Random Questions to Ask at a Car Dealership (12 items)

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  (#3) What Aftermarket/Dealer Parts Are on the Car?

  Would you drive to Pep Boys and shell out $200 for a pair of mud flaps and stick-on fish-eye mirrors? Of course not. But would you notice if your dealer were charging $45,750 instead of $45,550? Dealers have a longstanding habit of "doing things" with cars - adding "custom" dealer touches and then charging customers ten times what they're worth. Ask about aftermarket alarms, tinted windows, or the "paint protection package" (aka "silicone wax"), and compare those charges to the market value of those add-ons. 
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  (#5) Show Me the Carfax

  Yeah, it's an advertising tagline, but no dealer who isn't trying to scam you will have a problem with showing you the vehicle history. And it's important. After Hurricane Katrina alone, hundreds of thousands of flood-damaged cars went to auction, only to be cosmetically restored and sold again as "dealer certified" automobiles. But electrical and chassis damage from saltwater rendered almost every one of them a ticking time bomb of failure. Don't take for granted that your car isn't a refurbished wreck, or even reported stolen from another state. If nothing else, having the Carfax in hand may help to put liability for that sort of thing back on the dealer. 
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  (#6) Can I Take It Home for a Test Drive?

  Different dealerships have different policies on test drives, but as a general rule, if you're a serious buyer spending big money on a car from a reputable dealer, they're more likely to let you take the car on an extended test drive. Ideally, you'd want to keep the car overnight, and drive it at least a 50 miles before deciding to buy. Anyone who expects you to be cool with dropping $50K on a car you've only driven for 15 minutes may have something to hide.  
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  (#9) What's the Cash Price?

  This is a separate question from asking about the total financing costs, since it can be very revealing about the extra charges you're getting hit with. Some dealers will tell you flat out they won't sell the car for cash. If you hear that, run. These dealers are buy-here-pay-here loan sharks, and will ream you on interest and unexpected charges. 
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  (#4) Can You Give Me Your Card?

  Never, ever buy a car on your first trip to the dealer lot. Car dealers specialize in high-pressure sales, and don't profit when you think too much about it. But think about it you must, especially when you've got the cold, hard figures in hand. Sleep on it. Give yourself some time to cool down and think when you don't have a professional salesperson verbally doing your thinking for you. Buying with your heart is fine... you're paying many thousands of dollars to get what you want, and your heart should be happy about it. Just don't send your brain on vacation in the process. 
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  (#10) Can You Catch Up on the Service?

  If you're looking at a used car with 100,000 miles on the odometer, odds are pretty good that it's got an expensive service coming up soon - could be spark plugs, a timing belt, a full fluid replacement, transmission filter change, almost anything. When you go home to think about your purchase (which you should), go online and look up the manufacturer service schedule. If the car is coming up on a big service interval, have the dealer perform it as a condition of sale. 

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