Educating the Auto-buying Masses

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Information Gathering, Part IV What You Need to K...
2007-04-17 19:13:00
Information Gather ing, Part IVWhat You Need to Know about YOU:It really doesn't matter whether you get the value of your automobile or the value of yourself first. It is important, though, that you get these values prior to making your automobile purchase. You've already read, and hopefully researched, how to obtain the value of your vehicle. Now I'll show you why it's important to research the value of yourself. If you're one of the lucky few that can step on a car lot and put down cash for a vehicle then this post isn't for you. You are a rarity, but still need to know what your car or truck is worth so refer to the previous posts. For the majority of you, though, financing your vehicle will be the avenue taken. Since this is the case, the value which determines YOU when buying any car, truck, SUV, or van, is your credit rating. Most dealerships use a "beacon score" or "FICO" score to determine your credit rating. Beacon score is a term used loosely by many dealerships which...
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Information Gathering, Part III: Through this res...
2007-04-12 19:12:00
Information Gather ing, Part III:Through this research portion of the auto-buying process I've shown you what site to go to, www.kbb.com, and why. I walked you step-by-step to obtain the Trade-In Value of your vehicle. Now, what you'll want to do is go back to the kbb.com main page. Only this time you'll want to input your data to obtain the Retail Value of your vehicle. This is accomplished by following the same steps in Research, Part II (the previous post) only instead of clicking on the "Trade-In Value" link you'll click on the "Suggested Retail Value" link at the bottom. Following this, you'll input the same data you did for the trade-in value prompts. Once completed, you'll establish the figure a dealership will reasonably price your vehicle at on their lot. Take note that when you do this kbb.com rates your vehicle in "Excellent" condition for the suggested retail value. It is assumed the dealership will take care of all repairs and cosmetic blemishes to get the automobi...
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Ok, by now you've had a chance to familiarize your...
2007-04-11 05:24:00
Ok, by now you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with www.kbb.com and hopefully found a trade-in value for your vehicle. Once at the site you moused over to the right of the page where it reads "Used Car Values." From here it is self-explanatory that you find your particular vehicle's category on this page, click it and then you're prompted on each successive page to select a make, model, year, etc., until you reach a page that prompts you to select the Kelley Blue Book value. On that page you want to select "Trade In Value." This will begin the prompts to find out the starting figure most dealers will use to value your vehicle towards your next purchase. After selecting the trade-in value button you will input the vehicle's trim (such as LX, EX, SLT, SE, etc.) and equipment (to inlcude miles on the odometer). Don't just guess on these items. Inputting your vehicle as an LX rather than an EX while mistakenly guessing at the miles and forgetting to include something as sim...
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Research: Picking up where I left off we'll first ...
2007-04-09 05:08:00
Research: Pick ing up where I left off we'll first discuss the first step of the automobile purchase process...RESEARCH! Information overload will be the first thing you'll experience in the process. Just typing in the information "automobile purchase help" into the search engine will result in over 6 million hits. That's why it's important to have a plan and to work that plan. Following my plan could save you lots of money once you do decide to purchase that next vehicle. Let's get started on the first step:1) Research: John had a difficult time when he sat down in front of the computer figuring out where to start. The good thing is, though, he tried to start by doing some research. It is essential in the auto-buying process. Once again, KNOWING IS ALL THE BATTLE, and that begins with researching everything from the vehicle you want, to how much you can expect for a trade in, and what are the best deals out there. You could spend countless hours sitting in front of the comput...
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I'll start out by offering excerpts from my own pe...
2007-04-02 23:35:00
I'll start out by offering excerpts from my own personal info product over the next few weeks to get things going. Eventually I'd like to have this blog be a place for all to opine on their car-buying experiences. I believe we can all learn from each other and maybe help others avoid pitfalls in their purchases.ABC Info Product:People buy a new car for two reasons and two reasons only: because they want one or because they need one. Whether it’s because of a want or need this purchase can be a costly one if not properly prepared. Consider the following scenario…“Honey, don’t you think it’s about time we trade-in our old car for a new one?” John asked his beloved wife.“Oh, yeah, it’s more than about time,” Jane replied citing the 150,000-plus miles on their current four-door sedan. “With the baby coming and our need to have peace of mind knowing our vehicle will be safe and stand up for the next few years, it is definitely time.”“It’s just that this is a m...
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