Vehicle ownership is the third biggest expense you will ever have--behind only income taxes and your home. Nowhere during your lifetime will you be taken more often and for more money than when you buy a car (or truck) from a new car dealership. The deceptions are so well hidden and so lucrative for the dealers that billions are wasted annually by all car buyers, who love to brag to their friends about what a great deal they got.

So how do you get a good deal on a new car? You don't. No one has ever gotten a good deal on a new car except the dealer. There are no good deals on new cars because of the huge dealer overhead and hidden mark-ups added to the front-end retail price, plus the added interest, needless insurances and inflated dealer add-ons added to the back-end of the deal.

Buying a home is an investment that appreciates over time. An automobile, while sometimes a satisfying emotional investment, is never a sound financial investment. A vehicle is only an expense, which makes owning one a financial loss. Your objective is to minimize that loss. Yet owning a car of your dreams is possible without being a financial drain--if you know the strategies.

Never buy a new car.
Don't be seduced by low, low interest rates or rebates. New car dealers have extremely high overheads and mandated large profit requirements. It is not cheap to hold and maintain a new car dealership. Interest, rent, advertising, multi-leveled commissions and staffing payments are much higher for new car dealers.

These dealerships require large amounts of real estate to display an extensive inventory, which means higher lease or loan payments for the dealer. Each car on the lot represents an ongoing interest and advertising cost that accumulates each additional day that car remains unsold. When a new car is sold, the salesman, his supervisor, the general manager, the dealer and the manufacturer must all be compensated. If the manufacturer doesn't make enough profit, it would face stiff consequences from the stockholders. Who do you think must pay for all these costs? YOU, the car buyers do, of course!

Buy the car of your dreams, but only after it's one to three years old.
Once a car is "used"--meaning you signed the title--it can lose 20% of its value before you drive it off the dealer's lot. After three years, your car's value can plummet by a whopping 50% from its original purchase price. Add the additional "back-end" fees for excessive finance charges, dealer add-ons, extended warranties and over-priced insurances and your new car can be worth 60% less than the total cost that you paid to the dealer after only three years! By buying a one to three year old car, you let the first owner take the huge initial depreciation hit for you, yet you still have a relatively new car that is covered by the manufacturer's warranty. You can even have an additional warranty added to your "new" car.