I was a car salesman for quite a while. I sold new cars as well as used.

Every car dealer wants sales. And, they will strive to make sure that everyone who visits leaves driving one of their vehicles. It is the salesman's obligation to the dealership to exhaust every tactic to find a car that pleases the customer. Consequently, car sales persons have gotten a bad reputation. Some people dread going to a dealership because of "the sharks."

Here is a tip to eleviate the attack of "the sharks." Take a legal size file folder and put a bunch of papers inside. The car that you are shopping for can be found on the internet. Print up some pictures and other information and put that in the folder. Take it with you when you go to each dealership. When the sales people see you with the folder, they will shy away from you. They will figure that you are going to be difficult to deal with; that you have been shopping around. That you are a "tire kicker" and a "nit picker." They are all hoping that someone else will have to work with you.

Tip #2:

Go to the dealership on a Saturday morning. The managers are looking to start the day off with a "bang." So, they are looking to make a deal. And, if you are a serious customer, you can make a good deal for yourself.

When a sales person approaches, you will be greeted and given a business card. We called that "putting our card on the customer." That way, no one else will try to steal the customer.

If you see the car that you want to test drive, tell the sales person. A few minutes later you will be on the test drive. And then, it's back to the dealership and inside to his or her office.

Here is where the process really gets going strong. The sales person is going to start doing what is automatic. You need to be calm and not act like you "just have to buy that car."

Tip #3:

Calmly tell the sales person that you have been doing a lot of shopping on the internet. And, then say....'I want to pay $100.00 over dealer cost, and I would like to see the dealer invoice.' A process will follow; just be patient. If they respond with resistance, you must be ready. You must be willing to calmly get up and politely thank the sales person and indicate that you are leaving. If you have been friendly and polite and showed genuine interest, they will respond with asking you to please stay just a while longer. Then, they will know that they have "to do what they have to do" to make the sale.

Next, it's the price of the car "plus, plus, plus. That is: tax, title and tag. Sometimes they will add the sales tax onto the amount to be financed. But, you have to ask to have that done.

Once the manager issues "the Buyer's Order" then you go into the finance office. I'm not going into the details of the finance office because it would take too long and it is a little boring. Just remember that you don't have to go for the "oakey doak" on everything that is offered as add-ons.

Now, as to bad credit. It really depends on just how bad your credit is, as to how you are going to make out. Most of the lenders will take some level of bad credit. Everyone takes the A-type paper. Others will go for A and B paper. Only a few lenders will take C paper. Because, the dealership manager or someone will have run a credit check on you they will know ahead of time your qualifications. If you are in the D paper range, you may have a difficult time getting financed.

Hope this helps to ease your car shopping experience.

The Best advice I can give you is DO NOT allow the salesmen to rush you. Take your time, make up your mind, check around for the best price, sleep on it for a few days, then buy the car.

Where I live we have 30 days to provide proof of insurance to the MVD, so no issue there.

The dealer takes care of registration.

Taxes and Licensing are usually charged in addition to the negotiated price....unless you negotiate for a price 'out the door'

If you have bad credit, and applying for a loan to buy the car, you will pay a high interest rate. Possibly as high as 18%. I would recommed trying to get a loan from a bank or credit union rather than through the dealer if possible.

Visit http://www.kbb.com and find out what your desired vehicle costs most people within your specific zip code. Pay particular attention to "Dealer Invoice" and "New Car Blue Book Value" as you should try to negotiate a price between these two values.

Look for dealerships in your area that offer quick “hassle free” online quotes. Email them and tell them precisely what you want (Make, Model, Year, Trim level, color, options, etc.) and ask them for their best price. Avoid giving out your phone number if you don't want to get a lot of sales calls. Good dealers will send you an exact quote that you can take use to buy the car with minimal hassle. If their quote doesn't fall in the lower range between "Dealer Invoice" and "New Car Blue Book Value", keep trying.

Once you have a few quotes that appeal to you, you have a choice:
Support the dealer that offered you the "hassle free" quote buy going there and buying the car
or
Memorize the best quote and go to a different local dealership and ask them if they can beat the price. This could involve a long and tedious haggling session to save a relatively small amount of money.

Before the Test Drive:
When you get to the dealership, make sure they offer you EXACTLY what you want for the test vehicle. Often dealers have you test drive a slightly higher trim level in hopes that you'll fall in love with it and buying a more expensive model.

During the Test Drive:
If possible, bring a friend as an attentive passenger may notice things that you miss while you are occupied with driving an unfamiliar vehicle. Insist on being able to take the car onto roads that match your normal driving conditions. Get on a freeway or highway and get it up to speed to hear what it sounds like. Find an empty parking lot and make a U-Turn to see if you like the turning radius. Try backing up and make sure that you can see behind you comfortably. Start and stop a few times to see if you like how the brakes feel. Listen to the transmission when it shifts, and avoid anything that makes disconcerting clunks or stutters when shifting.

