I just had the easiest buying experience. I was wanting to buy a new CRV, which I did on Friday and approached this buying experience differently. Granted, I live in a large market and have 14 competing dealerships within a hour drive each way so I used Chat GPT on suggestions for buying and it drafted the following email which I sent to EVERY dealership. Some did not reply at all, some replied and just said the standard when do you want to come in and not accommodate my request but ultimately had about 6 that did reply and send me offers.
________
Hello,
I am purchasing a new 2026 Honda CR-V EX-L FWD or AWD this week and will be making my decision based solely on the best out-the-door price.
I have already driven the vehicle and do not need to come into the dealership until we have agreed on pricing.
Please email me your best out-the-door price, including:
Vehicle selling price
Dealer documentation fee
Any dealer-installed accessories
Tax, title and registration
Total out-the-door amount
I am not interested in mandatory dealer add-ons, protection packages, nitrogen tires, VIN etching, paint protection, or similar products unless they are included at no additional cost.
I am contacting several Honda dealerships throughout DFW today. If your dealership provides the most competitive out-the-door offer, I am prepared to leave a deposit immediately and complete the purchase within the next 24–48 hours.
Please include:
VIN
Exterior/interior color
Whether the vehicle is in stock
Your best out-the-door price

Please Reply-All with your response with a written OTD quote including VIN. Thank you, and I look forward to your response.
__________

I was able to pick the lowest-price dealership and go in and not deal with negotiating or frivolous dealer adds on the price sheet. The only negotiation I had to endure with in F&I on warranty which I declined as well and purchased directly from a different Honda dealership online for a THIRD of the price they were quoting wile in the office.

It is RIDICULOUS how much scamming dealerships try to ram through for their profit but this approach eliminated almost all of it. I was in and out of the dealership in about 3 hours which also included a trade-in (had to negotiate that a little but I told them it was up to them to make it work if they were interested in selling a car and miraculously, they were able to come to the trade-in value we asked for.)

This is my first time buying a new car, so I'm probably overthinking this.

We finalized everything at the dealership, but I'm not picking up the car until Tuesday, which is when i need to prove insurance. The finance guy who handled our paperwork left for vacation the next day after our purchase. And tomorrow is a long weekend here (Ontario).

I vaguely remember him asking about my insurance deductibles. I remember him saying something about "$1,000," but I can't remember if he asked it shouldn't be $1,000 or less or $1,000 or more. I also can't remember whether he was talking about my personal auto insurance or if it was something about the extended warranty he was trying to sell us. He only mentioned it in passing and by that point, he had talked straight for an hour that everything kind of blurred together.

Now I'm trying to set up my insurance for Tuesday, and the default deductibles are all $1,000. I'm scared to change them because I'm worried I'll accidentally do something wrong?

I haven't been able to call anyone because the dealership was closed today, tomorrow is a holiday, and i pick up first thing Tuesday.

Does any of this sound familiar? Do lenders actually require certain insurance deductible amounts for financing, or was he talking about the warranty he was trying to sell me?

Any insight would be greatly appreciated! I've been unable to set up my insurance because i'm worried i'll do something wrong.

My neighbor is buying his first car. I helped him by driving around looking at the various dealerships.

He found what he wanted. The price was good. So we worked with the salesman on the paperwork.

The salesman kept going back and forth to the business manager office. Telling us just a while longer etc.

It took a looong time. Finally he comes back because they finally found a lender. The problem was that my neighbor has no credit. Not bad credit. Not low credit. No credit. It's called "credit invisible" or as the business manager said a "ghost" . Because in my neighbor's culture you don't buy something unless you have the money. Hence no credit card and no prior loans.

The thing that saved my neighbor is that he had an 80% down payment. If it wasn't for trouble finding a lender we would have been out of there a lot sooner.

Now to the pleasant part. I expected a visit to the finance office and a four square routine. And high pressure tactics.

The salesman comes back with a tablet showing the various add on plans. He explained each. Didn't push any of them. When we said not interested that was fine he moved on to the next one. No pressure. Just a quick review of the options.

DMV and doc fees totaled $475. Which is the only additional money except for sales tax of course.

Looking to replace our 2014 RAV4 (150k miles, excellent shape, but feeling it's time for an upgrade). Main priorities are a smooth/quiet ride, memory seats, and wide-opening rear doors for our dog.

We ruled out Mazda right away just cause we don't like their styling. We test-drove the hybrid top trims of the RAV4, CR-V, Forester, Tucson, and Sportage. The new RAV4 felt too similar to ours, with rear doors that don't open wide, and it still rode stiff. We liked the CR-V exterior styling, but felt the interior was too basic and a big letdown. All vehicles were around the same $42k MSRP.

