Buying a car at a dealership vs. online

[golden eagle]

I'm planning on buying a new car sometime next year. I bought my current car in 2009, before sites like Cars.com, True Value and Carvana became ubiquitous. Just wondering if any of you or anyone you know bought a car through an online site and what was the experience like. I'd imagine a lot less hassle and no-pressure tactics. I read an article a few weeks ago rental car companies offering really good deals for cars they've taken out of circulation.

[hbelkins]

I've never bought a car without test-driving it first, with one (semi) exception. When I bought my 1994 Saturn SC2, I drove one, but not the car I ended up with. I wanted a specific color, so the dealership swapped vehicles with a dealership in St. Louis. First time I ever drove it was when I drove it off the lot.

Compare that to my dad, who always ordered his vehicles from the dealership. Of the four new ones he bought in my memory (67 Impala, 79 Caprice, 90 pickup, and 98 pickup), he always ordered them. I'm sure he drove comparable models prior to buying, but the first time he ever saw the vehicle he was buying was when he went to get it.

[frankenroad]

Unless I were replacing a vehicle with the same make & model, and close in years, I would not buy a car without test-driving it.   

My last purchase was in 2016; I started by going to our local car show.  I was in the market for a small to mid-size SUV; and I had one criteria that was a deal-breaker that I could test without driving it.  Being 6' 1", I wanted to find an SUV whose lift-gate would go high enough that I would not hit my head on it.  Based on that criteria, I eliminated several models.  On the three remaining models, I read online reviews, and then went to a dealer.   I test-drove one and liked it, and ended up buying without ever going to the other 2 dealers.

Funny story though, at the end of the test-drive, I told the salesman why I had selected that model, and we went to the back of the car and opened the lift-gate.   Bam, I hit my head.  After much discussion, and consulting with the service manager, it appears that not all of these models have the same lift-gate clearance.   But, coincidentally, I had gone to the dealer who had supplied the car for the car show, and they found that car on the lot, and it did clear my head.   So I actually bought that particular vehicle.  It only had a few miles on it - but probably hundreds of people have sat in it!

I did use Tru-Car to determine what I thought was a fair price, and what I was willing to pay.   I offered the dealer $1,000 less than I was willing to pay, and they counter-offered with a price $500 above my initial offer, so I felt like I got a good deal.

Just for the record, it's a Nissan Rogue, and I am still very happy with it.

[jeffandnicole]

I'm planning on buying a new car sometime next year. I bought my current car in 2009, before sites like Cars.com, True Value and Carvana became ubiquitous. Just wondering if any of you or anyone you know bought a car through an online site and what was the experience like. I'd imagine a lot less hassle and no-pressure tactics. I read an article a few weeks ago rental car companies offering really good deals for cars they've taken out of circulation.

To clarify:  Are you buying a new car, or a used car?

I would definitely test drive either.  Even on new cars, you want to make sure everything is right.  I had one experience where I was test driving a vehicle (2009 Honda CRV), but my ears had an uncomfortable, suction feeling for some reason.  I asked to drive another identical CRV, and had no issues.

If you're buying a used car, it probably can't be stressed enough to test drive it.  As far as former rental vehicles go, sure you can consider them, but be wary of one thing: Most of those articles are press releases from the rental agencies themselves, and the newspaper/website/magazine either printed it in full, or slightly modified it.  The 'good deal' they are offering may or may not be any better than any other deal out there.  Additionally, while some people may treat their rental car like a baby to avoid getting a single scratch, others may have driving it like they stole it.

I certainly have used online sites in helping me find a car, but I never solely relied on them for the car purchase.

My best advise:  Know before you go in what the car should cost, in full.  I calculate everything down to the penny.  When they say a car payment will be $310 - $320, I'm already aware the car payment will be $310.87, and I'm not budging until there's something very specific I forgot in my calculations.  If the salesperson wants to do the 4 corners or whatever game they play, just look at his face and not the drawings.  I've brought a laptop in with Excel, just so I can quickly punch in numbers right in front of the salesperson.

