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One of the greatest joys and stresses in life is when you have the opportunity to buy a brand new car. It's a great experience to buy new, particularly if it's your first time. However, there is a good sized chunk of money involved so not only are you likely to be concerned about the price you are going to have to pay, but will also need to make sure you get the right vehicle for your needs and wants. Make sure you end up with the car that you will love for a long time! Purchasing a car is right up there with buying a house as far as stress goes. A new car is a major investment and can be extremely costly. There are many different models and makes of vehicle with even more choices available in accessories and options to choose from. There are different sizes and different vehicles for various purposes. Some of the fun in buying a new car is the fact that you can go and test-drive any or all of them. The other fun part is in trying to decide just what your needs are and then looking at what your wants are. Today's vehicles offer many fun driver enhancements. Buying a new car means you can choose the color you want. You can choose the type of upholstery you would like to have, like cloth or leather. As far as the audio system, you can keep the one that comes with your chosen vehicle or you can upgrade to a fancier one or even add in a complete entertainment system. The same goes for all those great high-tech gadgets you might have heard about like navigation systems. But what if you can't find exactly what you want? What if the vehicle has everything you want but you just couldn't see yourself driving a car in that particular color. This is another joy of buying new. If you have an idea of what you want but can't find it in the dealers showroom, his lot or on his website, then go to that dealer and first have him check regionally or nationally to see if 'your' vehicle exists in some other dealer's inventory list. If it does, then your dealer can arrange to trade or buy that vehicle for you outright. If no one happens to have this special car anywhere in the country, then you will need to special order what you want. Dealers will special order the car of your dreams to your exact specifications - providing they exist! However, special orders can cost more. Special orders take time, as long as five to six weeks from domestic manufacturers. If the car you want to order is very popular, then you will have to wait even longer. These cars can often already have a backlog of orders waiting. You will be the next in line. As far as Import manufactures go, many don't allow special orders at all. Japan is a prime example. For Honda's Acura, they offer only slight specification options for the buyer can special order. These include color, navigation and sometimes a sunroof. But that is all that's available. The other cost factor to consider with special orders is that your vehicle won't be available for any of the special pricing, rebates, incentives or low-interest financing. These special bonuses are only on cars in the dealer's inventory. Dealers have to be competitive today and many of the incentives can run from $500-$5,000. The other thing to consider is that there will be little to no negotiating on the price for special order cars. Therefore if price is a huge issue, then you may want to take another look at what your dealer has available and compromise on some of your wants. Dealers are always happy to negotiate price on the stock in order to cut their interest payments due on those vehicles plus it allows them to move stock out so that they will have room to bring in new inventory.