Research: Picking up where I left off we'll first discuss the first step of the automobile purchase process...RESEARCH! Information overload will be the first thing you'll experience in the process. Just typing in the information "automobile purchase help" into the search engine will result in over 6 million hits. That's why it's important to have a plan and to work that plan. Following my plan could save you lots of money once you do decide to purchase that next vehicle. Let's get started on the first step:

1) Research:
John had a difficult time when he sat down in front of the computer figuring out where to start. The good thing is, though, he tried to start by doing some research. It is essential in the auto-buying process. Once again, KNOWING IS ALL THE BATTLE, and that begins with researching everything from the vehicle you want, to how much you can expect for a trade in, and what are the best deals out there. You could spend countless hours sitting in front of the computer or going from dealership to dealership but all that would do is get you confused. You would come up with many different numbers and each site/dealership will compete with each other confusing you even more. There is only one site you need to go to and I’ll explain exactly why. That site is www.kbb.com. That is Kelley Blue Book.com. I’m not advocating the site and, no, they’re not paying me anything to promote them. I am simply telling you this for one reason: www.kbb.com favors the dealers! Now, you are probably angry with me for suggesting this site then, but, there is one main reason to use this site: You must be on the same playing field with the dealership. If kbb.com favors the dealership you are going to get the exact numbers the dealership will use. When you go there first you want to get a value for your trade in. Register it as “good condition” because this is what the dealership will rate it at. Make sure to include every feature your vehicle has and you will be given a figure for the “trade-in value” of your vehicle. Now you will have a good idea what the dealership will reasonably offer you for your vehicle. With this information you can then use this site to find the vehicle you want and get the “retail value” of your same vehicle. I will take you step-by-step in a minute but, first, just listen to the reasoning here that way once you do go to the site you’ll know exactly why you’re doing this and, basically, you’ll become your own best researcher. Go to www.kbb.com and get a feel for the site and figure out what your vehicle will retail for and what the trade-in value is for the same vehicle then I'll go into further detail on my next post. Until then, happy information gathering.