Finding the Best Car Deals Today

Good car deals sit on every corner. Prices are always slashed. Rebates always promise cash, and easy payment plans make a signature worth tens of thousands of dollars. Good car deals happen daily, but the best new car deals take a little more effort. The best car deals have been likened to a surfer riding the perfect wave or the Zen archer releasing the arrow at the divine moment. Those achievements happen rarely and with great dedication and preparation, and so it is with finding the best car deals.

The journey to the best car deals begin with research, and research begins on the Internet. Search for any make, model and year of any vehicle, and the Internet will provide a plethora of information; everything from the objective vital statistics to the subjective review sites. Hard data, from fuel tank capacities and g-forces in corners will mix with personal experiences ranging from foul smells wafting from the heater vents to odd clangs in the rear end will be posted somewhere in someway. A little time perusing these sites will reveal a car’s strengths and weaknesses. Certain makes and models will show consistent reports of comfortable seats, or exhaust manifold leaks, or poor handling or excellent brakes. The good will show next to the bad, and along with the education you will receive on a vehicle’s particular profile will be its price.

Manufacturers will post their suggested retail price.  Sites like the Kelley Blue Book and NADA freely and objectively post prices for vehicles new and used, from excellent to poor conditions. Knowing how much a car is worth helps you to arrange your finances and have confidence in finding the best car deals. Remember that the best car deals mean spending money wisely, not just getting a good bargain. Buying the wrong car for a cheap price helps no one but the seller. Sometimes you may have to pay a little more to get what you want, but money well spent has value and holds no regrets.

If you have been thrifty and saved your pennies, you may be able to bust open the piggy bank and purchase the vehicle outright. A cash deal always helps achieve good car deals. You may even gain some bargaining leverage when the seller sees a wad of cash, but if you must finance all or part of you vehicle purchase, some time and research at your local bank or credit union will arm your with more alternatives than simply accepting the terms of the dealer’s financing. Remember that the best car deals will come on your terms, and your ability to pay will be a critical component of the transaction.

With your research completed and the financing in place, the quest for the best car deals escalate with the actual hunt, the locating of the vehicle that will be the object of this deal. Again, the search begins on the Internet by checking dealer inventories. The search may yield promising results immediately, but patience plays a big factor in finding the best car deals.

Let’s say that new model on the showroom has inspired that giddy wonder coupled with undeniable lust. You must have it. You must have it now, and the dealer is happy to sell it to you now. However, for that immediacy, for that newness and instant gratification, you will pay a premium. Certainly, if you have the funds, and you want the car now, then you have made the best car deal for the moment.

But what if you could contain yourself, just a little? What if you let that brand new, shiny, sexy, object of your desire sit for a week? What if you let it sit for a month? What if it sat there for three months and moved from the show room out to the lot?  What if you searched the dealer’s lot and found the same model with low miles made three years previously? Certainly a new car that sits for a few weeks on a lot will be available for a lower price and is one way to get new car deals. The longer it sits, the lower the price, and a model three years old may cost half of initial selling price.

Given that new makes and models from all the manufacturers flood the marketplace regularly, and given that most cars depreciate in value with the ticking of the clock, ultimately the best car deals happen when the dynamics of the sale achieve harmony. As with the surfer or the archer, when the right car at right price meets the right buyer at the right time, good car deals can happen.