MDWholesale Automotive Blog

Are you in the market for a new car or truck?  Are you thinking of replacing one of your vehicles with either a new or used vehicle?  Well there are some things that you need to know if you want to save some money and not make the dealer rich.  There is a reason why car dealers are all millionaires – they know how to get as much profit and as much money out of your pocket as possible.

Car dealers don’t just sell you a vehicle – that was the way it was back in the 60s and 70s.  Nowadays they sell you the vehicle, the financing to go with the vehicle (which most of the time makes them more money than selling the vehicle in the first place), extended warranties (which they always double the price on), and numerous other gizmos and things you’ve never heard of before to help supposedly protect your car that you’ve purchased.

Are any of these things were what you would pay for it the dealer had his way and you paid top dollar – absolutely not.  Some of the things dealers have sold in the past and that still continue to sell today are actually borderline fraud.  So don’t let your dealer befriend you because that is their whole mission and then they can fleece you blind.  So how do you best prepare to go into a car dealership and get the best deal possible?

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First, do your homework, you would be amazed what you can find in just a few minutes reading a half an hour on the Internet.  You can easily find the invoice prices, the true cost of extended warranties and even pull your credit and get preapproved for a car loan with a great rate (be sure and avoid any financing through eBay for car purchases as whatever the company was last time I checked on their they were charging flat rate to everybody regardless of how good your credit is at 16% – which is a flat-out ripoff).   So with the Internet is so available and all this information so easy to access, there is no excuse for you not to know what the dealer’s true cost is and where he should be targeting for your car purchase price.  If you take the invoice price and at a few hundred dollars to it – you can buy almost any car at this price if you stick to your guns and you have the proof to show that you know what the price and costs are.

Now some dealers and their management staff will lie to you and tell you that the invoice price does not include transportation costs or that it doesn’t include cleaning and caring for the vehicle – this is all hogwash and lies as it will tell you that on the window sticker of the car that this is all taken care of by the car manufacturer.  If you really want to have fun with the car dealer looked up dealer hold back.  This is what the car dealer is paid by the manufacturer to help with advertising and other various costs so the car dealer doesn’t even pay the invoice price.  It is true cost is the invoice price minus the dealer hold back and then minus any other rebates to the dealer or sales incentives.  So even if the car dealer sold you the vehicle at the dealer hold back price he still making a profit.  But a fair price to target and never waver from is take the invoice price and add $300 to it. 

That is a very fair price and the dealer makes a healthy profit there.  Besides if the idiot sales manager doesn’t want to take your offer you can rest assured that his competition will.  Also be sure and check out your local credit unions as many of them offer some really great used car financing rates that none of the car dealers can touch.  And you will feel much better going to the car dealer having already been approved and knowing what your rate is.  Because then the car dealer can only beat your rate.  They can’t give you a higher rate because you won’t take that.  And you’ll feel great being armed with the true cost of the extended warranties.  So when the finance manager shows your price of $2500 tell them no and that you wanted for the same price they would pay from their own car which is $1200.  Why should you pay a $1300 profit for an extended warranty?  Oh but millions do because they don’t do a little bit of simple homework on the Internet.

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Next, take your used car trade in out of the picture.  You are always better off selling it on your own.  Especially with craigslist being free and having far better results than your local newspaper classifieds you have no excuse not to try and sell your vehicle on your own. Just by selling your vehicle on your own you’ll put another, on average, $3000 in your pocket.  Is it worth it to sell your vehicle to get that extra $3000?  Well the average American family makes $42,000 a year.  If you take out both state and federal taxes because it’s not your money, and let’s assume just a 30% total tax rate (your tax rate might be hire and upwards of 35% but weare just going to use 30% here for simplicity sake), you are left with $29,400 a year.  Now the average family spends one third of their income on their housing so that leaves $19,404 a year.  The average family spends around $5000 a year on food and another $2500 on gas.  That leaves $11,904 a year.  $3000 is a little over 1/4th of the average family’s real budget!  And unless you’re in the group of people that makes well over what the average family makes then you definitely should give some serious consideration to selling your vehicle rather than trading it in!

So if you do a little homework on the Internet you can literally save yourself an easy $5,000-$10,000 on your next car purchase.  All it takes is a little bit of time on the Internet and it isn’t hard to find the invoice prices, the true cost of the extended warranties and all the other items the car dealer’s staff is going to try and sell you on.  Plus you’ll save money by having your financing already in hand and knowing what your credit score is so the car dealers finance manager can’t play games with you to make it sound like your credit is worse than it really is – and yes they really do do this every time!  It’s exactly what they’re told to do and taught to do in their classes that they have to attend a become a finance manager in the first place, plus their compensation plan requires them to do this.  

So take some time, go on the Internet and Google keywords and search terms like invoice price and true cost of extended warranty.  Stop paying for the car dealers expensive country clubs, million-dollar mansions, Ferraris and Bentleys and their private jets.  Keep your money in your own pocket you work hard for it and you and your family deserve to keep as much of it as you can!

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If you’re like me, and you live in the South, then you probably have already started using you air-conditioner in your car or truck as soon as a month ago when the weather started getting warmer.  Well, ask yourself this – “does your air blow really cold or as cold as you think it should?”  If it doesn’t, and according to automotive trade magazines upwards of 90% of vehicles on the road in America today have A/C systems that are not fully charged, then you need to have it recharged.

Now you can easily go take your vehicle to your local car dealer, Pep Boy’s or similar car repair and service station and pay through the nose to have your air conditioner recharged.  Usually most of these high price repair shops and car dealers do not fix parts anymore, they replace instead as it makes for quicker repairs and higher profitability.  This does not mean it’s good for you, that actually means it is wasteful and bad.  Most of the time AC systems run low due to a small leak. These leaks can easily be repaired but the shops instead rely on replacement parts which Canada costing you hundreds or even thousands of dollars unnecessarily.

