Random Questions to Ask at a Car Dealership (12 items)

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  (#4) Can You Give Me Your Card?

  Never, ever buy a car on your first trip to the dealer lot. Car dealers specialize in high-pressure sales, and don't profit when you think too much about it. But think about it you must, especially when you've got the cold, hard figures in hand. Sleep on it. Give yourself some time to cool down and think when you don't have a professional salesperson verbally doing your thinking for you. Buying with your heart is fine... you're paying many thousands of dollars to get what you want, and your heart should be happy about it. Just don't send your brain on vacation in the process. 
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  (#9) What's the Cash Price?

  This is a separate question from asking about the total financing costs, since it can be very revealing about the extra charges you're getting hit with. Some dealers will tell you flat out they won't sell the car for cash. If you hear that, run. These dealers are buy-here-pay-here loan sharks, and will ream you on interest and unexpected charges. 
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  (#1) What's My Total Cost, Including Financing?

  The sad fact these days is that dealers and automakers make the majority of their money financing cars, not selling them. That is, charging interest on the payments. Interest payments can increase the cost of a car by a third or more, and can double the price of the car at many small "buy-here-pay-here" lots. Make no mistake, these people are loan sharks with collateral, not car dealers with financing. Find out what you're really paying after all the financing costs. 
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  (#5) Show Me the Carfax

  Yeah, it's an advertising tagline, but no dealer who isn't trying to scam you will have a problem with showing you the vehicle history. And it's important. After Hurricane Katrina alone, hundreds of thousands of flood-damaged cars went to auction, only to be cosmetically restored and sold again as "dealer certified" automobiles. But electrical and chassis damage from saltwater rendered almost every one of them a ticking time bomb of failure. Don't take for granted that your car isn't a refurbished wreck, or even reported stolen from another state. If nothing else, having the Carfax in hand may help to put liability for that sort of thing back on the dealer. 
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  (#12) Tip: Don't Trade In

  Okay, this isn't a "question" per se, but it is good advice. Putting your car up as a trade-in is just throwing money in the trash, for no other reason than you don't want to bother selling it yourself. If you're willing to give up thousands and thousands of dollars for the sake of simple convenience, then good on you, Mr. Trump. But those of us who live in the real world should just not be okay with handing over that kind of money for nothing. Plan ahead, have a little bit of patience, and sell your current car yourself. Don't get caught in this scam of convenience. 
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  (#11) How Many Times Has This Car Been Repossessed?

  Why should this matter to you? Sure, the number of prior owners matters, but why repos? This can tell you a lot about the dealer, particularly if it's a buy-here-pay-here lot. These lots make money by charging people interest, letting them keep the car as long as possible, lulling the customer into a false sense of security, and then repossessing it in the last two months if the customer is one day late with payment. If the dealer tells you they've repo'd the same car seven times, then run for your life, and check to make sure you've still got your wallet. 

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