Car Buying Basics - Take Three

It's time to shop! I am going to give you a bunch of websites and tools to use in your hunt and haggling. Unless you choose a no-pressure/no-haggle dealership like CarMax (although the one time we shopped there, it was no haggle but HIGH pressure), you should be prepared to negotiate price.

If you don't have a lot of time to research every aspect and you know the make and model of the vehicle you want, Consumer Reports has an amazing tool to help you negotiate a good price. This tool was one of the best purchases we made in this process. One other tool that you should not skimp on is the Carfax report. This report will show you some of the repairs done on the vehicle (if done by a garage that reports repairs - many do not), if the odometer is accurate, and if there has been major damage (rebuilt after accident, flooding, etc).

Be prepared with information to back up both the price you are offering to pay for the vehicle and the price you want for your trade. When the dealership gave us the $2000 offer on our Honda trade, DH pulled paperwork out from NADA and Kelly Blue Book showing trade values. Having this information at his fingertips was quite helpful when the manager took him to the computer to pull up their own information.

Once you have gathered your information, have fun! Go for a few test drives. Put the vehicles through their paces. This is a major purchase. Many people spend more time and effort for a stereo purchase than they do for a vehicle purchase. By doing a little research before hand, you can save a lot of money.

When it is time to negotiate, don't be afraid to walk away. Here are tips that served us well:

• Don't say right away that you plan to trade something. The trade-in should be a separate transaction so you know what you are actually paying for the car and what you are getting for the trade.
• Don't be afraid to walk away. Many times, we got the dealership's best price on a certain vehicle and said, "Thank you" and went on our way. Every time, we got a follow up phone call. Armed with these "best prices," you are able to use the lower prices as leverage to bring the higher prices down. In our van transaction, the manager actually called another dealership with a similar van that was priced less. At the time, the dealership was offering a pitifully low price on our trade and had mentioned that his competitor may have the van for less money but wouldn't offer as much for the trade to make up the difference. DH called his bluff. When the manager called his competitor, he learned they would offer a full $1000 more for the trade.
• Don't assume the deal is done when a price has been agreed upon. Some dealerships may try to recoup some profits through creative financing. Make sure you understand the terms completely before signing anything.
• If you are buying a used car, don't be afraid to ask to have your mechanic look it over. Don't be afraid to work some repairs into the deal. We had a check engine light on at the second test drive. In our deal, the engine light and whatever problem caused it would be fixed before we took possession. It took over a week for the problem to be fixed correctly, but now we have a great vehicle in great running condition!
  

Happy shopping!

Making Money from Home part 2

I want to finish posting my thoughts on making money from home and move to other topics for a short while. My desier is for this blog to be about several topics, not just money, though money will be in the forefront for quite some time.



I want to continue my list of survey sites that I use.

• Inbox Dollars - To the right of the blog posts, I have a banner that links right to my account. If you would like to sign up, I would appreciate you signing up under me! I get 10% of the amount you earn (not detracting from your earnings)! I am quite happy with this company so far. I have nearly $10 after just about 2 weeks. I can take surveys, play games, complete offers, and read emails and get paid. Each email read pays 2 cents - not a lot, but it adds up for just clicking to read ads for a few seconds. The only thing I wish this company did was send an email for when surveys are available.
• Valued Opinions - This is another great survey site. You are emailed survey requests with the amount of compensation clearly listed. Money is deposited into your account within a short amount of time (varies by survey) and once there is $20 in your account, you are mailed either a giftcard (amazon) or a prepaid Visa debit card! I am just about up to my first $20!
  
• MySurvey - I just joined this site. I signed up under a friend who told me she had earned some money through this site in the past. If you would like to sign up under me, I will need to send you an email with an invitation.

Now for a list of other reward programs and panels that either pay in cash, gift card, or products.

• Swagbucks - Honestly, everyone should just sign up for this. It is a search engine that pays you to use it. Swagbucks isn't a sub-standard search engine either - it is a combination of google and ask.com so you get great results. As you search the web as you normally would, you are randomly awarded swagbucks. These bucks can be saved and redeemed for either giftcards or merchandise. April is music month and the song of the day can be purchased for one swagbuck. By the end of this week, I will have the 49 bucks I need to redeem a $5 Amazon gift card. I did absolutely nothing for this money but add the swagbucks toolbar. I would love it if you sign up under me if interested! When you win, I win too and the bucks pile up even faster! From time to time, there are special swag codes that can be entered for free bucks. Note that there can only be one account per household.
• Disney Movie Rewards - if you watch and buy a lot of Disney movies, this is a great way to get point for free Disney stuff! If you'd like to sign up under me, I will need your email address.
• MyPoints - I signed up with MyPoints because it is the compensation for a panel I belong to and have since learned that there are many ways to earn points towards good stuff of all sorts. If you'd like to sign up under me, I will need your email address.
• BzzAgent - (This is the invite email that I just copied here. I am new to this but a lot of moms I have talked to have done this and have gotten a lot of cool stuff to try for free plus some cash) Hello. Have I told you about BzzAgent yet? I'm a member, and I thought you might like to be one too (joining is free). I get to try products and services at no cost with samples, coupons and stuff like that. Then I make my voice heard by sharing my honest opinions with others, including some of the largest companies in the world. Want to learn more and sign up to join in the fun?
• BuzzBack - This is a similar panel to BzzAgent. I have only completed the initial profile survey, but that was by far the most interesting and thought provoking survey I have EVER taken.

Now for the final way I am trying to make money from home, this blog. No, I am not soliciting donations. I am learning how marketing a blog and using advertising can create an income. I am so thankful for a blog posting by Christian PF that I have been pouring over that breaks down exactly how to go about setting up a professional blog.

Now take any information and run with it! My goal is to raise enough money through these various means to pay for all our meals on our vacation this summer - well, at least pay for a couple meals! I would love to know of any other ways you have been successful earning money from home!

Free New Tool!

I saw this today and saw that it was featured on Good Morning America. What an awesome tool! You can get all of your rewards cards combined onto one small credit card sized card. This is great to eliminate clutter on your keychain and in your wallet! This is also great for those stores that limit how many cards you can get - say, if you lose your original ones, some stores will not issue new ones. I plan to set mine up this evening! Check it out!

http://keyringthing.com/