Car Warranty Question

[SCOUT]

I have always purchased/leased my cars from the dealerships so they have come with warranties. I am debating buying a used car from an individual or secondary dealer. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to handle the warranty aspect of this type of car purchase?

I will hang up and listen. Thanks.

[Frozen Sooner]

I have always purchased/leased my cars from the dealerships so they have come with warranties. I am debating buying a used car from an individual or secondary dealer. Does anyone have any advice on the best way to handle the warranty aspect of this type of car purchase?

I will hang up and listen. Thanks.

Check with your credit union or your insurer to see if they offer extended service contracts. Many do and they'll cost one heck of a lot less than what the dealership will try to sell you. The dealer markup on those is roughly 100-150%.

Do the same thing with gap coverage if you're going to be over 90% of the vehicle's value. Again, your credit union or your insurer will sell to you for a substantially reduced cost.

In fact, head over to your credit union before you go to the lot to get your financing worked out ahead of time. Then you've got a maximum interest rate locked in.

[yermom]

and keep all your paperwork and verify your coverage :mad:

a now defunct dealership managed to screw me pretty hard 5 years ago and i didn't know until September. they screwed me on financing as well...

i had lined up financing at my credit union, but they beat it, supposedly. later when i happened to look more closely at the loan online, they had quoted me one rate, and actually moved it up 1% over what they told me.

my extended warranty was a year and 20k miles short as well

[Frozen Sooner]

Yeah, I make a point of going over loan documents with members line by line just so I know they understand what they're signing. You'd be surprised how many people will just sign what's put in front of them.

[SCOUT]

Thank you both very much! This is exactly what I was looking for.

[XFollower]

I used to work at a pretty crummy used dealership back in college. The unspoken rule of the dealership was that the customer was an idiot until proven different. Remember that you are in control of any transaction and don't accept anything you fee right about. Most dealership will pull you a free carfax so you can see any major history items of the car. Don't be afraid to ask to take it to a mechanic and have it looked over.

Like the guys stated above, know your financing before going to the dealership because they'll get you for a few extra percentage points if they can. Also they will tack on several hundred bucks "fees" at the end. All of those to me are negotiable if they are willing to sell the car.

My rule is that there is no car that I "must" have. If you fall in love and have to have a certain car, you'll likely get screwed. Be patient and you'll get a good clean deal.