Buying a car?

Written by Vanessa Santilli for Bankrate Canada on Nov. 24

Buying a new car can be tricky and overwhelming. However, a free guide — The Seven Deadly Sins of Car Buying That Could Cost You Dearly, and How to Avoid Them — aims to demystify the process and help consumers get the best deals.

new-car1-3Author Viraf Baliwalla, an auto-buying consultant and president of Automall Network, teaches a course on how to buy a car at Humber College in Toronto and Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont. His guide provides an insider perspective aimed at helping consumers make informed choices.

“I think it’s a bit of an eye-opener and an education,” says Baliwalla, whose business started as an online classifieds website back in 1999. “There’s a lot that happens in the car business that most people are not aware of.”

How it works

Automall Network conducts independent market price studies that focus specifically on what the best prices are for vehicles, says Baliwalla. That data is sold for $75 in the form of Automall Networks’ Best Price Report, which details the best prices in your market for a particular vehicle.

“Now that you have that professionally generated data and you know what your target is, you can virtually eliminate your need for comparison shopping and you can negotiate your deal that much more quickly,” he says.

And, for shoppers that don’t want to negotiate on their own, Automall Network will take care of the details (price, terms, etc.) for a fee of $295. “We don’t get paid by dealers at all,” he says. “Everything we get as far as the discount is passed on to the customer.”

Tips for buying a car

  • Be aware of dealer invoice pricing. There are two levels, says Baliwalla. “There’s the true invoice price that you and I will never see and then there’s another one that the manufacturers provide to them.” This secondary one leads customers to believe they are landing a great deal.
  • Don’t shop based on monthly payment. One of the first things dealers learn in basic sales training is to get buyers thinking in terms of monthly payment instead of overall price. As outlined in the guide’s Sin #1: “This distracts your thinking away from whether you are getting a good price or not and toward how to make this car fit into your monthly budget.”
  • Always read the fine print. As cliché as it may sound, all that glitters is not gold. When reading ads publicizing low-priced vehicles, be sure to look for asterisks that will explain conditions attached or additional costs involved. As pointed out in the guide, it’s easier for dealers to sell you a car face to face “in the excitement of the car buying mood.”

Vanessa Santilli is a freelance writer in Toronto.

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