Buying a Car
 

If you wanted to get a car and didn't know where to start, is there some sort of big ass guide to cars? Like a huge listing with reviews of different makes and models and what goes wrong with the cars and their prices?

-Rudey

New?

I'm not a huge car person, so there are probably people who can be of more help, but...

This would be a place to start:
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/home.htm

You could also try the auto magazine route - "Road and Track," "Car and Driver," magazines like that.

The Kelley Blue Book is another resource, and now they're online:
http://www.kbb.com/

Re: Buying a Car
 

Consumer Reports does an issue every year (I think in the spring time) with a listing of all the models and the safety ratings, mechanical ratings, price, opinions on body style, etc. They also have a guide in the back section that lists the cars and their model year along with any problems that model year has. It even groups it into electrical problems, transmission, A/C, etc.

I just bought a new Jeep (2006 Liberty) so I might be of some assistance as I ended up with $2500 off of the dealer's invoice plus another 1% off of my APR. Research online, go to edmunds.com, cars.com, carsdirect.com, the manufacturers websites, anything and everything with invoice and pricing information. Make sure you know invoice costs, what people in your area are paying and what the MSRP is for exactly what you want.

If you're still trying to figure out what you want Consumer Reports is great and also try googling the makes and models of what you're looking for to find owner/driver reviews. You can try doing comparisons on Edmunds.com to figure out how certain vehicles compare to what you're looking for. If you have a trade in make sure to figure out what the Kelley Blue Book value is before you go to the dealership. Know how low you'll go and you can always find a dealer who will give you that amount.

If you have any other questions feel free to PM me as I did this on my own and think I had a pretty good trade-in value ($9200 on a 5 year old car) and a pretty good deal on the price of the Jeep.

I've not used it, but I've heard of www.Vehix.com

Also, for finding out Wholesale, Retail, etc. pricing, check the "Kelly's Blue Book." www.kbb.com