Buying & Selling
Setting a price, paying safely, and knowing when to let a car go.
Asking for the out-the-door price
From the advertised price to the total you pay, one step at a time, and how to get that total in writing.
Every line on a buyer's order
The dealer's buyer's order, reproduced line by line: what each entry means and whether you can negotiate it.
Getting paid safely when you sell privately
Payment methods for a private car sale, ranked by risk to the seller, with handling notes for each.
Making the first offer
A composite car negotiation, annotated line by line: what each move does, and why the first offer matters.
Money mistakes people make when buying a car
Fifteen field notes, a paragraph apiece, on where car purchases go wrong with money.
New or three years old: the money
Five years of owning a new car versus the same model at three years old, in one illustrative ledger.
Paying a private seller without getting burned
Twelve side-by-side do and don't pairs for handing money to a private car seller.
Paying cash or financing a car
Cash or a car loan? Nine illustrative combinations of savings yield and loan rate, worked out properly.
Selling a car you still owe on
A flowchart for selling a financed car, including the branch where you owe more than it's worth.
Three numbers to set before you shop
A one-page card to fill in at home: all-in price, maximum payment, and the point where you leave.
When in the year cars cost less
The car-buying year as a twelve-segment wheel, and the forces that tilt each season toward buyer or seller.
When to trade in
The money moments across a car's life, drawn as a timeline, and which ones make a trade-in sensible.
Year-end sales events: what they're worth
Seven familiar year-end car ad claims, quoted, rated and assessed by a skeptic.