And as far as high pressure sales tactics go:  Don't believe a single thing the salesperson says.  If it's truly a hot car that 3 others are looking at (even though the car has sat on the lot for a month), let them outbid each other and move on to another vehicle.  If the deal can only be done today, then he'll be out a lot of money if he doesn't let you come back tomorrow.  If he has pictures of his wife and 3 kids on his desk, assume they're printed off the internet from Google images.  I don't care what the salesperson says...don't believe a damn word of it.

[Max Rockatansky]

Regardless of how the final purchase is made there is no way I'm skipping a test drive.  I have to determine if I even like the car before I'll consider purchasing it.  To that end I do find it strange to hear stories about people who buy from a Tesla Store but won't actual take a car for a test drive first.  Apparently in that case people are buying off of brand reputation pretty much exclusively. 

[Scott5114]

And as far as high pressure sales tactics go:  Don't believe a single thing the salesperson says.  If it's truly a hot car that 3 others are looking at (even though the car has sat on the lot for a month), let them outbid each other and move on to another vehicle.  If the deal can only be done today, then he'll be out a lot of money if he doesn't let you come back tomorrow.  If he has pictures of his wife and 3 kids on his desk, assume they're printed off the internet from Google images.  I don't care what the salesperson says...don't believe a damn word of it.

Having worked with the public for years, I try my best to be a polite, easy-to-deal with customer in most of my transactions with businesses. But when I'm buying a car I turn into a total jerk, because the salespeople are total jerks, and the fastest way to get the transaction done feels like it's to make them get sick of dealing with me first and let me have the car.

I once told a salesperson who was jerking me around on the price that if he needs to make up the difference so badly, he could probably pawn his desk, because it looked way too expensive.

The whole song and dance is incredibly stupid, because I expected the same sort of environment but worse when I was buying a house, since the dollar amounts are ten times as much as they are with cars. Not so–everyone in the process was very professional, polite, and helpful. If there was any sort of hesitation on our part, the realtor would shrug and say "Well, on to the next one, then." It was a several-month process, to the point that we got comfortable enough with the realtor that toward the end all of us would outright heckle the particularly bad houses (but not while the selling agent was there, of course, that'd be rude). Negotiation took place by sending documents back and forth and signing to either accept or reject. It was actually pleasant.

[SEWIGuy]

I think the dealership experience has improved a lot over the last 10-15 years.  I really don't have many issues.  But I always buy new, so I know there usually isn't as much flexibility in the process.

[J N Winkler]

I wouldn't recommend buying a used car from an online site without a test-drive and thorough visual inspection in person, simply because photos can be highly deceptive even if they have not been Photoshopped or otherwise altered with intent to deceive.  I've seen high-resolution digital cameras strip about ten years off a well-aged car as long as it is freshly washed and has no visible paint defects such as peeling clearcoat.

I have never actually bought a car online, but my former gym buddy has a daughter and son-in-law who like to buy and sell cars.  A few years ago he told me about their driving all the way to Houston expecting to trade in an almost-new Chevy Tahoe for a slightly older Cadillac Escalade that was represented as being almost a hundred-pointer.  On arrival, they discovered that while the Escalade had been freshly polished, the body had hundreds (maybe thousands) of tiny dents.  The dealer had the paperwork already prepared for them, clearly hoping momentum from their high expectations would carry them through the transaction.  They said No and drove back to Wichita--the same day (!).

While I see what others have said about unit-to-unit variation even in brand-new cars, I think there is also more incentive for the dealer to work with the customer in resolving factory defects as long as the car that is test-driven is identical, in all essential respects, to the one that is actually purchased.

[briantroutman]

I can share my experience with TrueCar from a few years ago. In short, the experience wasn't bad, but it wasn't perfect or hassle-free. It was my first time buying a new car, so I don't another experience to compare it to, but my impression is that the experience varies greatly from dealer to dealer and potentially isn't much better than buying the traditional way.

I'm was in the market for a new car at the beginning of 2016–a specific model and trim level with a specific equipment (Volkswagen Golf SportWagen SEL with driver assistance and lighting packages). As a member of USAA, I decided to use their car buying service–which is really TrueCar with USAA branding on it. I went through the easy step-by-step vehicle configuration process, and at that early point in the process, it seemed like the perfect way to buy the exact car I wanted: Select options like you're ordering a takeout pizza, allow TrueCar to pinpoint the exact car you're looking for, and show up at the dealership with a guaranteed price certificate in hand.