After the Test Drive:
If you decide you want that car carefully examine EVERYTHING. Sit in all of the seats to make sure they are comfortable. Try out every feature in the car, from radio, CD player, mirror controls, EVERYTHING. Since you are looking for a new car, verify that it has low mileage. Check the tires for wear and damage (my last new car had a huge screw stuck in the tire and it was leaking air). Look under the body for damage. Check for chipped/scratched windows, lights, bumpers and paint. Look in the engine bay for anything unusual, such as fluid leaks, stains, etc. Verify that it has the right size engine (someone once tried to convince me to take a V6 when I was looking for a V8 model years ago).

Stop for a moment:
Make sure you really want this specific car. If you have any doubts, sleep on it and come back later.

Negotiations:
If you are using an online quote that you are happy with, negotiations may be brief and easy. If not, be prepared to battle. Initially ask for a lower price than you want so you can meet them near your desired price. They may try to keep you in negotiations for hours hoping to frustrate you and wear you down until you agree on a higher price. Stick to your guns.

Onto the Finance Manager:
Once you settle on a price for the car, they will take you into a different office for the final stage of negotiations and try to sell you extra stuff for quite a lot of money. Extended warranties, protective coatings for the paint and interior, alarms, extra features, etc. If the car they showed you happens to have an extra feature installed such as an alarm, there's a chance you can get it for free or for cheap by telling them you don't want it and to take it off the car. Sometimes they'll remove the item from the car, and at other times they'll throw it in for free or offer it to you for cheap.

Everything they try to sell you at this stage will be at inflated
prices. Warranties and protective coatings can be had for much less from third parties, but if you really want them from the dealer, be prepared to haggle again. Don't let fatigue cause you to pay too much during these final stages as you can often cut their prices in half for such things. If you feel like you are being ripped of, get up and leave.

At this stage you will see all of your paperwork, find out your tax and licensing fees, exact finance charges, etc. Look over everything in great detail and make sure the numbers make sense before you sign anything.

Credit:
If you can afford to pay cash for the car, it will save you a LOT of interst money and simplify negotiations.

Your credit rating affects their willingness to finance the car and the interest rate they will charge for the loan (not the price of the car). Bad credit might get you a higher interest rate which will increase your monthly payments considerably. Terrible credit might make them refuse to offer you a loan, but they will still sell you the car at the agreed upon price if you can come up with the money some other way.

Dealers try very hard to get you think in terms of monthly payments rather than the total cost of the car. They can distract you from the total amount you are paying by focusing on whether or not you can afford a certain monthly payment. If you fall for this, you can easily end up paying more for the car than you had planned. Focus on the price first and then work out the monthly payments.

If you have decent credit, the car manufacturer will likely give you the best interest rate as they will often subsidize the loan to increase their chances of selling the car. If you can't pay cash but have OK credit, this is probably your cheapest option.

The easiest way to find out how much your insurance will cost for a particular car is to simply call your insurance company ask them.

This site can help you estimate your payments, licensing fees, taxes, etc:
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/finance/articles/47280/article.html

There is an art form to buying anything including a car. There is a bit of a song and dance that goes along with it. Please do your research on the type of car that you want. I have buy a car every 2 years and I still get excited. I had the great pleasure of working for GMAC and got to see what goes on behind the scenes of every deal made.

First are you wanting to buy new or used?
I ask because you said you didn’t have the best credit. In some situations it is easier to get financed for a lease, than it is to purchase a car.

You have options when buying new.

There is a purchase- this means you are buying the car, at the end of the payments the car will be yours free and clear.

There is a smart buy option- this mean that you are buying the car and that you have a balloon payment at the end. So lets say you want a new car and can afford a payment of 200 a month, you can’t afford anything over that at the time. So what a dealer can do for example is set you up on a smart buy you would pay 200 for 36 months and at the end of the 36 months you would either pay the balloon payment in full, refinance the car to pay off the remainder balloon included or if worse comes to worse you can return the car like a lease. There is a cap on miles and whatever you are over on miles you can and will be charged for. Most dealers can’t and wont make charges to the miles so buy the extra miles before your sign anything miles can cost anywhere from $0.25 per mile up to $1.00

There is the lease option- This mean you will be able to get the car with money down, and the car will be returned at the end of the lease term, there car will not be yours and at the end of the lease you will have the option to buy, but the way most leases are written is so that you wont want to buy. Most dealers can’t and wont make charges to the miles so buy the extra miles before your sign anything miles can cost anywhere from $0.25 per mile up to $1.00

Full coverage insurance will have to be kept during the time you are making payments on the car throughout any of these options. GAP insurance is a must. Gap insurance covers what your regular insurance wont cover. For example you bought the car for $15,000.00 you put a lot of miles on the car since you had it and the car kelly blue books out for $9,000.00 without Gap insurance you will have to come up with the remainder of the balance owed on the car if it is wrecked or stolen or whatever.