You can also opt to recharge your system yourself.  This is the cheapest and easiest method.  Nowadays they have cans of refrigerant at local auto parts supply stores and even Wal-Mart and Target that come with full directions and include everything you need including the gauge to tell you the pressure currently in the system and when it’s fully charged.  Depending on how low your system is you may need more than one can.  At an average price of $10 per can that’s really not bad.

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Now you’ll see that all current and recent model cars the new refrigerant R134A.  the old R12 or freon is no longer used and if you do have a vehicle that requires that you’re going to have to go and get a conversion kit to convert it to R134A.  these conversion kits aren’t too expensive and range in price of around $30-$40.  Next you need to look for word hook up on your vehicle.  Every car would truck comes with two a/c ports a high pressure and low pressure port.  On most of these vehicles that are made for sale in the United States these ports will have different sized hookups or adapters.

So when you you hookup up your can to recharge the a/c system you really can’t mess this one up as it will only fit the low pressure port.  Then follow the directions that come with the recharging kit. Which will tell you generally to start her car, turn the air conditioner onto high or maximum.  Be sure to watch the gauge to see if your system is charging.  Be sure and turn off the valve when it gets to the mark where it states fully charged.  Remove the AC recharge kit and test your A/C system to make sure it works and blows cold.

If you’re system was really low you might need more than one recharge kit or can.  If it leaks out within the next day or two no you have a bad leak which will need to be repaired.  They do make recharge kids that do have sealants included in them.  You should refrain from using these unless you have to as they will block the condenser and other parts of the AC system and cause them to eventually fail.  So only use them as a last resort if you have to.  It Is better to repair a leak than to patch one with a sealant kit.

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More great articles and posts from MDWholesale.com that you will want to read:

1. Fuel economy 101 and saving big at the pump!

2. All about HID headlights!

3. Car interior restoration

4. DIY windshield repair and Craigslist!

5. All about headlight repair and restoration!

6. How to save big on auto parts!

7. Headlight restoration and improving the look and safety of your car or truck!

8. Car detailing made simple!

From time to time we all end up in the predicament of selling a car.  Now sometimes many of us skip this predicament by just taking the vehicle to the car dealers and trading it in.  The problem here is you’re getting ripped off whether you see it or not.  The car dealer and his used car manager will never pay you above rough, wholesale value for your vehicle.  So you’re always better off selling it on your own.  But rather than using the usual classified ads in your local newspaper and spending a ton of money on a tiny little ad, you can use CraigsList absolutely free (its even better then using online auction sites like Ebay!)

Not only is Craigs List free, but also provides unlimited words and the opportunity to use as many pictures as you would like to fully convey the condition and worth of your vehicle to prospective buyers.  This is a great help as your local classified ads won’t let you list 20 or so words with no picture for an exorbitant price.  Most of time nowadays when you list the car under local newspaper classifieds the majority of the calls that you will receive are from wholesalers who are literally trying to steal the car out from under you.  

For instance, if your car is worth $5000 and is in really good shape, these scumbag wholesalers will show up at your house at 7 AM and try and flash $500 cash in your face.  And they will basically nag you to death to try and get your car for that low of a price.  Who needs that?  The good thing about craigslist is that most of wholesalers are a little slow at learning how to use the Internet so most have not discovered Craigslist as of yet.  So the calls you will get off craigslist tend to be real buyers and they tend to be very targeted buyers at that. 

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This is because of all of the wording you are allowed to put for free in your ad on Craigslist plus all the pictures you can place there.  This leaves no question as to the condition of the vehicle, its features, colors, etc…  Now, obviously, if you don’t take advantage of the unlimited words and pictures on Craigs List and make your ad look like the local newspaper classifieds with small ads  then that is your own fault and you will have poor results at best from that listing or ad.

To see what works best is easy.  Just log on to Craigslist for your local town by going to Craigslist.com and selecting your state and city.  Then just cruise through the posts and listings for people selling or looking to buy cars or trucks in your local area.  Look at the difference between this you’ll classifieds.  Obviously you can see far more information and great pictures on craigslist so you undoubtedly know exactly what you’re looking at.  This is why your buyers will be so targeted they will know exactly what the vehicle is your listing,  the condition of the vehicle and basically everything you know about it so they can take a look at it and buy it. 

How to detect if a car has been in an accident!

Generally, the people that come calling from craigslist are serious buyers and not the tire kickers and wholesalers you will find your local newspaper classifieds.  I have actually seen this firsthand as I used to own my own car dealership and the results from using Craigslist versus the local newspaper classifieds here in Charlotte (which would be the Charlotte Observer) are not even close.  Craigslist provided far superior results, sales and profits.  We had hundreds of more people come in and buy the cars through Craigslist then we ever did from the Charlotte Observer classifieds.

So, rather than getting ripped off by trading in your next vehicle, and rather than using expensive classifieds, use Craigslist to sell your vehicle regardless of whether it’s a car, truck or even motorcycle for a higher price and much faster.  With craigslist you will have a far higher number of serious buyers which is what you want because one of these buyers will most likely end up buying your vehicle.  No one wants to waste time with tire kickers, joyriders, wholesalers, etc…

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More great articles and posts from MDWholesale.com that you will want to read:

1.  Drunk driving and your driving safety.

2.  All about road hazard warranties and what you need to know!

3.  HID headlight bulb basics – what you need to know to get started with HID!

4.  Removing paint scratches from your car.

5.  Road safety tips to keep you safe on the road!

6.  The DIY guide to replacing worn headlight bulbs.

7.  Safe defensive driving!

8.  DIY window tinting – save big and do it yourself!