Unfortunately, everything was downhill from there. My phone started ringing constantly. Salesmen from dealerships I'd never heard of spoke with the enthusiasm of knowing they had a "live one"  on the line.

"Hi, I hear you're looking for a new car."
Yes, a 2016 Golf SportWagen SEL with the driver assistance and lighting packages.
"We're running a great special on Passats right now–$1,000 below MSRP. No haggling!"  (Passats were supremely overstocked at the time and selling for $3,000 below MSRP.)
No, I'm looking specifically for a Golf SportWagen...
"I think we have a few Golfs out back."
The wagon...with the driver assistance and lighting packages.
"The what?"
The SportWagen. It's a wagon version of the Golf–introduced just last year.
"Oh, that. I don't think...no, we don't have any of those."

This scenario repeated time and time again. At least as of 2016, TrueCar seemed like an unhappy marriage of the old and new worlds. I knew exactly what I wanted and simply wanted to buy that. Yet despite TrueCar's pitch, old time sales types seemed to look at it as yet another channel to find hot leads–a way to "move iron off the lot" .

Even once I found the vehicle I wanted (I was in Florida at the time and the closest vehicles in inventory were in NC and near Washington), I still had to wade through some dealer shenanigans. One dealer near DC offered me an attractive "guaranteed price"  on my car only to subsequently tell me that getting that price required taking financing from VW. (I already had a good financing deal from USAA and didn't want VW financing. TrueCar specifically prohibits dealers from including manufacturer financing incentives in their pricing and subsequently investigated that dealership.)

I ended up buying from a dealership near Dulles. I flew up, the salesman met me at the Metro station and took me back to the dealership. The salesman was friendly and easy to deal with, but he still tried to sell me the extended warranty, the tire hazard protection, the prepaid maintenance... Then his sales manager played the "bad cop"  role and tried to strong-arm me into taking VW financing. I still had to go through the reams of paperwork that traditionally accompany a car sale. But to TrueCar's credit, the dealership ultimately honored the decent price promised on the guaranteed price certificate, and it allowed me to prearrange the purchase details on a car that I couldn't find locally. Was it worth the other inconveniences I faced along the way? I don't know. And perhaps TrueCar has tightened up its oversight of dealers in the years since then.

[J N Winkler]

I'm was in the market for a new car at the beginning of 2016–a specific model and trim level with a specific equipment (Volkswagen Golf SportWagen SEL with driver assistance and lighting packages). As a member of USAA, I decided to use their car buying service–which is really TrueCar with USAA branding on it. I went through the easy step-by-step vehicle configuration process, and at that early point in the process, it seemed like the perfect way to buy the exact car I wanted: Select options like you're ordering a takeout pizza, allow TrueCar to pinpoint the exact car you're looking for, and show up at the dealership with a guaranteed price certificate in hand.

In 2005, my parents decided they wanted an almost-loaded brand-new Toyota Camry, and tried a buying service.  (I say "almost" because they decided against the navigation package, which in retrospect was a smart decision.)  Though they were loyal USAA customers, I think the one they used was affiliated with Consumers Union (publisher of Consumer Reports).  They went to the dealership with an agreed price for the trim level and option configuration they wanted, only to be told a specimen wasn't available and to be offered alternatives off the lot in hopes they'd bite just to have done with it all.  After about two hours or so of the dealer's people taking runs at them, a car meeting the desired specifications was found on a lot in Kansas City.  The sales manager tried to get them to agree to have it driven down to Wichita instead of being shipped in a closed trailer.  My parents refused to pay ~$30,000 to have someone else rack up two hundred miles at highway speeds during the break-in period.

Two cars were delivered to this dealer from KC the same day, which saw significant snowfall (this was in early March).  My parents' car was clean and shiny (by and large, it still is).  The buyer of the other had unwisely agreed to let it be driven, and it was coated in road salt.

My mother said to the sales manager, "These cars sell themselves because they are considered the gold standard for reliability.  Why do you make it so difficult for a customer to buy from you?"  He had no answer.

