Thanks blueberry, that is exactly what I thought the cooling off period was. I will not sign anything I don’t feel comfortable signing. However, this brings up another question. Let me see if I can explain my situation without rambling on too much.
I am returning to that dealer because I am interested in the 05 neon that I tested last weekend. Ordering the carfax as soon as I am done here. I spoke to my trusted mechanic this morning who is willing to inspect whatever car I choose to buy. Will I be required to sign anything or put anything down in order to get it to my mechanic for the inspection? I’m not sure how that works. Also, would I be able to negotiate the final price down further after the inspection if somehting doesn’t check out, or should I just tell the dealer to fix whatever it is (getting them to put that in writing, that it will be fixed) and accept that as my final price? Right now the price as it is is about $1500 above my target range.
Ok, the free carfax report available on cars.com checks out. No major issues. However, one thing I don’t understand is this: the car is on a lot in one city and it is reported that the “new owner, loan or lien reported” section is in another city entirely. Does that mean that there is still money to be paid off on the car and the dealership doesn’t outright own it? Sorry to sound so needy and crazy, but I just want to be sure I am doing everything right.
On the first two used BMWs that I bought, I got them from dealers that I really did not trust. I had to take possession of the car before I got it inspected, but my purchase agreement SPECIFIED that I had 24 hours to get the car inspected by an independent mechanic, and I had the right to return the car at no cost to me if the results of the inspection were unsatisfactory. Neither car lot had a problem with that.
Okay, things have changed a bit. My dad has graciously offered to foot the car payment bill of up to $200, which means I can now possibly get something new. So now I am wondering what the forum would recommend, with some of my same original specs: easy on the wallet maintenance and insurance wise. Power features would be nice, but they aren’t a must have, but a/c is. I would ideally like another Hyundai Accent, but what do you all think? I know a Toyota was mentioned here somewhere, but I think a new one would be too expensive. I’d like to keep the cost of the car (with all the taxes and fees) at about $13-14K.
Thanks to you all for all of your advice here. I signed off on a 2009 Hyundai Accent GS this Sunday. Payments are still a little higher than I wanted, but I played their game decently well. At least I think I did. The funny thing is that my payments for this Accent are about $5 more than the payments I made on my 96 Accent.
I do have one final question on this topic. I am freaking out that the loan will not be approved. Will the dealer give me (or will they have to give me) my down back so I can continue searching or will they (can they) insist that I stay with them?