Car Buying Tips For Women

Car Buying Tips For Women

I read a very telling example in a blog post of how females feel when buying cars, that certainly bear repeating. Men can begin to understand how it feels for *most* females to walk into a used car lot or new dealership looking to negotiate a car price, by simply taking their children along to a playgroup that is held during usual working hours. Around 90% of the parents there will be female, and men can quickly grasp that the same feeling applies for female car buyers! Today we have some tips for female car buyers to get past that ‘fish out of water’ feeling and get a good price on your next car purchase, from arranging the car lease in advance to calling ahead.

1. Arrange a cheap car loan first

Use a car finance broker to get the best possible deal – there are brokers in Australia that actually guarantee that they will find you the best possible loan for your situation. Knowing that you have the power that ‘cash’ in your hand conveys can create an innate sense of confidence when dealing with the salesman.

2. Ask for a female salesperson if available

Make a shortlist of dealers that you would like to visit to see if they have the right vehicle for you. Then call ahead and ask if they have any female salespeople. If you are like the majority of women surveyed recently, you would probably feel more comfortable negotiating with a woman than a man. So, visit the dealerships that have female sales staff first. However, if the vehicles don’t suit you, don’t be shy to move on.

3. ALWAYS be prepared to walk away

There are literally hundreds of thousands of cars that you could buy. It does not have to be the one you are looking at right now. Never feel that you have to buy any particular car … it simply isn’t true. Even if you have taken up half an hour of the salesman’s time, even if you’ve taken it for a test drive, even if you already asked about getting a cheap car loan from the dealer. Only a signature on the dotted line prevents you walking away.

4. Know the invoice price for a new car

You can often find out what a car dealer paid for a new car model (though of course, there is no such tool for used cars!). Thinking about all the money that a dealer is making, straight from your pocket, is often incentive enough to bargain a bit harder.

5. Don’t accessorize at the dealer

If you want to get some of the extras or accessories, call around mechanics and find out what they would charge you to implement them. You’ll usually find that accessories are simply another way to increase a dealer’s margins on a car… and decrease your bank balance!