[texaskdog]

I bought mine at Carmax because while you overpay you don't deal with the BSing salesmen.  I went to Kia and they wouldn't sell to me at the "online price" so I walked out.  Best to buy from a private dealer if you have the car checked out.

[jeffandnicole]

I bought mine at Carmax because while you overpay you don't deal with the BSing salesmen.  I went to Kia and they wouldn't sell to me at the "online price" so I walked out.  Best to buy from a private dealer if you have the car checked out.

I sold my dad's relatively older car to CarMax after he had a stroke and eventually had to go on Medicaid.  They offered much higher than what I was expecting, and without any legwork involved on my part other than driving it over there.

As far as Kia goes...I'm very sure my mother-in-law got screwed over.  Now, before I continue, I actually like her, so there's no hatred like you normally get with an in-law situation.  I'm not sure where the screwing over happened - she purchased one new car from them, then a year or two later traded it in for another new vehicle.  She did this all on her own, so I didn't ask about any details of the transaction.  But when we were talking about selling it as she doesn't really drive anymore, I found out she's basically going to be deeply underwater until sometime in year 4 of the 5 year loan she had.  They screwed her royally, but there was nothing I could do about it.

[nexus73]

And as far as high pressure sales tactics go:  Don't believe a single thing the salesperson says.  If it's truly a hot car that 3 others are looking at (even though the car has sat on the lot for a month), let them outbid each other and move on to another vehicle.  If the deal can only be done today, then he'll be out a lot of money if he doesn't let you come back tomorrow.  If he has pictures of his wife and 3 kids on his desk, assume they're printed off the internet from Google images.  I don't care what the salesperson says...don't believe a damn word of it.

Having worked with the public for years, I try my best to be a polite, easy-to-deal with customer in most of my transactions with businesses. But when I'm buying a car I turn into a total jerk, because the salespeople are total jerks, and the fastest way to get the transaction done feels like it's to make them get sick of dealing with me first and let me have the car.

I once told a salesperson who was jerking me around on the price that if he needs to make up the difference so badly, he could probably pawn his desk, because it looked way too expensive.

The whole song and dance is incredibly stupid, because I expected the same sort of environment but worse when I was buying a house, since the dollar amounts are ten times as much as they are with cars. Not so—everyone in the process was very professional, polite, and helpful. If there was any sort of hesitation on our part, the realtor would shrug and say "Well, on to the next one, then." It was a several-month process, to the point that we got comfortable enough with the realtor that toward the end all of us would outright heckle the particularly bad houses (but not while the selling agent was there, of course, that'd be rude). Negotiation took place by sending documents back and forth and signing to either accept or reject. It was actually pleasant.

That is a very interesting story of contrasts.  Thank you for sharing it!

Rick

[jeffandnicole]

And as far as high pressure sales tactics go:  Don't believe a single thing the salesperson says.  If it's truly a hot car that 3 others are looking at (even though the car has sat on the lot for a month), let them outbid each other and move on to another vehicle.  If the deal can only be done today, then he'll be out a lot of money if he doesn't let you come back tomorrow.  If he has pictures of his wife and 3 kids on his desk, assume they're printed off the internet from Google images.  I don't care what the salesperson says...don't believe a damn word of it.

Having worked with the public for years, I try my best to be a polite, easy-to-deal with customer in most of my transactions with businesses. But when I'm buying a car I turn into a total jerk, because the salespeople are total jerks, and the fastest way to get the transaction done feels like it's to make them get sick of dealing with me first and let me have the car.

I once told a salesperson who was jerking me around on the price that if he needs to make up the difference so badly, he could probably pawn his desk, because it looked way too expensive.

The whole song and dance is incredibly stupid, because I expected the same sort of environment but worse when I was buying a house, since the dollar amounts are ten times as much as they are with cars. Not so–everyone in the process was very professional, polite, and helpful. If there was any sort of hesitation on our part, the realtor would shrug and say "Well, on to the next one, then." It was a several-month process, to the point that we got comfortable enough with the realtor that toward the end all of us would outright heckle the particularly bad houses (but not while the selling agent was there, of course, that'd be rude). Negotiation took place by sending documents back and forth and signing to either accept or reject. It was actually pleasant.

