For the average middle class, buying a car is a serious money investment that must be carefully thought after a comprehensive car model's research: How much is a automobile energy consumption efficiency per mile, seat and backseats size, aditional features etc. But picking the right automobile is not only the aspect one must take into account when you're trying to spend the right amount of money. You see, car dealers don't keep their prices intact for a year. Sometimes when sales are slow during a month they are willing to take a loss in order to meet their quotas at the end of the month. You can go to your local car dealer the last days of a month (29th, 30th, 31th..) to see if they are offering bargains.
The best deals which I have come across are those to do with government or company sales and auction sites. This is because due to the high maintenance standards which is not common with individually owned cars, these vehicles are as good as new though they are second hand. Another source of good bargains is to look for yard sales involving the expatriarte community who regularly dispose off their vehicles at a fraction of the buying price. These avenues also confer credibility as to the functionality of the vehicle.
We bought our Ford Escape in January 2013 but that car was model 2012. For that past model, we got a 10% discount worth more than $2,000 plus some freebies. The best freebie is the free registration which costs around $200 only but the hardest part is the procedure which the dealer handled for us. Our other car is a Mitsubishi Mirage which we bought in the same year with the same model 2013 so the discount is not much.
I'm not looking to buy a car right this minute, but I'm hoping it's a real possibility by the end of the year. So these are really good pointers for someone like me, who's never bought a car LOL Thanks for sharing, @davos. One of the most important things to me is definitely fuel consumption, as i'd be looking to avoid fuel guzzlers!
The auctions can be hit or miss. Most coming from the government are being sold because of mileage/age exceeding the limit. I have bought cars there before and have done well, but I've also seen horror stories. The biggest issue is that you cannot test drive them. In one case I had a friend buy a truck that started will, in great overall shape, went into drive and reverse and so on. When the time came to drive it home, the truck had 3rd gear gone in the automatic transmission. He had to purchase a a manufactured trans which set him back about 2000 dollars.
