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Last edited by cutey5032; 10-15-2008 at 09:54 AM.




I would say as much as you can afford, while still leaving enough in savings for necessary bills and at least two months worth of living expenses in case something horrible happens to you.
Let's say you are prepared to put down $5,000. DON'T tell the guys that. DO NOT. Wait until you go to sign the papers to pull out the last couple of thousand dollars. Car prices are always negotiable. If the car is $18,000, tell them that you can only afford $15,500. They'll still try to sell you the car. You'll probably get it for $16,000 then. The more they know you have to put down, the less they will negotiate the price with you. Even if you have 5k to put down on it, only tell them you have about 2k to put down, otherwise they know you have that extra 3 grand to spend, and that will not work in your favor.
I specifically did that with my car. Told them I had 2k to put down, and bitched that I couldn't afford it. Yeah, I got it for what I wanted to pay for it. Then when it went to signing the papers, I wrote a check for $4,800 for the down payment. If they'd known I'd had that much to put down on it, it would have fucked with my negotiating power.
I'm by no means a car-buying expert, but I just got one in May with the help of an ex car-salesman with 20 years experience. He suggested the above tactic, and I feel confident that that was part of the reason I got a good deal on it.
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