email box. Oh, and that is after they give you the "great deal" which happens to be the price posted on their webpage!!

 

[Wallace's]

Even that is a pain. They want your number to call. Then they do the hard sell to come in. Then they call 10 more times over the next month and flood your email box. Oh, and that is after they give you the "great deal" which happens to be the price posted on their webpage!!

Only if you are gullible. I immediately mention the internet price. Then start from there. Also, if you get phone calls, tell them you already bought something, they flag you and poof, no more calls.

 

[TapcoFan]

Its not that "horrible" unless you are paying cash for a used car and do not finance AND do not factor it into your budget. You need to set aside 7% of the State's value of the car (which you can easily find out here: https://onlinemvd.dor.ga.gov/tap/option1.aspx#message ). Not only that, but if their system is off, you can appeal the value amount and get it reduced in many cases.

Here is how it works in comparison to the "old way"

Lets say you have a $30K car @ 7%, that is $2,100 in TAVT....and you're done.

Old way:

$30K car @ 7% sales tax(Bartow County) + ad valorem:

Lets say the state values your car at that exact $30K too. Now we calculate ad valorem:

30,000 x 0.4 = 12,000, now we calculate the mill rate of 25.88 (Bartow as an example) and divide by 1,000. Take that .02588 and multiply it by 12,000. Your ad valorem would have been $310.56 the first go around

Soooooo....

$2,100 in sales tax + $310.56 when I need to get my tag renewed. Lets say you keep that car 4 years and its value drops 10% each time from its new valuation, that is $1271.77 in addition to the $2,100 in sales tax you would have paid.$3371.77 total.

Yes, I like the new way.

They are getting the money from private sales largely in part because of all the "flippers". This was to help "boost" dealer business by closing the tax "loophole-ish" and making it more appealing to purchase new/used from a dealer.



They are more than likely fleet vehicle → former rental cars. I wouldn't buy a new or used FWD GM ever. My family has had nothing but problem after problem out of GrandAm's, Sunfire's, Cavaliers (same thiing), Cobalt's, Equinox, Rendezvous, Blazer (not FWD, but a pile-O-**** anyways), etc...



Don't know about that. I did not pay any environmental fee when I bought my Tundra in Kentucky. Their state title processing fees are a little more, like under $20 more, but average lower doc fees. In general EVERY aspect other than title processing was cheaper in KY.

I got my clock cleaned to the tune of a couple thousand dollars. I bought a car in another state and got hit with sales tax in that state and then hit with ad valorem when I tagged it in Georgia. When you're talking about a $30K+ vehicle, that sucks.
Also when you try to bring a motorcycle in from out of state and you bought it new, they will especially f*** you. Too late for me to appeal that (I didn't even know you could appeal that - nice to know for the future). I'm sure it works out fine if you buy your car in Georgia, but otherwise no way. Ad valorem is a rip off and I am sticking to my guns on that.

 

[roundhouse]

I thought GA had some kind of ripoff "environmental fee" for cars bought out of state....

Is that not the case anymore?

The state pops you 7% of the value when you have the title put in your name
Doesn't matter where the car is purchased

Definitely look for your car in other states
You can save thousands by getting away from Atlanta

And consider a two of three or four year old car
A Chevy or ford or dodge loses 75% of its value in the first 4 years
Hondas and Toyotas do not

Depending on how many miles you drive and where a Volt might be worth considering


A co worker of mine commutes from Athens to Atlanta and he bought one

And the payment is less than he was spending on gas in his F-150 and he got a "alternative fuel " license plate that lets him use the car pool lane on I-85 and that knocks off 45 minutes of drive time each way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wallace's]

The state pops you 7% of the value when you have the title put in your name
Doesn't matter where the car is purchased

Definitely look for your car in other states
You can save thousands by getting away from Atlanta

And consider a two of three or four year old car
A Chevy or ford or dodge loses 75% of its value in the first 4 years
Hondas and Toyotas do not

Depending on how many miles you drive and where a Volt might be worth considering


A co worker of mine commutes from Athens to Atlanta and he bought one

And the payment is less than he was spending on gas in his F-150 and he got a "alternative fuel " license plate that lets him use the car pool lane on I-85 and that knocks off 45 minutes of drive time each way


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My brother in law bought a Volt as well in Boston. They got a $10k tax credit for it too. Same with one of the I3 BMW's we bought as a company car at my job.

 

[Wallace's]

I got my clock cleaned to the tune of a couple thousand dollars. I bought a car in another state and got hit with sales tax in that state and then hit with ad valorem when I tagged it in Georgia. When you're talking about a $30K+ vehicle, that sucks.
Also when you try to bring a motorcycle in from out of state and you bought it new, they will especially f*** you. Too late for me to appeal that (I didn't even know you could appeal that - nice to know for the future). I'm sure it works out fine if you buy your car in Georgia, but otherwise no way. Ad valorem is a rip off and I am sticking to my guns on that.

The ONLY way that happens is if you were a resident of another State when you bought the car, then moved to GA. At that point you have to pay TAVT to register it in GA. EVEN WITH THE "OLD WAY" BEFORE TAVT, you would STILL had to have paid ad valorem on that car, instead of paying a one time fee, it would have been spread out over the life of the vehicle, which after 5-6 years of residence in the state, would have surpassed the the amount of the new TAVT.

Sooooo, let's say you trade that $30k car in in just 2-3 years? Now what? The value of that trade is reduced from the states value of the new car you are buying. Let's say that $30k car you're trading is worth $18k 3 years later and you are buying a new $30k car. You would now only pay tax on the $12k difference, and you are done.

Before you would have had to have paid sales tax on that $12k difference PLUS ad valorem every year on the FULL VALUE of the car.

 

[Bottoms polaris]

Definitely wouldn't buy a Chevy Cruze. Bought my daughter a 2012 Cruze. At 73000 miles the turbo went out. 33 days out of warranty but 27000 miles under the 100000 mile warranty. Cheverolet said oh well it's out of warranty. Dealership ( Days in Acworth) worked with me and got the cost down some. 2 weeks later it had used 2.5 quarts of oil in about 400 miles. They determined that when the turbo went out it had probably dumped all the oil into the pistons and had messed up one of the pistons or at least the rings. Cheverolet said oh well not our problem because it's out of warranty. And the water pump went out 3 times. Transmission lines leaking. Just my opinion though.