That is a very interesting story of contrasts.  Thank you for sharing it!

Rick

Heck, I would've almost said heckle the house *while* the selling agent is there!  That feedback is actually good (ok, when done in a constructive-heckle sort of way), although a good real estate agent should know the issues already if a house isn't selling.  While some people may not want a house because there's "A list, no exceptions" issues, if someone truly has an interest in the house except there's odors, old paint or wallpaper, bad decor, etc, it would be good for the selling agent to know that, and can possibly encourage the owners to make some improvements to present it better.  I can only think of my experiences years ago when we were looking at houses...and we were just totally amazed at the selling condition of some of the houses we saw. 

But to Scott's points, the experiences and negotiations were fairly painless.  The only 'big' issue we had was there was a note on a bedroom door stating the carpet had been removed, but it would be replaced.  When at the settlement table, we mentioned this, but it had never been included within the negotiations, and of course there was no proof the note existed.   That bedroom is still carpetless today.

In nexus73's comment about contrasts (and now I'm just rambling): As they signed the papers, the previous owners cried; no doubt thinking of the memories in that house. My wife and I are ecstatic we're buying our first house.   They moved elsewhere within the town to a larger house; many years later I friended them on Facebook.   As we make improvements to the house and post them, they no doubt remember the non-permitted improvements they had done that we are fixing and I can sense a chuckle from them every time I mention some "wtf did the previous owners do here?" situations.  One of them though was they had left behind an old rocking chair in the attic, which seemed odd.  We figured it out quickly when we couldn't get it down the attic stairs - They had replaced the original stairs with a slightly smaller-overall set of stairs.  Many years later those stairs broke. I could replace them with the same size stairs, easily purchasable at Lowes/HD, or buy stairs that fit the original opening.  They were literally only $10 more, but had to be ordered online and incur substantial shipping costs.  I went that route anyway, since we do store a lot of stuff in the attic.  After they were installed, I got the rocking chair down.  I reached out to the previous owners, who told me that it was his grandmother's chair.  Their daughter was getting ready to have a baby, so the chair would be stretching 5 generations.  He came over and picked it up a few days later.

[golden eagle]

I'm planning on buying a new car sometime next year. I bought my current car in 2009, before sites like Cars.com, True Value and Carvana became ubiquitous. Just wondering if any of you or anyone you know bought a car through an online site and what was the experience like. I'd imagine a lot less hassle and no-pressure tactics. I read an article a few weeks ago rental car companies offering really good deals for cars they've taken out of circulation.

To clarify:  Are you buying a new car, or a used car?

Likely a used car.

[Scott5114]

Heck, I would've almost said heckle the house *while* the selling agent is there!  That feedback is actually good (ok, when done in a constructive-heckle sort of way), although a good real estate agent should know the issues already if a house isn't selling.  While some people may not want a house because there's "A list, no exceptions" issues, if someone truly has an interest in the house except there's odors, old paint or wallpaper, bad decor, etc, it would be good for the selling agent to know that, and can possibly encourage the owners to make some improvements to present it better.  I can only think of my experiences years ago when we were looking at houses...and we were just totally amazed at the selling condition of some of the houses we saw. 

Most of the "heckling" took place whenever we had already identified issues earlier in the tour that caused us to lean toward a "pass", but I always wanted to finish the tour, just for the sake of completeness in case something later on down the line changed my mind–and, since it was my first time touring houses, I was enjoying the process of getting to see so many of them and learning from the experience.

It helps that our realtor really seemed to enjoy his job, and was very knowledgeable and happy to share everything he knew about both the home-buying process and the nuts and bolts of home ownership and maintenance. (As a side hobby, he also flips houses, and there were a few that he showed that weren't for us and he ended up putting offers in on them himself after we declined them.) His fiance is also a realtor, and there was one house where they had done some sort of outrageous corner-cutting with the cabinetry and he took some "get a load of this!" pictures to send her. There was another where a bathroom vanity barely came up to my wife's waist. She's 5'1", so she called the realtor in and asked "What do you think of this sink?" The realtor, who was something like 6'5", laughed and said, "I think I could wash my ankles in it."

