Went new car shopping today.

Wait another year, when the chip shortage ends and production gets back to normal dealers won’t be asking you to pay over sticker and discounts should come back. I’ve read manufacturers are building the higher priced top of the line models for now so they should also get back to selling the more affordable models by then.
I’ve also read posts here by those in auto sales and they say to negotiate first before telling them you are going to pay cash, dealers make money off the loans.

 

My recent experience: purchased my 2021 Tacoma TRD Sport Black Pearl in the next state (Maryland) because a friend at work told me about the great service at the dealership. (We live in Delaware) A little background...I'm 55, retired from AF in 2011 (25yrs active duty) and currently working at hospital as Surgical Materials Specialist.

1. Accident on Oct 2, 2018, 2003 Honda Pilot purchased in Hawaii; it had over 200K miles at the time. Total loss--$4500 from insurance company.
2. Bought 2010 Mazda CX-9/110K miles less than 30 days later for $10K/cash.

Winter 2020, I mentioned to my wife I wanted to buy a Tundra--she made a joke about the size of the truck and suggested something smaller. I start looking at the Tacoma.

First off, the price difference was dramatic. Fuel economy was abysmal. So there I go looking at which model Tacoma I wanted.

This is totally personal preference but I liked the scoop on the hood of the Sport and the 17" wheels. I looked online from Maryland dealership for incoming models and noticed prices over $40K included technology packages and others...which I didn't consider because I had decided my threshold was under $40K or as close to it.

So, off we goto the dealership to test drive what's on the lot. I think it was an SR5 that I drove and I quickly got a feel for it. I have a CX-9 I didn't want to keep so told them to appraise it. They initially told me $4200 but later after the $1K discount they promised was reduced to $500. The dealership made it up by adding the $500 to my appraisal giving me $4700.

I wrote a check for $5K but didn't tell them I was pre-approved for $46K at less than 2% interest. The finance guy was puzzled when he asked the interest rate I was given...their's was just over 3% with the FICO score I had. (The loan rep from my bank was impressed with the interest rate I qualified for because they had never seen it that low).

Refinancing our house and paying off credit card debt earlier in the year helped us get to 800+ FICO score.

I have at least 10 years to work...trying to cut that to 5 years with some financial planning in the works.

So, having a threshold ($40K) and of course a trade-in and some cash for down payment helped in the loan process. No penalty for early payoff so as long as I make the monthly loan payment, I can put money away into Savings and pay into my retirement accounts. It's a balancing act but as long as I continue to work and get annual pay raises, we are good.

Every situation is different so at 62, your position is different than mine. I don't plan on buying another vehicle for a while. My wife on the other hand, just paid off her 2017 Elantra and has been jonesing for a new Honda Civic. We'll see how that works out.

Ed

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A bit off topic but thank you for your service. My wife's grandson is coming up on the end of his first year in. He's in Security Forces and got an FDS at Minot AFB. Hopefully he'll make a career out of it.

 

By 1986 they were fuel injected which fixed most of the reliability and driveability issues most early 80's carburetor equipped cars had.

They weren't a bad little car to live with -- not fast but fairly thrifty, easy to drive and easy to fix. They had no blind spots, a spacious interior and trunk for a small car and enough headroom you could wear a Stetson hat if desired.

The early to mid 80's wasn't a great time in domestic automobile manufacturing, compared to its contemporaries I give the Reliant a solid pass.

 

A Ford Fairmont, Futura model (top of the line) or possibly its company twin a Mercury Zephyr Z-7. The taillights look Fairmont style though. The spoiler is an add on.

 

I somehow had never seen a Fairmont (or Zephyr) coupe. Didn't even know they had existed.

 

Fairmont - the Fairlane name wasn't used after the late 1960's.

These were the top of the line cars in their line, the personal luxury versions of the more pedestrian 4 doors and wagons. I don't believe these were strong sellers as ford also offered the Thunderbird which carried more clout as a personal luxury car.

There was also a 2 door sedan that is less common than than the coupe.

 

Thats cute you think this is going to turn right around in a year or two. It takes about 1-2 weeks on average for localized economies to recover for a single day disruption in trade/supplies.


We're at almost 2 years of this with another 3 years of sabotage to go. Your children are going to grow up owning nothing, barely able to feed themselves or have a real future. I'd suggest planning your future around long term durability, national scarcity and hedge assets in something other than the dollar.

Welcome to the long emergency.

