Avoid Sticker Shock at the Dealership

When starting your search for a new car, the BEST thing you can do is be prepared. I always say “validation is the new negotiation.” If you want to feel confident in getting a good and fair deal, do yourself a favor and validate your numbers and research with credible sources.

One area of car shopping where a quick bit of research before stepping on a dealer lot can go a long way is on your loan payment. Avoid sticker shock by researching what your average loan payment should look like beforehand and sticking to it when you go into the dealership. Let your salesperson know what your pay limit is. When you know exactly what you can afford and what car you can get for that price you will feel confident in sticking to your guns.

Edmunds is a car shopping resource that offers a great, free tool to calculate your monthly payments during the duration of your loan. Start by heading to edmunds.com and search for a vehicle in your area. Once you’ve found one you’re interested in, select the vehicle and scroll down to “payment calculator” on the vehicle information page.

Here you can see your estimated monthly payment. The loan payment calculator is automatically customized for that vehicle to include:

• The vehicle list price from the dealer for used vehicles

• The Edmunds Suggested Price for new vehicles

• Your trade-in value (if you've input it and saved it to your Edmunds profile).

The calculator also automatically populates estimated taxes and fees depending on where you live or are purchasing your vehicle from. You can adjust the calculator to reflect longer or shorter loan terms or smaller or larger down payments.  Play around with the calculator and get familiar with the estimated numbers. Once you have a good idea of what you can afford and what qualifies as a fair monthly payment, you will feel so much more confident when having those payment conversations at the dealership.

This post is sponsored by Edmunds. All opinions are my own.