[hbelkins]

I hate the whole car-buying song and dance. I'd much rather buy a car the same way I buy a bag of dog food or a pair of shoes.

[nexus73]

And as far as high pressure sales tactics go:  Don't believe a single thing the salesperson says.  If it's truly a hot car that 3 others are looking at (even though the car has sat on the lot for a month), let them outbid each other and move on to another vehicle.  If the deal can only be done today, then he'll be out a lot of money if he doesn't let you come back tomorrow.  If he has pictures of his wife and 3 kids on his desk, assume they're printed off the internet from Google images.  I don't care what the salesperson says...don't believe a damn word of it.

Having worked with the public for years, I try my best to be a polite, easy-to-deal with customer in most of my transactions with businesses. But when I'm buying a car I turn into a total jerk, because the salespeople are total jerks, and the fastest way to get the transaction done feels like it's to make them get sick of dealing with me first and let me have the car.

I once told a salesperson who was jerking me around on the price that if he needs to make up the difference so badly, he could probably pawn his desk, because it looked way too expensive.

The whole song and dance is incredibly stupid, because I expected the same sort of environment but worse when I was buying a house, since the dollar amounts are ten times as much as they are with cars. Not so—everyone in the process was very professional, polite, and helpful. If there was any sort of hesitation on our part, the realtor would shrug and say "Well, on to the next one, then." It was a several-month process, to the point that we got comfortable enough with the realtor that toward the end all of us would outright heckle the particularly bad houses (but not while the selling agent was there, of course, that'd be rude). Negotiation took place by sending documents back and forth and signing to either accept or reject. It was actually pleasant.

That is a very interesting story of contrasts.  Thank you for sharing it!

Rick

Heck, I would've almost said heckle the house *while* the selling agent is there!  That feedback is actually good (ok, when done in a constructive-heckle sort of way), although a good real estate agent should know the issues already if a house isn't selling.  While some people may not want a house because there's "A list, no exceptions" issues, if someone truly has an interest in the house except there's odors, old paint or wallpaper, bad decor, etc, it would be good for the selling agent to know that, and can possibly encourage the owners to make some improvements to present it better.  I can only think of my experiences years ago when we were looking at houses...and we were just totally amazed at the selling condition of some of the houses we saw. 

But to Scott's points, the experiences and negotiations were fairly painless.  The only 'big' issue we had was there was a note on a bedroom door stating the carpet had been removed, but it would be replaced.  When at the settlement table, we mentioned this, but it had never been included within the negotiations, and of course there was no proof the note existed.   That bedroom is still carpetless today.

In nexus73's comment about contrasts (and now I'm just rambling): As they signed the papers, the previous owners cried; no doubt thinking of the memories in that house. My wife and I are ecstatic we're buying our first house.   They moved elsewhere within the town to a larger house; many years later I friended them on Facebook.   As we make improvements to the house and post them, they no doubt remember the non-permitted improvements they had done that we are fixing and I can sense a chuckle from them every time I mention some "wtf did the previous owners do here?" situations.  One of them though was they had left behind an old rocking chair in the attic, which seemed odd.  We figured it out quickly when we couldn't get it down the attic stairs - They had replaced the original stairs with a slightly smaller-overall set of stairs.  Many years later those stairs broke. I could replace them with the same size stairs, easily purchasable at Lowes/HD, or buy stairs that fit the original opening.  They were literally only $10 more, but had to be ordered online and incur substantial shipping costs.  I went that route anyway, since we do store a lot of stuff in the attic.  After they were installed, I got the rocking chair down.  I reached out to the previous owners, who told me that it was his grandmother's chair.  Their daughter was getting ready to have a baby, so the chair would be stretching 5 generations.  He came over and picked it up a few days later.

Good on you for handing the chair back to the family. 

My take on home ownership: You don't own the house as much as it owns you...LOL!

That was a lovely story by the way.  Feel free to ramble on :-)

Rick

[TravelingBethelite]

I hate the whole car-buying song and dance. I'd much rather buy a car the same way I buy a bag of dog food or a pair of shoes.

And how would that work? I assume like a grocery store, pick your desired make, model, and trim off the shelf?

