Never Talk About Monthly Payment (Car Buying Tips)

Take this car buying advice seriously. Never, never, never let your salesman know what monthly payment you want. This is one of the quickest ways to lose thousands of dollars at the dealership. Sure, I know you're wondering how such an innocent remark such as "I'd like to keep it under $350 a month" could cost you thousands.

If you haven't done your homework, you probably have no idea what kind of car should cost about $350 a month. The salesman knows this. In fact, he doesn't even believe you. If you said $350, he's hearing $400 because nobody really tells the salesman the most they can pay. He knows that if he can get you emotionally connected to a car, he can sell you something a little more expensive.

That's not the big problem. You want to pay $350 a month. Consider what the salesman might do with that information. None of these options is good for you:
1) He will find you a car that is supposed to cost about $300 a month and sell it to you for $350;
2) He will find you a car that should cost $350 per month and make you stretch your payment up to $400;
3) If he's a sleazebag, then he will find you a car that should cost about $300 per month and sell it to you for $400 or he might find you a car that should cost $250 per month and sell it to you for $350;
4) If he's extremely sleazy, he'll find a way to sell a $250 per month car for $400 per month. Don't think it can't happen!
5) He will sell you a much more expensive car and stretch the payments to 6 or 7 years to help you keep your payment around $350 to $400.

Here's the point. He knows what you said you could pay, he doesn't believe you, he knows that you have no clue what the monthly payments should be for the cars on the lot and he's going to take advantage of it.

The Remedy
Use a car loan calculator to find out the payments for the types of car you want. This will require a little bit of research on your part. It would be helpful for you to find out what interest rate you should expect to pay. Your bank or credit union usually posts car loan rates on its website. If you're going to trade in your car, you should get a good estimate of its value.

Introducing the Reverse Car Loan Calculator
This calculator is truly unique and can save you thousands of dollars. This reverse car loan calculator allows you to enter your desired monthly payment and reports back the appropriate selling price. This is the exact reverse of entering the selling price to get your payment. This way, you can immediately know if a car will be out of your price range when you begin your shopping. It prevents you from having to tell the salesman, "I want to keep it below $350 a month." If a car is slightly out of your price range, you will know how far you will have to talk to the total price down.

For More Information
Check out The Car Buying Bible. It is a 162-page car buying guide full of car buying tips that can save you thousands of dollars on every car you buy. It presents step-by-step car buying advice and the best car loan calculator you will ever find.

Direct Links:
Car Loan Calculator, www.carbuyingbible.com/CarPaymentCalculator.html
Reverse Car Loan Calculator, www.carbuyingbible.com/ReverseCarLoanCalculator.html