Buying a new car can be nerve-racking. Dealing with high-pressure sales tactics and then all the loan and warranty paperwork can make it just drag out for hours. Then you get home and realize that there are all sorts of things you did not know about the car and the deal. One thing that can help ease the suffering of buying a new car is preparing a checklist of things you want and things you want to ask before you go in. To aid you in that checklist, here are five things you may want to ask when buying a new car that you might not otherwise think about.
What Dealer Upgrades Are You Charging Me For?
A young couple are handed the keys to a car while sitting at a table with a paper and pen and a new model car in the background.
Dealer upgrades are a con game. When the dealership gets a new car from the manufacturer, there is a set base price for which the car must be listed. However, the dealer can increase the selling price by adding certain dealer add-ons. Those black rims vs. the silver ones can jump the price by $700.00 or more. The fancier tire cover, or floor mats all equal a bump up in the price. Ask the seller what the dealer add-ons are and then ask them to take them off. You might be surprised how much you can save by going back to the originals.
Where is the Car Battery Located and How Hard is it to Replace?
One of the most common things car owners have historically maintained is the battery. It goes out, you pop the hood, pull the old battery out, and pop in a new one from AutoZone or Walmart. But this is not as universal as it used to be. Several auto manufacturers have started putting the battery in other, not-so-easy-to-reach places.
For example, several models of Dodge have batteries in the left front wheel well. The jumper terminals are still under the hood if the battery is dead, but when the surprise Texas cold weather kills the battery or you leave a light on and run it down, replacing it can be a serious nightmare. In the Dodge Viper GTS, you literally must remove the rear wheel just to replace the battery. If you are not mechanically inclined, or like many of us you simply do not have the time to do it yourself, battery replacement can be a costly headache.
In addition to the above locations, you may find a car battery under a seat, in the truck, or even in a storage compartment for certain vehicle makes and models. If you are researching a car to buy, Triple A has a good list of vehicle models and where to find the battery that you may want to consult before you go shopping.
What Does it Cost to Replace the Windshield?
Another thing you may have to replace if you live in Texas is the windshield. With all the constant road construction going on in this State, it is not uncommon to have someone kick up a rock and put a ding in your windshield that slowly but surely evolves into a spiderweb of cracks. But no worries, replacing the windshield with glass and labor runs you $250-500 bucks. Right? Not anymore.
More and more vehicles are adding fancy safety features that display warnings or useful information in the windshield itself. Many new vehicles have advanced driver assistance features (ADAS) that include sensors in the windshield itself. If you have to replace the windshield, they have to be recalibrated. The cost of the recalibration can add $300-$600 to the cost of the windshield. We were quoted about $900 to replace the windshield of my wife’s Nissa Armada. BMW owners have complained about having to pay almost $1400 to Safelite for a windshield replacement after BMW quoted them about $1,000 higher than that.
What Voids the Warranty?
One of the things I hate about buying a new car is that after you finally decide which one you want, then they make you spend hours with the finance and warranty people. There are always 3-5 levels of extended or optional warranties that, in my opinion, are a total waste of money. Why? First, major vehicle defects are subject to product liability laws regardless of the warranty. Second, I know I am not ever going to do all the things required to keep the warranty valid. The two things that will void your warranty in a hurry are violating mileage restrictions and failing to let the dealership maintain your vehicle.
Vehicle mileage restrictions are often unreasonably low for my driving habits. When it reads 5 years or 50,000 miles, it really does mean “or.” If you drive the car 20,000 miles a year, that is only a 2.5-year warranty for you.
Additionally, many dealerships require you to bring the car in for regularly scheduled maintenance and oil changes—at their overpriced dealership rates and slow service. If you miss one, too bad. Suppose you take it to the Jiffy Lube because it is more convenient to your home or cheaper than the dealership, sorry. This is a trick they use to get more money out of you at inflated dealer prices. Are really going to keep going in every 3000 miles (or whatever they require) and overpaying for it or are you just going to ignore the little maintenance light until it becomes too annoying and stop by the corner oil change?
Before you throw thousands of extra dollars away on a warranty, ask them to explain everything that will void that warranty and ask yourself if there is even a chance of you complying with the terms. If not, put the money in savings to repair your car if there is a breakdown.
What Driver Warnings Does it Come With and Can They Be Shut Off?
It is great when technology can make things safer. But have you noticed that a lot of new cars seem to be installing features that remind you of having your mother in the backseat at all times? I rented a new Suburban for a trip this past weekend and it had a feature that beeped every time your speed got up to 80 mph. Thanks, Mom. My 2022 Ford Ranger came with an unexpected feature—lane correct. If I try to change lanes by slowly moving over without putting on the turn signal, the car will assume I am drifting and try to auto-correct back into the lane. Other cars have a feature where it beeps at you every time you cross from one lane to another or your tires touch the outside line on a road. When I drive on a two-lane road with poor lighting, I often hug the outside line so that if the approaching car drifts across the center line slightly, it doesn’t hit me. I do not need Mom nagging me every time I touch that outside line.
When you test-drive a car and it has the above safety features, it is good to ask if it can be turned off and how. Some of them will allow you to turn them off but they pop right back on the next time you start the car. That is annoying. Some will not let you turn them off. I am not recommending that you turn off all the safety features, but if you do not like some of them, you need to know which are truly optional and which are not.
Conclusion
If you are buying a new car, you should prepare a checklist of wants and do not wants. Some things you might not normally think to ask about include the increased cost from dealer-added upgrades, the ease of replacing the battery, the cost of replacing the windshield, the maintenance and mileage requirements imposed by the warranty, and the mandatory vs optional driver warnings.
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