[Takumi]

I bought mine at Carmax because while you overpay you don't deal with the BSing salesmen.  I went to Kia and they wouldn't sell to me at the "online price" so I walked out.  Best to buy from a private dealer if you have the car checked out.

Both my Acuras have come from Carmax. Never had a bad moment with them, and like Jeff said, they gave me more than expected for my trade-in. Only quibble I have is that the service department usually has a very long queue, but as long as I'm under warranty with them that's where I'm going to go.

[J N Winkler]

I hate the whole car-buying song and dance. I'd much rather buy a car the same way I buy a bag of dog food or a pair of shoes.

And how would that work? I assume like a grocery store, pick your desired make, model, and trim off the shelf?

It would be a bit like that, but with catalog or online ordering as a backup for merchandise not actually in stock.  This is nothing new:  Saturns were sold that way in the nineties.  The sales personnel were simply instructed to politely deflect attempts to negotiate.

The 1994 Saturn that is still in the family after 26 years was a special order.

[roadman]

I have always purchased used cars, usually lfrom ow mileage leases that were turned in.  However, I've bought my cars from a dealer that sells the make of car new.  Among other things, this insures I'll get notified of any recalls and technical service bullitens for the vehicle.

[hbelkins]

I hate the whole car-buying song and dance. I'd much rather buy a car the same way I buy a bag of dog food or a pair of shoes.

And how would that work? I assume like a grocery store, pick your desired make, model, and trim off the shelf?

It would be a bit like that, but with catalog or online ordering as a backup for merchandise not actually in stock.  This is nothing new:  Saturns were sold that way in the nineties.  The sales personnel were simply instructed to politely deflect attempts to negotiate.

The 1994 Saturn that is still in the family after 26 years was a special order.

Yes. The no-haggle policy that Saturn implemented is the way I would prefer.

[kphoger]

My wife and I have bought three cars so far, all used:

(1)  The car we wanted had already been sold when we got to the dealership.  We told the salesman how much we were approved for, and he only had one vehicle on the lot, but they hadn't even inspected or cleaned it yet because it had arrived the evening before.  If we agreed to buy it as-is, then take it in later for a cleaning, then we could have it for our asking price.  We did, and then we drove it for another 150,000 miles and sold it with 204,000 miles on the odometer.

(2)  I found the vehicle I wanted online, at a dealership in Tennessee.  We put down a deposit and drove there from Wichita, then found out it was a different trim level than advertised–which meant it wasn't the "off road" package I was anticipating (possibly an honest mistake because it was indeed 4WD, just didn't have the extras like skid plates etc).  Everything was good on the car, though, so we bought for the price quoted.  It treated us well, but I totaled it by accidentally running a red light and T-boning another car.

(3)  I found three possible replacement vehicles for #2 at dealerships in the Kansas City area.  We drove by the first dealership, it looked shady, so we kept driving.  At the second one, we found the vehicle on the lot, then the dealership owner told us someone else had already put down a deposit.  We told him we were prepared to pay cash for it and weren't leaving town without the car we wanted–either the one on his lot or one on a different dealer's lot.  He called his finance officer on his day off, while he was at his son's football game, and talked with him for a while, then eventually told us the other couple was denied.  I suspect they didn't actually know yet if they were approved or denied, so they just decided to sell to the guy in the office ready to pay cash.  We're still driving that car, more than 50,000 miles later.  The SES light came on while we were there, the dealer said the code came back with no description, and then he cleared it.  Shady!  After we bought it, though, and it came back on later, it turned out to just be a code for the catalytic converter, so most likely a faulty oxygen sensor.  Considering that we had driven #1 with the catalytic converter completely backwards for 100,000 miles, I'm not too concerned.  It currently has about 218,000 miles on the odometer, and the only concerning thing right now is loss of oil pressure at idle.  Probably either the oil pump going out or else a clogged oil pickup screen, but there's really no way to know without taking things apart.

[Thing 342]

I purchased my most recent car (used) through USAA's TrueCar. It was a former demo car with most of the features I wanted up at a dealer in Pennsylvania. I applied through the site and drove up to the dealer with an agreed price and financing in hand. I did get put through the typical manufacturer financing and extended warranty nonsense, but was able to drive home with my new purchase that day at the list price.