Looking for a family car under $30k (1 Viewer)

[Politician Spock]

My buddy has 3 kids and he bought an '08 Acura TL that he loves.

I have an older TL ('04) that isn't as big but it's also a great car.

I bought a '13 Acura TL back in September it's without a doubt the best car I've ever owned.

It's true. I'm not one to usually try and push products on other people, but the Acura TL's I had were the greatest cars I ever had. They had everything I wanted and were very fun to drive. I recommend it to anyone who asks.

I've had it 9 months now and love it even more than the day I bought it.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

Looks like I was approved on the credit. Now I just have to go get my PA license, switch my insurance and get the code from my uncle for the discount. It's kind of sad knowing that the Mustang is going away. It wasn't a great car. And it didn't have any bells and whistles. But it sure was fun. And it never once had any issues. That's more than I can say about any Acura I've owned in the past.

Hope the next owner treats her well. :(

What year was your Mustang?

 

[TheIronSheik]

Looks like I was approved on the credit. Now I just have to go get my PA license, switch my insurance and get the code from my uncle for the discount. It's kind of sad knowing that the Mustang is going away. It wasn't a great car. And it didn't have any bells and whistles. But it sure was fun. And it never once had any issues. That's more than I can say about any Acura I've owned in the past.

Hope the next owner treats her well. :(

What year was your Mustang?

2012

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

Looks like I was approved on the credit. Now I just have to go get my PA license, switch my insurance and get the code from my uncle for the discount. It's kind of sad knowing that the Mustang is going away. It wasn't a great car. And it didn't have any bells and whistles. But it sure was fun. And it never once had any issues. That's more than I can say about any Acura I've owned in the past.

Hope the next owner treats her well. :(

What year was your Mustang?

2012

Oof. I had a 2008 that I had to trade on an Altima once we found out the first boy was on his way. I feel your pain.

 

[TheIronSheik]

OK. Need some advice.

I got a quote from the dealer for $427 a month. I took all of the info and sent it to another dealer and asked what they're best price would be. They just emailed back and said they could do the exact same deal for $417 a month.

Do I take that back to the original dealer and ask them if they can do better? The two dealers are about equal distance from where I live, so I don't care who I get it from.

 

[gianmarco]

OK. Need some advice.

I got a quote from the dealer for $427 a month. I took all of the info and sent it to another dealer and asked what they're best price would be. They just emailed back and said they could do the exact same deal for $417 a month.

Do I take that back to the original dealer and ask them if they can do better? The two dealers are about equal distance from where I live, so I don't care who I get it from.

DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH MONTHLY PAYMENTS. NEGOTIATE THE PRICE OF THE CAR!!

 

[eoMMan]

Yeah, what's the total price? Interest rate? Length of loan?

 

[TheIronSheik]

OK. Need some advice.

I got a quote from the dealer for $427 a month. I took all of the info and sent it to another dealer and asked what they're best price would be. They just emailed back and said they could do the exact same deal for $417 a month.

Do I take that back to the original dealer and ask them if they can do better? The two dealers are about equal distance from where I live, so I don't care who I get it from.

DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH MONTHLY PAYMENTS. NEGOTIATE THE PRICE OF THE CAR!!

Price is a fixed point do the the Ford discount. I believe they are factoring in the trade in value.

 

[gianmarco]

OK. Need some advice.

I got a quote from the dealer for $427 a month. I took all of the info and sent it to another dealer and asked what they're best price would be. They just emailed back and said they could do the exact same deal for $417 a month.

Do I take that back to the original dealer and ask them if they can do better? The two dealers are about equal distance from where I live, so I don't care who I get it from.

DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH MONTHLY PAYMENTS. NEGOTIATE THE PRICE OF THE CAR!!

Price is a fixed point do the the Ford discount. I believe they are factoring in the trade in value.

Price is never a fixed point. Even with discounts, there are multiple things that go into monthly payments such as the price you're paying for the car, the interest rate, loan length, trade-in, etc.