 

This is brilliant!

 

Everybody talks about their car values going up and what not. It’s majorty due to inflation. We assume it’s a production shortage because that’s just what we want to think in our heads.

 

I include lots of testimonials in my replies at times...genuinely like to share my experiences.

Hopefully, your grandson can make a career out of the service. My son-in-law did one term in the USAF/Electrical Power Production, got the GI Bill and is using it now for his degree in Architecture. The service is not for everyone.

My truck buying story is fresh on my mind and the experience wasn't too much of a burden on our finances. My wife needs to see the numbers before I proceed with a big purchase...I need her blessing so I can have a Happy Life...for those married, we know that all too well.

Today's vehicle purchasing market is challenging. The chip shortage did not affect my decision and basically exploded on the news after our purchase in May. I had a trade-in so instead of haggling a price, I used it as part of the down-payment. Plus, I looked at the lowest price TRD Sport with the least expensive package. My price was $38,803 not including TTL. $10K deposit (Trade-in + $5K), personal loan less than 1.9% w/o early payoff penalty.

I've still got some working years before I hit 60 and it would be nice to retire about that age or sooner. I'm still enjoying my logistics job at the hospital and the department I support appreciate my knowledge/skillset from my time in the USAF (My whole career was Logistics/Material Management).

Keeping on topic, my mother (who was in the banking industry her whole career) suggests using a loan to your advantage by creating a line of credit that shows history of making on-time payments, which leads to good credit, and using the larger portion of funds to invest while paying off the loan.

That may not work for everyone but it's taken me a couple of decades to see the light. Successful money management is the key and I'm not an expert on the subject...I just take my mother's advice as well as my wife's, and move forward.

Ed

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Car dealers pays more for your trade-in, is because they can sell it more to other people.

Inflation is with the same amount of money, you can buy less now than before.

Back in the winter of 2018 when I was shopping for a new 2019 6MT TRD OR Base, the actual quote I got were $31-32k, 10% off sticker. Now they are laughing at you for asking to pay sticker at $40k.

 

Wasn't there a Ranchero version with an open bed?

 

I’ve never heard that. My dad paid cash for his Tacoma, once the dealer knew that, they dropped another $2000 off of what they already took off. The sales guy was extremely happy about it too.
The same for my father in law years ago when he bought a car.

 

Just curious, this is a statement but gives no rationale. Why is this true? I'm genuinely trying to understand what is behind your thinking.

Cars direct explains why they think the price increases are mostly due to pandemic related shortages.

https://www.carsdirect.com/deals-articles/why-are-used-cars-so-expensive

 

They gave little shits about it when I paid cash for mine. It just made me seem like a more serious buyer because they knew I didn’t need to deal with financing as it seems to hold a couple of people up.
And they still ran my credit …. Bastards

 

That’s crap. They didn’t run my parents when my dad got his. A good thing too, they had their credit locked and my mom wasn’t going to deal with that on a smartphone (she’s not tech savvy).

 

I think it’s mis-categorized. It’s not really a shortage but more like unprecedented demand now that everyone is off their ass and looking to do shit after lock up. Most automakers planned for a downturn instead and it takes months/years to ramp up production (see Tesla challenges)

This coupled with some supply chain + production challenges and you have a perfect shit storm due to covid protocols…

Granted obviously oversimplified but that’s the gist of it

 

The option was do you want the truck or not.

I wanted the truck so they ran my credit anyways … didn’t impact my score so I didn’t really care.

Would have financed but trd pros don’t have any specials so it’s 3% or bring your own financing which is also a hassle

 

You know, that's a good point. I walked in pre-approved for a loan...they didn't need to run my credit but I approved it.

Had I told them I was already approved for a loan, (not telling them the threshold amount) would they have had issues with NOT running my credit? I would ask, "Why do you need to run my credit when my bank has already approved it?"

After I brought my truck home, I got a letter from the Toyota Financing saying they didn't approve my loan through them. I'm like whatttt????

I broke up with you Toyota Financing, not the other way around. But, what is done is done. I'll know better for next time.

As for my trade-in...I think I did well getting $4700 considering the dealership was pushed in a corner when they tried to pawn off the $500 Mother Toyota wouldn't pay as part of the $1K discount (if I financed with Toyota) so they added it to the initial $4200. I wanted to part with the car and get a decent trade-in value. I'd rather not know what they charge someone else for my trade-in...but that's just me.

Ed

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