Car Buying Tips from Savings.com DealPros

A few days ago, DealPro and beauty deal guru Annie reached out to her fellow DealPros for help:

"My husband's car recently kicked the bucket, and although I'm pretty good at finding good deals on clothes and makeup  and such, car shopping is not my strong suit.  I'd love any advice you might have on scoring the best deal on a car.  Thought Savings.com [DealPros] would be a good place to start."

When you have access to the best money-saving minds around, why not take advantage? Check out what advice Annie's colleagues had to offer:

Darin (aka "RealDeal") responded with this:

"Use Edmunds.com for values, reviews, etc of new and used cars. Good place to start. And get him a Ferrari."

I concurred with the Edmunds recommendation--it's a great site where you can research features, dealer's price and how to calculate what's a fair offer price. I also recommended that Annie and her hubby arrange their car financing and old car trade-in separately from the new car purchase in order to optimize their deal.

And while Darin plugged Ferraris, I put in a good word for Mazdas. I've had mine for almost (gasp!) seventeen years now and it's still chugging along. It's also much more budget-friendly than a Ferrari...

Abiy agreed with me on keeping the financing separate:

"If you're buying from a dealership and not paying cash get your own financing first. When you go to the dealership you only have to negotiate the price of the car and nothing else. This way you can avoid haggling over monthly payments etc…and avoid getting ripped off."

Tiara (aka "snarkydeals") had a good experience with her last car purchase:

"I bought my car from CarsDirect.com, and they were super helpful in getting my perfect car at the price I wanted, financing etc. That was for a brand new car. I also sold my old car to CarMax, and they were amazingly helpful. Their lots are HUGE for good-quality used cars if that's the route you're looking for."

And Paula provided some useful advice for buying a used car:

"Make sure a mechanic that you trust checks out the car for problems like oil leaks, water pump, etc."

Erika's advice was very specific:

"Avoid the Dodge Durango. Total money pit!!!"

Armed with some great words of wisdom from her co-workers, Annie can now apply her beauty deal prowess to car shopping. Do you have any car shopping tips to offer her or others? Add 'em in the comments below!

And if you need advice on how to save money or get a good deal on just about anything--why not send your question/idea to blog@savings.com?  Take advantage of the deal hunting expertise of our in-house DealPros--we'd be happy to help!