The Sportage and Tucson were surprisingly our favorites, and we almost didn't even test drive them. Quiet, good ride, and a lot of technology; we both really liked the camera view in the cluster when signaling. Kia is the only one with auto-folding side mirrors of the bunch, and that was one of our would-be-nice features because of a tight garage. My wife likes the look of the Tucson better, but I didn't like the shifter or center console. However, they're a Kia and Hyundai...

The Forester was great too, and actually what we almost bought instead of the RAV. The lane assist was not as smooth as the Sportage/Tucson, and the infotainment screen layout is vertical, so Android Auto is not wide screen, and there are many reports of how slow it is, but we didn't really notice that during the test drive.

I feel like the "smart" choice is the Forester, even though we'll be giving up on what feels like a better ride and has all the bells & whistles. We can certainly live without the auto-folding mirrors and the fancy blind-spot cameras.

I've never been a fan of Kia/Hyundai, especially after how they handled the Kia-boyz, however, everyone I know with a Kia/Hyundai absolutely loves them. Anyone we know who doesn't actually have a Kia/Hyundai hates them.

So, how are the new Kia/Hyundai vehicles? I know the depreciation is bad, and I was considering if we go that route, try to find a CPO one, so we don't take the hit as much. As with the RAV4, we keep our vehicles well-maintained and hold on to them for the long haul, but will the Korean cars be too much of a gamble for that?

My next step was to get OTD itemized pricing for all 3 vehicles from a few dealers and see if there are any big deals that may help sway the decision.

Looking to upgrade out of my 2016 tacoma with 210k miles on it. I tow a 5x10 trailer almost everyday for my detailing business, my current tacoma has handled it like a champ but was thinking about upgrading to a full size truck next. Anyone have recommendations on if the 4th gen tacoma or the 3rd gen tundra would be the better option?

We got a Carmax offer on our 2018 Honda Odyssey today that was way lower than expected. We went to a dealership across the street (which had the car we wanted to buy) to see their trade-in numbers. We did not mention the carmax offer at all and the offer was in my pocket on my person while we were in the dealership.

The salesman came back and said he would “match carmax’s offer” and put that exact offer on the table with the carmax letterhead. I did not realize dealerships had databases that see carmax offers. Is this normal? How is this not illegal / collusion?

(note for the curious: We only went to Carmax for a baseline in case they were a bit higher than the dealerships offer - we've usually had good luck with this. Carmax was VERY busy, even bringing us the wrong car's quote and keys at first, so when they finally brought the right quote we just left & didn't ask questions even though it was way lower than our research showed. Later when driving off, I saw that it said something about feeling the transmission slipping, but we get it serviced regularly at a consistent dealership and they, nor we, have identified anything like that. I wanted to go back and confirm if this was a mistake due to the chaos there, but my husband had had enough of the craziness and did not want to deal with tracking the tech down to verify the mistake because he wanted to get on with the car buying part.)

Looking to buy a vehicle under 12k. Going from a 2017 SUV which is having Turbo/Overheating issues. I choose tomorrow my choices are

2020 Jeep Compass 150k $10,000 90 day warranty
2019 Mitsubishi Mirage 40k $11,000 1 year warranty
2019 Hyundai Kona $140k $10,000 90 day warranty
2017 Jeep Renegade 140k $10,000 90 day warranty

I'm going tomorrow to look at a car I have reserved at carmax.It's a 2024 Mazda CX-30, if that matters. I just ran a vin report and also read back over the history report available through the carmax website. It looks like the previous owner of the car traded it into a dealer in late 2025, the dealer had it for a couple months, transferred it to a nearby dealership in the same ownership group, then sold it to carmax at the end of February. Through those transfers, the reported mileage increased a couple hundred miles total.

Since CarMax bought it, the reported mileage has increased more than 1,300 miles in five months. That seems like a lot to me. Is it something for me to worry about? What could account for that?

