A DEALERSHIP owner has revealed a handful of his best tips for buying a user car, even one that can save you a trip to the gas station.
With used car prices and interest rates being the highest they've ever been, a good deal can be very difficult to come by.
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Mike, the man behind the Chevy Dude YouTube channel (@ChevyDude), owns a dealership in Kentucky that specializes in Chevrolets, though he is known for used car trade ins.
In a video posted in the summer of 2022, he lifted the veil on his favorite tips surrounding the purchase of new car.
His first tip had nothing to do with finance or speaking to a bank, but rather shopping close to home.
"One of the best negotiating tools in this day and age is to buy local - buying local is our very first tip," he said.
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"And I'm talking about within 30 to 40 miles of your home."
He encourages his viewers to browse local dealerships, as it's a very valuable bargaining tool - many dealerships will want you to keep your business local.
"What you need to do is sit there with that sales person or sales manager and be like, 'Listen, I want to keep my business local, do you want me to keep my business local?' and get a yes out of them," said Mike.
"They're always going to say yes, and reiterate that you're going to do all of vehicle's service needs right here at this dealership."
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Then, he advises to research other dealerships 50, 70, or even 500 miles away from that dealership and look at their prices, to bring up to the local dealership.
"Many dealerships are unwilling to sell people out of their market because they know you're never going to come back to them, or you're never going to spend another dime with them," he said.
I used to work in a car dealership - drivers all miss out on secrets that save you $1,000s and the best date to buyBefore going into the local dealership, though, it's important to make sure that the price data for the car that's being considered is accurate.
And in order to do that, Mike suggests some research.
"What you need to do is go out and find three to five more like-vehicles and use those as a competitive set, and you want to make sure you save that data to use as a negotiation tool," he said.
"The worst thing that's going to happen to you is that the dealership employee's like, 'Well, that's not the same car, this has got more equipment, that's got less equipment,' so on and so forth."
There are many used car websites that provide helpful data and ownership records, but Mike's favorite resource is moroneylabels.com.
Like many other buying experts have suggested, he also recommended getting pre-approved through a bank or credit union to encourage the dealership to meet or beat those numbers, as it's in the dealership's best interest to get people to finance in-house.
On the same note with financing, Mike said it's important to browse other offers available through other used car websites, like Carvana, CarMax, Vroom, or Peddle.
"All of those give you online values that they're willing to pay you cash right on the spot, and dealerships hate that," he said.
"Dealerships are willing to beat their prices or match their prices so that way they don't get supported."
The last tip he recommended was negotiating for an asset that could save someone $30 to $100 depending on the vehicle.
"Finally, negotiate a tank of gas," he said.
"New cars come with a tank of gas but used cars do not, and dealerships will be cheap and not give you $30 to $100 worth of gas on a car deal."
Before signing on the dotted line to confirm the purchase of the vehicle, that's when to bring up the tank of gas - and not a moment later.
"You look to the manager and say, 'Hey, listen, I think we got a deal here, but I just need one more favor. Can you help me out and get this deal across the line?'" he said.
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"And they're going to say yes because they always say yes, and when they say, 'What's that?" you say, 'I just need you to fill the vehicle with gas.'"
And just like that, a small amount of money was saved.