Get a car fax most dealerships will run one for you no problem it is always good to know the history of your future car, there are salvage title means the car was hit bad and sold in a insurance auction, rebuilt title means the car was in a accident and rebuilt, some cars have theft history which shows car was stolen but wont have actual miles because it cant be verified. All salvage/rebuilt cars have to go through an inspection. NEVER BUY A CAR WITH FLOOD OR WATER DAMAGE, just that you don’t know if and when it will die or break down on you regardless if it looks new. Water is the worst on a car and will rot the cars insides while you drive it could take weeks months or a few years.

Let say that you like to customize your car, when leasing or even a smart buy when you return the car you will have to put it all back to stock, or you will be charged for it, all 4 tires have to match when you take it back on stock wheels, no dents or dings bigger than a quarter and the car must be clean. You WILL be charged for things after the return inspections is done. The return inspection is done by a 3rd party for the most part not the dealership they don’t know who, and when the person will come and inspect the car so they can’t help you. If you plan on keeping the car than do what you like with it.

There is an inspections kit that can be sent out to you on request and some dealerships have them. It is what the return inspector will use to go over your car when it is returned.
Most insurance companies will fix the car when you tell them it is a lease or smart buy and it is due to be returned. These things must be done before it is returned other wise you will be charged for them.

If you are going to buy used or new always go to your bank or credit union to see what are the best rates that you can get. The lower the interests rate the better, more of your car payment will go towards paying off your car vs. paying down the interest. Now what your credit score is and things on your credit so there isn’t things on there that you need to dispute and get off.

Don’t let the dealer boss you around know what your current car is worth trade in and extra’s. Don’t be fooled in to signing something you don’t understand. If you have questions no matter if there may seem stupid, ask them make them explain, read all the fine print. Don’t buy an extra warranty from a dealer the mar up is like 125% most times and it wont cover things on the car that break, like engine and transmission.

If the car is used get it inspected by a 2nd and 3rd party other that the dealership that you are buying the car form take to different mechanics so that you are getting a full un bias’s opinion about the car. This mean you make have to pay $25 to $40 on a diagnoses on the car but may save you thousands later.

If the dealership says they will fix something and have to do it after you buy the car. Have them put it in writing and make sure they do it. That goes for used and new cars. There are options now for almost everyone and custom options add up. Some dealerships will put rims and customize the car but if you do it yourself can save you up to 50% what you would pay going through the dealership, aftermarket accessories can make your car stand out from others, two things though, if you put them on after you buy the car make sure that you take them off before the least return. If you have them on the car in can be insured, Insurance companies will ensure your car and things you have in it that are bolted in and hooked up, and even down to your rims, it will cost extra for example on my Lexus I had the rims and stereo insured for 8 thousand dollars and paid an extra 100 on my insurance every 6 months.

If you have any questions write to me and i will answer..

Good Luck

Hope it helps

well, you have received a LOT of great advice here...

i'll add a few things, as i just went through this process...

since i was looking for a new vehicle, i subscribed to Consumer Reports magazine. i got their car buying guide free and for several months i looked at all their reviews of new cars, test results and recommendations.

then when it got closer to me buying a vehicle, i subscribed to Consumer Reports Online to look at more reviews on demand...

they offer a service called Bottom Line Price for any vehicle... and i had planned on getting that when i decided on a specific model... but when the time came closer they had introduced their Car Buying Kit service where you can get the bottom line price on as many vehicles as you want for three months... i used this extensively. they have a new or used car version

what this will tell you...

it gives you comprehensive information on the specific model of vehicle you are looking at... new or used.

they tell you how it performs, what features it has, safety test results, fuel economy, comfort levels... and something else important... how well it did in repairs for previous year models on new vehicles and the exact model on used for major components, engine, braking, etc.... whether it had a lot of repairs or not.

then, you can price that vehicle... it will let you select options and will tell you MSRP, dealer invoice price, and what price you should start negotiations at.

my experience:

i went in armed with numbers and papers. the sales person's jaw dropped when i told him what i wanted to start negotiations at and that i knew what they had paid for it roughly. he said they handle all that after they have the financing approved (i financed through the dealer this time around).

