6. Shop Smart for a Car
6. Shop Smart for a Car
Buying a car can seem like a huge hassle, from figuring out what price you should pay to handling the hard sell on the dealer's lot. You can avoid the work in one of two ways.

The Easy Way: Hire a car buyer If you are willing to spend an extra $400 to $800, you can reduce the entire car buying experience to a couple of phone calls and one visit to the dealer to pick up the keys. Car buying services such as AutoAdvisor.com and CarQ.com will find the model you want, negotiate a competitive price and loan terms with the dealer and, in many cases, set up a test drive.

Almost as Easy: Buy online If you want to save as much money as you can, do it yourself. Even that doesn't have to be hard if you tap the Net. First go to Edmunds.com and use the True Market Value (TMV) tool to find out what people in your area are paying to drive your desired model off the lot. Aim to pay this price or less. You may also want to get pre-approved for a bank loan and ignore dealer financing until you have settled on a price.

Next solicit dealer offers online. At Edmunds.com (or Autobytel.com), you enter the model you want, your contact info and your zip code (or nearby ones), and within a few hours you'll get quotes by e-mail or phone. You should have an easier time haggling because the dealership's Internet department makes commissions based on volume, not the price. They won't waste time wheeling and dealing you.

By Kate Ashford, Carolyn Bigda, George Mannes, Walter Updegrave and Penelope Wang
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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.