Being someone who is in the business, I recommend the following. Do a search via Cars.com/Autotrader/Ebay for vehicles that meet your criteria locally,determine the differences between the vehicles being sold, options, mileage, desirable color combinations. I dont know if Acura offers Certified Pre-OwnedProgram but if they do the only way to benefit from that is to purchase from a franchise Acura dealership. Once you identify a vehicle that you think mightwork for you, do some research on the dealership itself. How long has it been in business? Is it family owned or corporate, what does the reviews say ondealerrater.com say about the dealership? If everything looks good, then take a trip down to the store. If the car is as described, carfax is clean (orautocheck, some dealers vary in reports but they all do the same thing basically.. which isnt much but its good to have) ask them what is the best they can doon the vehicle. Keep in mind, you already researched the market and you should know if its a good deal already but asking for something off doesnt hurt. Thereare 2 ways most dealers work. Some mark the vehicle up thousands of dollars and hope to get someone who is uneducated and they hit a home run or they willnegotiate a few thousand dollars off and give the buyer the perception that they are getting a good deal when in reality they only paid fair market value. Theother strategy is to price the vehicle at market value or slightly below and let the internet draw in the educated buyers who realize a good deal on a vehicleand will purchase it with marginal discounted or none at all depending on how its priced. That being said, remember you are buying more than the car. You arebuying the dealership, the sales rep, along with the vehicle. Make sure the dealerships core values are the same as yours. If you buy just price, chances areprice is all you will get and any issues in the future you could possibly have with the vehicle will fall upon def ears. Dealer reputation is the mostimportant factor.
