No credit card required
Browse credit cards from a variety of issuers to see if there's a better card for you.
If I have a true car price certificate - can that ONLY be used for financing with USAA?
If you are talking about the USAA pre-negotiated price the yes that would be financed with USAA. But about a year ago when I was seriously considering a new car purchase the dealer sales manager told me he would go under that price by at least a couple hundred if I brought the certificate in. I'm guessing because there are a couple of the same manufacturer dealers in my area and there was a slight variation between them as to the price offered.
Look at it as a starting point for negotiation of the car you want.
@HoldingOntoHope wrote:If you are talking about the USAA pre-negotiated price the yes that would be financed with USAA. But about a year ago when I was seriously considering a new car purchase the dealer sales manager told me he would go under that price by at least a couple hundred if I brought the certificate in. I'm guessing because there are a couple of the same manufacturer dealers in my area and there was a slight variation between them as to the price offered.
Look at it as a starting point for negotiation of the car you want.
No, not USAA. This was just Truecar.com. It gave me a price of 17419 for a new 2013 chrysler 200 touring with uconnect, and S package. The dealer told me one of the rebates expired (a 500.00 one) and gave me a price of 19100. Whats the point of this "guaranteed certificate" if it doesnt work? Unless I am missing something.....
We do not have many dealers to bargain with, maybe thats my problem. The sales guy told me that even IF i found someone to offer me lower than 19100 it would only be a few hundred bucks and Id have to drive several hours to get the car/sign.
I'm pretty sure you can use any financing. The True Car just deals with the price aspect. Look on the manufacturer's website to see if there are any new incentives you could apply.
I recently used True Car when shopping for my car, but none of the dealers had the car I wanted in stock.
Right. True Car is only for the car price, not the financing. I used my certificate at a Nissan dealership with Capital One Auto FInance
The true car price whether obtained from the USAA site or any other site does not have anything to do with financing.
Also know that you might be able to get a better deal negotiating on your own. Use the true car price as a last resort if the dealer won't give you a better price. Give them a number that is fair for both parties and do your best to stick to it. It may take walking away a few times, but the dealer will likely do what they can to seal the deal.
If people know true price is a decent price but many dealers are willing to go under then essentially its true price is useless. Always negotiate to the lowest possible, do it by shopping other dealerships. I'd recommend doing it online.
I just bought a new VW last week using truecar.com and had a great experience in the end... but I had to go to four dealerships to close the deal. I paid way less than I would have if I had tried haggling a deal on my own. And the exact car I wanted is sorta hard to find (with the options I wanted), and had to be fetched from a dealership 60 miles away.
In the process leading up to my purchase, I had about 5-6 sleazy sales guys & sales managers at different dealerships lie to me and tell me that the deal I was offered on truecar.com wasn't ever going to happen. They were so wrong.
I wound up buying my car at the exact dealership that issued the lowest price certificate on truecar.com and it was a crazy low price... I paid $4500 under MSRP and $2500 under invoice for a fully loaded vehicle that they had to track down and do a dealer trade for.
My advice is: do your homework, be tough, don't give up, and most of all, be ok to walk away if you want a better deal that what you are being offered.
If you have an iphone, I reccomend downloading the truecar.com app. It's really helpful and it's so easy to just bring up all of the info right there while you're at the dealership.
These are a few key things that have made all the difference in the world to me when it comes to car shopping:
1. Know what you want. Research the options and what they cost, decide what you want ahead of time, and then decide how much you want to/are willing to pay for it.
2. Avoid discussing your target monthly payments with a car salesman or finance guy. Do that math on your own. Excel is awesome for this. If you don't have the excel program already, you can use Google Drive to create a spreadsheet for free. Focus on the purchase price and then work out the other numbers to figure out what you need to put down and what your payment will be based on the price you want, and rate you're pre-approved for. Don't forget to figure in taxes & DMV fees.
3. If you have a vehicle to trade in, go to Carmax first and get an appraisal on your vehicle. In a lot of cases, they will give you the most for your car and there's no pressure from them to buy anything.
4. Get pre-approved before you go to the dealership. Know your credit and what you can afford. Dealers will make every effort to beat whatever you're being offered elsewhere. They will make money off of financing and you'll get the best rate. It's a win-win situation.
5. Shop at the end of the month. This is crunch time for dealerships to meet quotas, which takes away some of their leverage and puts you in a better position to get what you want. I bought my car on the 31st, even though it couldn't be delivered until the next day
Truecar.com is by far one of the best resources that I have found and I highly reccomend using it.