You are exactly the type of customer that car dealerships love and where they make their money. Educate yourself on this so you can be a smart consumer and save your money.

 

[gianmarco]

Let me try to explain it another way:

Assume you are buying a home. Do you offer what you're willing to pay per month? Do you change what you're willing to pay based on your closing costs? Do you change what you're willing to offer on a home based on the interest rate on your mortgage?

Of course not.

1) You make an offer on a house. Your offer should be completely independent of interest rates, mortgage type, closing costs, etc. You don't pay a higher amount on a house just because you can get a better loan.

2) You then work on financing. Length of mortgage, rates, amount down all contribute to what that is.

By dealing with monthly payments with a deal, you're lumping #1 and #2 together. So they may make your monthly payments lower but you may still end up paying more if they ask for more down or change the length of the loan. And even still, even if it does save you money, it doesn't get to where YOU are in control of what you are paying and how you are paying it.

Negotiate the price of the car. Then negotiate the terms of the financing. Then negotiate your trade in value. Do all of those separately. They are 3 separate entities that have nothing to do with one another. Once that is done, you calculate your monthly payment. Dealerships will find a way to drop the value of the trade in by making your financing better. Or give you more for your trade in but increase the cost of the car. This is what they are good at and how they get suckers who don't know the process to overpay.

 

[TheIronSheik]

Hypothetical question:

Say I have a friend who is really lazy and doesn't feel like doing a lot of leg work. But he did get a second quote for the car he wants from another dealer. Should he take it back to the original dealer?

 

[Patriotsfatboy1]

OK. Need some advice.

I got a quote from the dealer for $427 a month. I took all of the info and sent it to another dealer and asked what they're best price would be. They just emailed back and said they could do the exact same deal for $417 a month.

Do I take that back to the original dealer and ask them if they can do better? The two dealers are about equal distance from where I live, so I don't care who I get it from.

DO NOT NEGOTIATE WITH MONTHLY PAYMENTS. NEGOTIATE THE PRICE OF THE CAR!!

Price is a fixed point do the the Ford discount. I believe they are factoring in the trade in value.

Price is never a fixed point. Even with discounts, there are multiple things that go into monthly payments such as the price you're paying for the car, the interest rate, loan length, trade-in, etc.

You are exactly the type of customer that car dealerships love and where they make their money. Educate yourself on this so you can be a smart consumer and save your money.

This. Negotiate the price of the new car (and options), then the trade in value and then the financing. Never go by monthly payment.

The dealer is making the most money on the trade in. They will probably be selling you the vehicle at close to invoice and even with dealer hold-back, they should not be making much on that part. The financing and trade-in is where they will make the most, so keep a keen eye on those numbers.

 

[Patriotsfatboy1]

Hypothetical question:

Say I have a friend who is really lazy and doesn't feel like doing a lot of leg work. But he did get a second quote for the car he wants from another dealer. Should he take it back to the original dealer?

Look at both quotes and see if they are within the range specified for the same car on kbb.com or Edmunds.com. If they are the same, go with the dealer that you think is going to give you the best service if something is ####ed up with the vehicle.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

It's ten bucks a month. Assuming you have two incomes, that's five bucks a month each. That's 1.25 a week for each of you. That would feed a starving child in a third-world country for, like, ten days or some #### like that (according to that fatass from One Day At a Time).

Take the cheaper deal and put some groceries down the neck of a starving kid, you selfish #####.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

It's ten bucks a month. Assuming you have two incomes, that's five bucks a month each. That's 1.25 a week for each of you. That would feed a starving child in a third-world country for, like, ten days or some #### like that (according to that fatass from One Day At a Time).

Take the cheaper deal and put some groceries down the neck of a starving kid, you selfish #####.

All In the Family...Whatever.

 

[TheIronSheik]

It's not me. It's for a friend that I work with at the truck driving company. He just wants to know if he should try to talk the 1st dealer down using the 2nd dealers quote. Or if that's offensive. Or whatever.