so i let him put me off... until we got the financing approved... there was a lot of song and dance on their part, but long and short of it i stuck to my guns and ended up with the finance manager. he was quite impressed that i could tell him his dealer cost within $100 (had to estimate because all the features we got weren't on the CR website... but had enough info to do so). on a brand new vehicle he gave me a price i could live with a few hundred over his cost. i was getting quite a bit off in rebates and such, and saved almost a thousand dollars off what the sales person and finance guy wanted to charge me... try to talk to a manager who knows what is going on. the sales people at some establishments don't even have access to the dealer invoice... so it's better if you know ahead of time what it should be...

and i used to work at an auto auction years ago... i can tell you the dealer invoice is often not even what they paid for it. they can pay less than that and get kickbacks too... so arm yourself with knowledge first. i applaud you for asking here.

i forgot gap insurance when i got my new vehicle and have since found it is difficult to find a company that does it. (i'm not about to put all my info in on one of those websites anyone can put up) my insurance agent is looking for a company for me, but i'm not upside down on the loan so i'm not worried about it right now... but i recommend it to you... the dealer offers it and can roll it into your loan if you can't buy it up front. it is a one time cost of $300-600 typically.

i've done a lot of research on loans and loans with bad credit for some projects i work on...

and i do know from various sources that loans for bad credit not only will cost a high interest rate, (just expect 18%) the lender can require a certain payment amount or deposit with the loan, and can also charge a fee just for giving you this loan, up to at least $2500, which could be added to the loan amount.

the dealer will probably try to get you approved for a higher loan amount to make sure that would be covered... or you might need to do that yourself if you are doing outside lending. (credit unions can have the best rates... i know of a woman who joined a credit union and got a loan a few days later... and she had a bankruptcy in her past)

i hope you get the vehicle you want.. i do know that you will be walking in with confidence if you follow a lot of the great advice you have been given here.

i can't tell you how it felt to know exactly what i should be paying and come out of it paying just about that exact amount.

should have added that you need to check your credit report and get it cleaned up if there are any negative or wrong entries before you go if possible. at the least, know what is on it so you can explain anything negative. always do this before trying to get a loan.

There are useful ten things may you know before purchasing new car!!!!!!!

1. The biggest mistake you can make is to judge the lease solely by the amount of the monthly payment, which can be manipulated to make even the worst deal look good. Understand how a lease works and what to watch for to protect yourself before you head to the dealer's.

2. Short-term costs of leasing are always lower than short-term costs of buying. The long-term costs of leasing are always higher than the long-term costs of buying, assuming that you keep the car you purchase outright for a number of years after your loan is paid off.

3. If you lease for the length of the manufacturer's warranty, you'll never have to pay for major repairs.

4. You can lease without a down payment, although making one will lower your payments.

5. Terminating a lease before it's up can be extremely costly.

6. Since you don't own a leased car, you can't change it, paint it, or add equipment to it.

7. Sign only closed-end leases, which means that if at the end of the lease, the car is worth less than the leasing company estimated when you signed your lease, they, not you, absorb this cost. Read the fine print of the proposed lease and make sure you understand all the terms.

8. Putting more miles on the car than the lease allows can cost you big money, since you'll pay so much per mile for every mile driven over the allowance.

9. Negotiate the lowest capitalized cost or lease price of the vehicle you'll be leasing because your payments are based on this cost. A good lease will offer you a price below the Manufacturer's Suggested Retail price.

10. The best cars to lease are those with the best book value after the term of the lease. Since they depreciate less, you pay less. You can look up lease ratings to see which cars retain their value better and will therefore give you the best lease deal. Stay away from cars which depreciate quickly unless you're willing to pay more and can afford to do so.

And if you have some bad credit may you face some problems!!!!!!!!
Go And Purchase.

Right now is a great time to purchase a car because of all the great deals going on due to the economy. If you have a car currently you should look into the deals they have going on for "cash for clunkers" to see if you qualify for that. A lot of manufacturers have huge rebates and incentives because they are going out of business so make sure you do your research before you start the shopping process. If you are buying brand new make sure you ask questions such as warranty and maintenance packages and how long they last with the car, any trade in specials, rebates, all the options you will be getting, how many miles the vehicle currently has, etc.

I do definitely recommend though buying a newer used car because you will get it at a much cheaper price for more value. You just have to make sure that you get a good car with low mileage and in good shape. Make sure you pull up a carfax.... which will let you know if it has ever been in a car accident before or has had any problems. Make sure you look around and do your research! Good luck and happy car shopping!

Great question, but a little complex...
I recommend you to see this site: http://www.carbuyingtips.com/
It will answer lots of your questions about purchasing your car.