Buying a Car?

COE has plunged to new lows. A few of my friends are buying their first car. As cars are considered liabilities, I share some money saving tips when buying a car.

First, don't limit your choice, try to have a few options. Even though you may like a particular model only, try to have a few models where you can test drive and negotiate the best deals.

Once you have tried a few models (some you know you won't be buying), ask for the best deals (some will give leather seats, window film, discount, stereo upgrade, etc) Use whatever is negotiated to negotiate with the dealer of the car of your choice, but without giving the impression that you only want to purchase that particular model.

I recently helped a friend to negotiate a better deal for a Nissan, which the dealer was initially reluctant to give freebies. However, while my friend only wants the nissan model, we also looked at Mazda and Mitsubishi, and we managed to negotiate very good deals from the dealer, with one of them giving free solar film, cash discount and some other freebies. Using this, we negotiate with the Nissan dealer and managed to squeeze out a free solar film and cash discount.

Another trick is to avoid test drive (yes, avoid test drive, I am not kidding) Its a practice by many car dealers where sales rep locked in the potential client whom he served and then this client will not be allowed to purchase the car of the same marque from another sales rep. The lock in period is typically 2 weeks to 1 month. Once you test drive, you lost the upper hand in negotiating for a better deal. Only test drive once the deal is negotiated. If possible, test drive your friend's car for a better feel.

For continental marque, these cars are usually highly spec and therefore the straightforward thing is to negotiate for cash discount. I once managed to help a friend negotiate a 5 figure cash discount for a luxury car.