Online Car Shopping

5 Key Reasons
to Shop Cars Online

Online car shopping is quickly becoming the only way to shop for new or used cars. In fact, it's easier than ever to buy a car online.

I've found over the years that customers doing their car shopping online, not only saved more money (usually thousands more), but had a more pleasant, hassle free experience.

In the past the only way to become educated was to research sales prices from your local newspaper, look up used car blue book values manually and learn through experience.

Today, you have the availability of the Internet and have all this information available right at your fingertips at the speed of light.

Maybe not the speed of light, if you're using dial up, but I think you catch my drift.

Online car shopping allows you to research many different vehicles in a short time and in an unpressured environment. The importance of using the Internet to shop for cars cannot be stressed enough.

Use the tool just below to quickly find out for yourself how easy online car shopping truly is, or continue to read on to learn why I feel the Internet has made car buying fun again.

In the past you would have had essentially four ways to find information about cars for sale:

• You'd scour through endless, inky newspaper ads
• You'd see a local TV ad
• You'd hear a local radio ad
• Or you'd have load up the family and drive to ten different car dealerships, and deal with ten different sales people before you found the vehicle you wanted.

This was especially true if you were looking for a specific new or used vehicle.

Fortunately, you now have the Internet and can research and do your car shopping online without even changing out of your PJ's.

You can also begin the negotiation process online right from the comfort of your living room.

I don't know about you, but ten car dealerships, with ten sales people, with ten sales managers, with ten test drives sounds like a time consuming, exhausting day.

Compare this to a couple of mouse clicks and a simple I'm interested in this vehicle, what kind of discount can I get, email sent from the comfort of your home.

Don't just take my word for it, see for yourself...Get up to four quotes from local dealerships: Get A Quote. Quick.


2. Money Savings

This one ties in with the increased Leverage (get to that in a moment) you have at your fingertips.

You will save Money with online car shopping, because you have much more Leverage. Just as you know you can stop responding to someones emails, so does the car salesman at the other end.

They know they must keep you happy if they ever hope to get you to come to their car dealership and finalize a deal.

Once you find a vehicle you like, simply let them know where you stand up front:

I'm interested in buying this car, stock #123456, I've looked up invoice or the blue book value and I'm willing to pay $12,000 for it, do we have a deal?

If the answer is yes schedule a time to go down and test drive it.

If the answer is no look for another vehicle. See how much Time you just saved?

If the vehicle was listed for $15,000 and you bought it for $12,000, see how much Money you just saved?

Not only can you Get FREE quotes from Yahoo! Autos, but you'll get up to four quotes with only one request. This forces dealers to compete to earn your business with bigger discounts.

Knowledge is power! The more you know, the more confident you'll be when you enter the dealership to make your purchase.

You'll know all about the tricks car dealers will try to play and you certainly won't be one of those people you hear about getting put together (see slang words in the car salesman dictionary ) paying thousands of dollars more then they could have.

You'll also know the process, and will know what's around the next corner, which should drastically reduce your stress level.

Being Knowledgeable will also come across to the car salesman and his or her sales managers. They'll know that your not someone to try and play games with.

Of course, the knowledge you gain from online car shopping in the form of research for sales prices, trade values, similar vehicles at competing dealers for less money, etc. is invaluable.


4. Aggravation Savings

You will save yourself a lot of Aggravation car shopping online.

One of the most commonly pointed to reason for people hating car dealerships, is the car buying process.

This involves:

• The back and forth

• Meeting eccentric or pushy car sales people

• Meeting with ten of their sales managers before you can leave

• Dealing with smooth talking "closers" during negotiations

• And possibly spending three to four hours finding a car test driving, and negotiating to find that you and the dealership are too far apart on the numbers to even make a deal.

Most all of this can be eliminated by starting your car shopping online.

Less Aggravation ties in with both the Time and Money components. Trust me the Internet can solve all of these problems for you.


5. Leverage

Plain and simple, Leverage is what it's all about. Leverage saves you Time, Money, Aggravation, and goes hand in hand with Knowledge.

As mentioned before, the leverage you have over the Internet is to stop the sales process at any time without being assaulted by a professional car salesman and their sales managers.

They also understand this and should, if they've caught on to the whole online car shopping idea, be a lot more attentive to your needs and a lot more aggressive (in your favor) with their pricing.

Another way to use your Leverage when in the dealership, is to be sure you're prepared.

Bring printouts of the blue book used car value (for the vehicle you want to buy), or invoices (if a new vehicle), printouts of blue book trade value for your trade in and one that really chaps their hides, bring a financial calculator.


My First Internet Deal
I remember the first deal I worked in the Internet Department and how easy it was for the customer, the dealer and me.

After doing his online car shopping, the customer emailed about a used Ford F350 Crew Cab 4x4 Diesel King Ranch and asked what was the best price we could give him.

We gave it to him and since he'd already emailed three other dealers with similar used trucks for sale, he found that our price was the best and we agreed to start the process.

He gave us the information we needed to get his paperwork in order, then:

• I drove to his house
• He signed the paperwork
• He wrote a check and
• Took delivery of the vehicle

Very simple process for all involved.

The moral of the story, was that he was a very busy, Knowledgeable, business man and he knew the Time, Money, and Aggravation saving benefits of online car shopping.

He also understood how all of those tied in to maximize his Leverage to get a great deal.

Take my word for it, if you do your car shopping online, the entire car buying process is simplified and you'll save the maximum time and money possible. You can start here:

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