Saving Money Buying Auto's

I got a message from a friend the other day saying how cheap it was to buy a vehicle nowadays. It seems that everyone is offering zero percent financing for up to six years!!! Even the almighty Toyota brands are offering discounts and financing options, this was unheard of for them up to even six months ago. So basically is question to me was, “is this a good time to buy now?”

So I then proceeded to go out to the car lots and do some investigating. First stop, the local Toyota dealership. As I looked around I saw very few new vehicles and many used vehicles for sale. I talked to the salesman about the only new Highlander that was on the lot. I looked at the price and then proceeded to bargain with him as if I was going to buy it. In true Toyota fashion he didn’t budge much on the price saying that he doesn’t have to bargain on the price because Toyotas are a high demand vehicle and someone will buy it soon. I was tempted to tell him to wake up and look around. People are not buying vehicles when they are worried about their retirement, savings and mortgages. This isn’t 2005 anymore when everyone just refinanced and spent money at will. So I left the lot shaking my head wondering what person is going to pony up full price for that vehicle with options out the wazzoo.

My next stop was the local Ford dealership. I’ll tell you what; I hardly saw one new car on the lot. 99% of the car lot was used vehicles. I talked to the manager and he said that he was more than willing to deal with me on a used car and if I really wanted something new he could order me one. The fact is that they just couldn’t afford to keep a new stock of cars on the lot that they knew they couldn’t move. The only new vehicles on the lot were the F-150’s and F-250’s. Even most of those were 2008’s which would be going off the lot at a big discount in order to make room for the 2009’s.

So that’s my tale of two dealerships. One that realized the economic times and the other that was still living on past sales. I didn’t go to Chevy, Dodge or Honda because those two case studies were all that I was looking for. Here’s something to gnaw on though. Even if you want a new vehicle you better have the finances to do it because lenders are getting pretty weary of anyone that needs any type of credit…especially for new vehicles.

My advice to my friend was to wait until 2009. I’m predicting a crash for the auto industry as a whole due to the fallout of the current economy. Even if the economy improves by then the industry will feel the effects of the past year and it will become a trickle down effect…a delayed reaction if you may. If you have the money saved up and really want a new vehicle I would suggest to wait. The offers will get better and the discounts will get larger by early 2009 which will save you tons of money.