Angie's List: Getting A Good Price On A New Car
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – For natural born hagglers, car-buying is no problem.
But for the rest of us-- it can be stressful making sure you get your money's worth.
Matt Maddox needed a new vehicle for his growing family, but the car buying process was weighing him down.
"We'd been back and forth between a couple of different places in the last couple of months with vacation and moving, and the idea of getting out to a bunch of car lots and find a car and work out all those things just became too much," said car buyer Matt Maddox.
That's when he called in a pro. Dean McBride has been finding vehicles for people for 14 years. A dealer by definition, he acts like a broker. He helps people figure out the kind of car they want for a price they can afford. Then he finds the vehicle, negotiates the deal and even delivers it to their door.
"We keep people from getting into trouble that they shouldn't buy a car for more than it's worth; they shouldn't lose value on their trade; and all of those things that go along with the frustration of buying a car," says McBride.
"Some people just aren't hagglers and don't enjoy the car buying process, but you can hire a professional to help in that endeavor, and some people find that it can save them a lot of money," said Angie Hicks of Angie's List.
McBride builds his fee - about $350 for a new vehicle - into the total price of the car.
There's no charge if he doesn't make a deal. A consultant, on the other hand, may offer a range of services and charge you a fee up front.
"You're not going to negotiate a whole lot better pricing," McBride said. "If a dealer beats me, they beat me by 50 bucks or whatever it is. It's not like they're going to crush my pricing."
"I felt like I was getting a very competitive price and it took just hours of complexity out of it, and to me that was worth the, maybe, little bit of money that I could have saved," said Maddox.
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