by Dick Stewart

Created on: February 16, 2009

The first thing you need to know about online car buying is that almost any web site you go to for help on the subject was created to make money for someone. That's okay. This is the good old USA and we're nothing if not entrepreneurial. But keeping that fact in mind will help you keep your perspective when considering their advice.

As a for instance, go to carbuyingtips.com. The most prominent feature you notice on the home page is the "Top 4 New Car Buying Tips." Therein you will find links to other web sites. How do you suppose those web sites were chosen? Right! The people who run those web sites paid for that endorsement as advertising.

If you have any doubts about this, the very fact that number 4 in their "Top 4 Tips" deals with extended warranties, an item the legitimate consumer press has been suggesting you avoid for years should convince you. If they are telling you to give these people your money to use for three or four years during which the (free) factory warranty is in effect, offering no benefits whatever, what does that say about their objectivity?

Tip number 1 is really of no value unless you suspect you have some error in your credit report, and need to resolve it before you apply for a loan. If you do have such concerns, the federal government maintains a site, AnnualCreditReport.com, where you can get your credit reports for free, once a year. Any other site will try to sell you some useless identity theft protection contract for a fee.

The same cautions apply to their listing of on-line car brokers like Autobuytel, CarsDirect, Cars.com, etc. These people basically do what you could do, and charge you for it, either by adding markup, or charging the dealer a fee, part of which they pass on to you. And they all have contracts with a particular dealer for each make, so they have no flexibility if that dealer isn't offering the best deals that day.

Advertising is not inherently evil, but recognizing the commercial motivation behind those links will help you keep that all-important perspective. If you live in an area where auto dealers are far away, or where there is only one dealer in each make within reasonable driving distance, an on-line car broker can help you get a competitive price, and maybe more important, just find the car with the color combination and option package you want.

The same goes for getting your pre-approved loan. You want one of these so that when you call the dealers or fill out their on-line "wish list" you give them the

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