Read and follow this car buying guide carefully. 

Decide whether you want to buy a new car or a used one

Make sure you have funds available for your down payment

Create your monthly budget

Prepare financing in advance

Calculate fair price

Use competitive advantage

Avoid common dealer tricks

Car purchase signs

Use invoice pricing and bidding to save

We'll review car buying websites and teach you how to use them to get competitive bids to keep dealerships in line. In our research, we found that the best sites were TrueCar, RydeShopper, Edmunds, and Cars.com. You'll learn how to calculate what dealers will pay for new cars and trucks so you can offer a fair quote. You'll learn everything you need to know in our new car buying guide.

Beware of "good" or "fair" prices

You may think this is a strange warning from a website that tells you how to get lots of it when you buy a car. The most important thing to know is that no matter how high the price you get, it's not a "good deal" unless you get everything right in the F&I office.

In all the ads you see about getting the best price, you need to know that price is only one part of a big deal. When dealers give you a high price, they have even more incentive to make up for profits in other parts of the deal.

All in all, this car buying guide is useful for most people.