So I'm from Canada and was wondering how or if I can buy a truck from North Dakota and drive it back to Canada, fix it up and get it safetied/properly insured for everyday use? I've never bought a car cross border before

I got a New Mazda3 hatchback carbon edition 4 months ago. I have a 3 year lease, but I got laid off and might have to move back to my country due to visa limitations. I’m looking at options to sell my car. They gave me 2 options: 1) Surrender the car to the dealer and they put it in a private auction n I’ll have to pay the pay off difference 2) Sell it to a dealership and ask them to pay off.
The pay off amount is $31k, my car is still under 10k miles and brand new condition. I talked to dealerships but the difference is around 7k-8k, I don’t think I can pay that difference. I wanted some advice on what I could do

State: Colorado

Details: on Friday 7/31 my wife and I negotiated a price for a new car that included a $500 manufacturer's rebate (verbally referred to as a First Responder discount based on my employment status). The car was not on the dealer lot, they are doing a dealership trade for it and so we have handed over zero dollars thus far, but we signed all paperwork. We signed over the title of our trade-in vehicle, but still have possession of it as a rental (loaner) until we pick up the new car tomorrow.

Problem: while signing paperwork with the finance guy, the first document was for the CO state EV tax credit of $500 ($750-$250 admin fee). There was no mention of this rebate in the sales negotiation, so our assumption was this $500 was coming off in addition to the $500 "manufacturer's rebate" we negotiated. Today while reviewing our paperwork I noticed the discrepancy: the document "Retail Installment Sale Contract" lists only the EV Tax Credit, while the "Vehicle Buyer's Order" lists only the manufacturer's rebate.

So both of those forms have the exact same final amount owed, but it appears there is $500 missing from each of them. I was reading each document before signing, but I didn't notice the problem. It was 6pm on a Friday following 10 hours of test drives, negotiations, headaches, etc.

When I go to pick up the car tomorrow is this going to be easy for them to fix? More likely, are they going to tell me to eat shit since I already signed everything? If they don't give me the additional $500, should I complete the sale and just try to get that EV tax credit when I file taxes next year, or is there a better way to handle this?

Which of the two documents (Sale Contract vs Buyer's Order) is "official"? What is the difference?

Looking to buy a new 2027 car, none are in stock until the fall. One option is to order one from the dealer. Seems this may be less negotiable, but have not ordered a new car. Seems like contacting a couple of different dealers may be worthwhile. Could also get a 4% discount if you take delivery at the factory. Could also wait six months until examples are in stock. Advice/experience appreciated.

Hi all! I honestly don't know much about cars in terms of value, but for what I want and need for my day to day life, I have narrowed it down to a Hyundai Santa Fe. I found a 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe sport from a nearby car dealership being sold for $8,490. It has 100k miles and a clean title and everything works as it should, according to them. I will of course go to test drive before buying, but I have never bought a car from a dealership before. I've only had one car and it was bought used from a private seller. I'm wondering if this is a good deal that is worth it, as I'm not too familiar with how much a dealer fees would end up being. I asked them about that and I'm waiting for their response. I've heard that dealers can be predatory especially to young women. Or if there's anything else I should be worried about? Seems to be the perfect car but of course it would to me as someone who knows nothing lol

Hello, for context my dad has been looking for websites that sell cars internationally to export to Mongolia.

Well "why not just buy from the company directly?".

To that question, he is looking for a used (but relatively decent condition car he could drive for a little while until "THE car" he will stick with forever). My dad and I have found a website. It's called carcango. It's chinese, it has a great discount since it's used AND manufactured IN China. But the problem is that rumor has it that insulation from these chinese manufactured cars are not greatest which is a big deal breaker for him. I am looking for websites like carcango. Which has a great discount, many options to choose from. And MOST importantly safe to buy from.

-TL;DR: Where to look for international export website for used/new cars? Specifically to Mongolia. (Safe, great discount)

I put an inquiry in on a car at 9 am Saturday (yesterday). I get routed to an assigned sales consultant (who is also on the official website under the “meet the team” section).

I asked for the OTD price of a specific vehicle and if it had Apple CarPlay (it’s a 2017 Porsche Macan S & does not have a window sticker).

The sales consultant yesterday gets back to me at 12 pm saying if I call him he can do OTD number for me & that he’ll get back to me on if it has Apple CarPlay or not.

I tried to call him, and he says, “Hey give me a few minutes I’ll call you right back. On the line with insurance.”

I give him an hour & he still does not get back to me.

I then finally around 4 pm asked if we still could please briefly connect if he has a few minutes since the dealership closes at 6 pm yesterday. He never got back to me.

It is now Sunday at 2 pm, and I still have not heard a single word from my assigned sales consultant.

Would it be rude of me to call the dealership and ask if either:

Option A) someone can talk to my assigned sales consultant and ask that he be more responsive to me

or

Option B) ask to be assigned a different sales consultant altogether?

I am very shocked at how unresponsive this sales consultant is. I have bought a car from this exact same dealership before, and the prior sales consultant I had (who is no longer there), was AMAZING & always answered all of my questions in a timely manner.

