6 Questions You Should Never Ask a Car Dealer

[@thetoppingshow]

Never ask for monthly price, you want total cost and interest rate. Lol if you ask for a monthly payment then bam they can stretch it out 8 years before you know you you've spent 2x what the market value of the car.

[@nrakma]

I viewed a used $250k plus Mercedes on a Dealer website. The color listed was gray and there were a ton of images all shot inside a building. When I asked if the Factory Build Sheet was available and for the name of the exterior color, I got a reply that said “ it’s beautiful color just like our pictures shows”. I passed. Less than a year later the same car showed up again for sale online. In addition to the Original Build Sheet, it included the Factory Name of the Color on page one, and its “all original paint” photographed outside was now a different shade of gray. I could clearly see that it was not the color I wanted, confirmed by the factory build sheet. I do my best to refrain from dealing with anyone who so proudly displays their ignorance or arrogance.

[@user-ge7yi1et5heli4s-b]

4:35 "Best price? Best price for who? For me or for you? My best price is the highest you are willing to pay!"

[@BourbonInhibitions]

Just wanted to send a thank you to you Doug. I watch most of your podcasts and the few you did on questions to ask and not ask when buying a car was a huge help to me back in Oct 2023 when I was getting a new vehicle. I am a lifelong car enthusiast but it was still nice and beneficial to hear from an expert and what to dial the focus on as a buyer to be as efficient as possible when going through the process. I am really happy with the price I paid and what I ended up with (a 3.2 2019 Jeep Cherokee Trailhawk). I'd recommend anyone buying or selling to go back and listen to those podcasts. Very informative and helpful no matter how much self belief you have in yourself as a potential buyer or eager seller 😂

[@RogerAlan]

Be weary of the new balance wearers if you like but hokkas are the real threat

[@HighLordDave]

Before I go see any used car (especially if I have to go out of town), I always ask in my initial contact call or email: Does the car smell like smoke, wet dog or have any other strange odors? If that's a showstopper, it will save you a trip.

[@AeroGuy07]

Some dealers are better at listing a cars features than others, especially on Autotrader.

[@jackpalczynski7884]

You are on point that it doesn't matter what the invoice is, the dealer will set what they are willing to accept. However, knowing what the invoice is helps to set your offer. Getting the invoice isn't all that difficult if you happen to own a computer that can go onto the interwebs. Just look it up yourself. Most dealers have the window sticker online. For service records, it depends on the car. For a 5 year old Camry, who cares? For a Ferrari California, I would absolutely care and 2 of them at the dealer, both red, same year, both with tan interior and both with 30k miles, the one with a stack of receipts will make the car worth $5k more than the one without. Your comment about the dealer having to make a profit made me laugh. A dealer once told me this when I already had a solid offer from another dealer that I told them what it was. My response was "I don't care if you lose money". My wife went back out to the car and the dealer reduced the price to beat the other dealer by $5.

[@switchcars]

I bet the first dealer would've come down 10 bucks

[@the_frankc]

All you need to do it: - Haggle price of the car(car price + extras + fees) - Haggle value of the trade(if applicable) - Determine the amount of time you'd like to finance over(36, 48, 60, 72 months) - Interest rate on the loan You can then just punch everything into a calculator and get an idea of your payment from there. Never say "I need a payment at X per month". You may not notice it's X over 72 months when it could've been X over 60 months because they added points on the interest. Make a few calls to multiple dealers and see how much they're willing to budge on price from the get go. Most lower volume dealers dealers are willing to haggle price to make a sale vs a larger market(NY, FL, CA) dealer who sell the car no matter what.

[@thetoppingshow]

People like Doug Demaro say your buying the person not the car; I know most say hell no; but do you ask why are you selling the vehicle. Maybe that being a way to gauge if they are lying if they give you a bs reason and then you may not trust they serviced the car? What are your thought Doug?

[@switchcars]

If you are confident enough that you can judge whether someone's lying, sure. But most liars are good at it. And heck most cars now are for sale by dealers anyway, so that question becomes a moot point. And half the time the question is a personal answer that gets really uncomfortable - broke/divorced/estate/health issues.

[@thetoppingshow]

@@switchcars Thanks for taking time to respond big fan! Good point haha there's a reason I own a IT company and not a professional poker player so I doubt Id be able to tell. And true I suspect it would mostly be awkward and depressing stories if they were true which could also backfire and make negotiations sour.

[@EdDale44135]

Your story about the guy walking 50 miles reminded me of my coworker who does 100 mile marathons.

[@nurburgrinding]

to honor Mr Pitts, Whats your bottom dollar on it? thank you Mr Tabbutt

[@Nevoexpo]

#7: "Who is your daddy and what does he do?"

[@thetoppingshow]

Daddy says "get back to the choppa this dealership has 35% interest rates!"

[@ejkrakowiak6905]

My last dealership experience was such a trip that even my kids remember it and they were like 12 and 6 at the time..They are 29 and 23 now. Car porter was MIA so the salesmen was washing the car and I have to starving kids wanting lunch. Forget washing the dam car just pull it up front.

[@chaoticlyfe]

I made a horrendous decision on my first car. Amazing car but I didn’t even know what apr was and the dealership screwed me hard. 5k$ car I put 1k down and somehow… 29% 😅 I’ve since learned and I’m paying less on an amg than that ford fusion

[@BeefSupremeAviation]

Do y’all happen to deal in C5 Z06’s? I’m in Ohio (937) and looking to purchase one in the next 12 months

[@BeefSupremeAviation]

Also, I’m NOT afraid of a Bolian condition vehicle. In fact, I’d prefer it since I plan on changing/modifying so many core components

[@switchcars]

Occasionally, although Corvettes are SO hard to build any margin into that we don't buy them very often.

[@BeefSupremeAviation]

@switchcars yeah the age old adage of “my corvette is best corvette” 🤣 I understand what I’m after is niche so some added margin for your pockets isn’t a big issue. Would hunt on my own but my career takes up most of the day at this point. Gotta love being a cog in the war machine

[@aphromew4502]

great color grade.

[@BKetch]

Didn't Arnie ride a weird bike to the UP too?

[@MrFixItGa]

4:00 Your logic is invalid to us "normal" people. I would argue with the price of cars going up so high since covid, it's more important to us than to those who can afford the super expensive luxury or exotic cars. 5:20 WOW Entitled much? Only DISHONEST people knowingly and willingly withhold pertinent information about something they're selling to you. 5:30 With all due respect, your average person can't afford to pay for a mechanic to inspect multiple vehicles while shopping for a car. 7:40 Dealers can't stand it when you don't use the in-house financing. I recently learned that myself with Jim Ellis Cadillac in Georgia.

[@Slowcarfastbeans]

Questions you should never ask… Me: Do you have any cars f or sale?