A person eminently qualified to talk about car buying—someone who worked in a dealership before—has shared some tips about those big purchases from the inside, including the best time of month to buy a car.
The wisdom comes courtesy of creator Kaitlynd (@reddnea), who put her video up on TikTok on Tuesday, getting nearly 850,000 views and 101,700 likes in a single day.
She starts by announcing, “Secrets that car dealerships don’t want you to know coming from somebody that used to be in car sales.”
She then goes right into a big one: “Go and buy your car at the end of the month because they have quotas and stuff that they’re trying to meet. So you’re probably going to get a better deal because they’re desperate.”
She then shares, “You can negotiate your interest rate. The bank is gonna give them one interest rate, and they can easily go in and up the percentage just so they can make money off of you.”
She also advises, “Do not tell them what you want out of your trade because there’s a chance that they were going to give you more, but since you’ve told them something less, they’re gonna go with the lesser.” In this section, she adds that dealers will look for “little dents and dings” as they assess the trade-in to try to “use that against you.” She also says you shouldn’t even mention the trade-in until the dealers give you the number you want for the new car.
Another tip she gives involves the warranty that car dealerships look to sell customers. “The finance guys are going to try and get you to get their warranty because they’re going to make money off of you, but you can use that to your advantage,” she says. “‘I’m going to buy the warranty if you give me a lower interest rate, yada yada yada.’ After you buy the car, just cancel your warranty, and you’re going to get refunded and enjoy your discount.”
“You don’t want to pay MSRP for the car,” she adds. “Ask for the invoice that’s going to show what the dealership paid for the car. You’re going to pay that or less than invoice if they’re desperate.”
Finally, she notes, “They’re going to try to get you to focus on the payment for the car and not the overall price because if you’re focused on the payment, they can manipulate things easier. Just stand your ground. There’s probably a dealership down the road that’s going to give you a better deal on the same car.”
@reddnea why did i zoom in sm #cardealership #newcar #dealership #cars #funfacts #hacks #hack #fypシ #viral ♬ Cumbia Buena – Grupo La Cumbia
Commenters added their voices to the discussion.
“From someone who ran a GM dealership for many years, she’s spot on,” one enthused. “Nice work!”
“The dealer I got my car from hated that I got my own financing,” another shared, “then got mad when I wouldn’t buy the warranty bc it exceeded the check amount.”
The creator responded, “My managers would get SO mad and i’d just be like bro can we just work with them omg?!”
“They act like they don’t have to show the invoice too and it makes me soooo mad,” someone else expressed.
For one viewer, though, the conversation was all in the abstract. That person said, “Thank you for thinking I can even afford stepping onto the lot.”
The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via Instagram direct message.