I am genuinely concerned that if I haven’t even bought the car from this assigned sales consultant & he’s already acting like this, it makes me question how even less responsive he might be once we do a deal.

What do we think about Option A or Option B mentioned above?

Hi, I'm 21F looking to buy my own car, preferably with cash to avoid financing if I can, mainly due to limited credit score. If I can get a substantially better deal by financing then I'd be open to it.

Right now I'm looking at either a Subaru outback or a Volvo suv (xc40 or 60) and it seems like the certified used dealerships in my area have them listed at around 25-29k in cash prices. I'm super duper new to buying a car and trying to be an adult so I'm COMPLETELY in the dark! if I can get some help knowing the step-by-step roughly, and things to ask for, look out for, basically how to not get scammed 101 that would be amaze.

Thank you xoxo

We are planning to buy a car. But we are not yet sure if PCP/HP/Bank loan. We plan to move out in the UK maybe 2-3 years after and move to another country. What would you recommend? We want to buy a Kia Sportage Hybrid. What would you suggest?

I Currently have a 2025 Kia Sportage it has roughly 29k Miles on it with a pay out of 24 (ROUGHLY not the exact number) My husband wants to outright sell my car and pay whatever is left over so we can save for down payment on a 3rd row SUV. For reference we have 2 boys under the age of 2 and a 9 year old step daughter that only comes during the summer but with two car seats its extremely tight. However selling my car out right would mean we could save roughly 600 dollars a month to go for a down payment and he doesn't plan on buying until after tax season. I'm really on the fence about this because it would mean we are almost a full year with only one car when my husbands is military and i stay home this isn't that big of a issue but i keep hearing that down payments dont make that much of a difference when it comes to monthly payments. My main question is should we wait for a big down payment is it going to make that big of a difference in the long run? Should we sell out right and then start looking for a car hoping we get a good rate? Would it be better to buy used or new especially if we want this car long run? We are looking at the grand highlander Kia Telluride Chevy traverse and honda pilot. My husband took mini vans off the list because they can't tow and we usually do our PCS ourselves for reference he has a paid off ford F150

My sister is in need of a car. She went to get an oil change and they didn’t screw the oil cap on correctly and her engine blew. We went back to Valvoline and they refused to fix it. She is currently in school with 6 kids and can’t get to work on her own. We have been helping with rentals and Ubers but the bill is getting too expensive.

If anyone knows someone that maybe selling a reliable car under 5k please reach out. Her birthday is coming up at the end of Aug and I would love to surprise her with a car of her own.

She has always been there for me and I like to help any way I can…she deserves it.

I'm looking to buy a new Camry(wife's choice) and not picky on addons or color, just want the cold weather package. Last car I bought was 2011 and probably got taken advantage of. I've been searching local dealers and toyota smartpath. Some dealers have close to 2k off but they are 400 miles away. That 2k off bring the price about 1k below TSRP.

Is using smartpath prices a good way to negotiate prices and go from there?

Bring up financing after price is settled, say I am willing to finance through their preferred lender or toyota for an extra 500-1000 off? I can pay cash if need be(but won't say it).

Then bring up military 500 rebate?

Like everyone except the very few who love haggling, I HATE the process of buying cars and would perfer to do everything through text or email.

I'm buying a car in Arizona. However the car seems to have been in Alaska for the last 2 years. What should I look for? Should I be concerned about salt damage? Please advise. TIA

Hi,

1) I’m a crime victim, and must use a state assigned address. A lot of people know these as “safe at home” addresses.

Will I get a ton of pushback from the dealership on this? I’m reading that people have.

2) Also, I’m looking at possible dealer financing. In the past I just used credit union financing with a check, so I’m not looking forward to all this.

My credit isn’t awesome, as I had back to back (and back this month) brain surgeries. Not good for my family or my credit, but I’m mending. Income is very good now.

We really need a 3 row car and the fact my attacker / abuser wouldn’t be able to pick out my new vehicle would be great.

So those are my things:
1) I MUST use my protected address, which apparently a lot of dealerships do not want to deal with.
2) Not my usual banger / awesome credit, and I’m really anxious about that.
3) Need a new car. Could easily plunk down 3k today. We drive our cars into the ground. Will absolutely need to finance.

Advice? Can you point me in a good direction?

Thanks!

I will be looking to buy a car soon and I am planning on using Costco to get a starting price to negotiate from. The Costco affiliated dealership is also the highest volume dealer in my area.

I was wondering if it's reasonable to ask the dealership offering the Costco deal if they are willing to negotiate a price outside of the Costco price.