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

It's not me. It's for a friend that I work with at the truck driving company. He just wants to know if he should try to talk the 1st dealer down using the 2nd dealers quote. Or if that's offensive. Or whatever.

Personally, I wouldn't play them off of each other anymore. How does the first guy know that you don't plan to just keep doing this (I know you wouldn't, but he doesn't)? I think you run the risk of both of them telling you to pound sand.

 

[Otis]

People still loving their Pilots? In the market for a car for the wife soon, thinking about going lease on one of these.

Agree with the guy earlier in the thread who said he'll never go back form SUVs. Kid stuff, strollers, food, packages,other crap, I just don't think I could get by with less space these days. We were thinking CRV initially but I don't think they are big enough.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

It's not me. It's for a friend that I work with at the truck driving company. He just wants to know if he should try to talk the 1st dealer down using the 2nd dealers quote. Or if that's offensive. Or whatever.

Personally, I wouldn't play them off of each other anymore. How does the first guy know that you don't plan to just keep doing this (I know you wouldn't, but he doesn't)? I think you run the risk of both of them telling you to pound sand.

what? the guy who makes commission off of your sale is going to not take your money?

 

[ClownCausedChaos2]

It's not me. It's for a friend that I work with at the truck driving company. He just wants to know if he should try to talk the 1st dealer down using the 2nd dealers quote. Or if that's offensive. Or whatever.

Personally, I wouldn't play them off of each other anymore. How does the first guy know that you don't plan to just keep doing this (I know you wouldn't, but he doesn't)? I think you run the risk of both of them telling you to pound sand.

what? the guy who makes commission off of your sale is going to not take your money?

I dunno. I just don't think they'd put up with being played off of each other. I wouldn't.

 

[TheIronSheik]

It's not me. It's for a friend that I work with at the truck driving company. He just wants to know if he should try to talk the 1st dealer down using the 2nd dealers quote. Or if that's offensive. Or whatever.

Personally, I wouldn't play them off of each other anymore. How does the first guy know that you don't plan to just keep doing this (I know you wouldn't, but he doesn't)? I think you run the risk of both of them telling you to pound sand.

what? the guy who makes commission off of your sale is going to not take your money?

I dunno. I just don't think they'd put up with being played off of each other. I wouldn't.

This was my thought, too. I think I'm just going to go back to the first guy and say "Let's do $410" and see what he says. If he can't do it, I'll just go to the second guy.

 

[Thorn]

I'm sure it's been done earlier in the thread, but 30k for a car? A $400+/month payment?

Ooooooooooooooooof

 

[TheIronSheik]

Looks like I'll be picking up my new "dad car" either tomorrow or Friday. I am both excited and sad. I'll miss that little pony.

Having never driven an AWD car before, is there anything different to the feeling I should know about?

 

[Dentist]

People still loving their Pilots? In the market for a car for the wife soon, thinking about going lease on one of these.

I thought you wanted to get rich.

I hope you get that Millionaire Next Door book read soon

 

[Emerson Biggens]

I test drove the AWD Fusion Titanium this weekend. I really liked it. A little more than what I was originally looking at, but I think this is the way I'm going to go.

I did not even know they made an AWD version... interesting. What is the MPG estimate for it?

I'll have to double check it but I think it's something around 23 and 32. I could be way off though. All I know is that it's still better than the Mustang. I decided to get it almost completely fully loaded. I don't do much driving on the highway or downtown so I opted out of the Driver's Assist package and self parking. Those two things added $2000 to the price and, while nice, just didn't seem worth it. I think the sticker is around $35k. But it's everything I really want and need right now.

I said the same thing about the driver assist package as well, but have to say I'm pretty thrilled I went ahead and got it. The parking thing is dumb (especially since I'm pretty adept at parallel parking) but the rest is $$$.

Looks like I got out of this at pretty much the same price you did, especially after I get the $4K from the government and another $850 from Ford for screwing up their MPG ratings. You've made me even happier with my purchase.

How is your Energi doing a year and a half in now? I drive a lot and a deer just totaled my Prius. I drove a titanium Energi this weekend and it was sweet.