Buying a car in Florida
 

Buying a car in Florida.
Please share your advice, experience, the good and bad of buying a new car in Florida.

A lot of people dislike the Jenkins dealerships but they own a bunch in the area. You can probably get a better deal outside the area.

Costco has an auto buying service
I’ve bought several cars through them up north

+1 for Costco for new.

Carvanna is good for recently used models.

Cars
 

Doing it now, sold my truck in Texas and looking to downsize here. Looking for a used Toyota Tacoma or Nissan Frontier, pretty much tell the dealer to send me a OTD (out the door) price then offer them 1 or 2k less, should be picking one up this week, be using CarGurus to do my search.

There are a lot of threads about this topic.

In our case, we determine the Out-the-Door (OTD) price we choose to pay for a certain type of car. Then we find a dealer who sells that type of car and make our OTD offer. If we do not hear a Yes, then we leave and try somewhere else.

That is how we have been buying cars since 1994.

need to go to Orlando or Tampa for good deal.- AutoNation is pretty fair

What does Costco do for you? I tried to use the service, but I cannot see that they do anything that is helpful. The people I talked to did not even work for Costco.

We bought a very nice used BMW convertible through the classifieds right here on TOTV about 8 years ago and feel that we got an excellent deal. There are many well to do old folks in the Villages who buy very nice cars, use them very lightly, always keep them well maintained and garaged, have very low mileage, and have never seen road salt or northern pot holes. Simple depreciation with age makes these cars a good value relative to the wear and tear they have on them. Unfortunately, since Covid supply shortages, and more recently tariffs, used cars have become a high demand item and good deals are much harder to come by.

Be prepared to get ripped off with outrageous doc fees and other garbage fees that are pure profit to the dealer.

Don't be prepared, just refuse to pay those fees. I never pay dealer (doc) fees or garbage fees, or even the extreme markups for dealer installed options.

By the way, Mullinax Ford doesn't try to charge any fees.

Yes, be super careful if buying from Jenkins.

Vehicle Purchase
 

We bought a new vehicle in December. I utilized auto purchase programs from Costco, Sam’s Club, AAA and AARP. It was a lot of dealers to juggle but I was able to compare them fairly well and play them off each other a little. When all was said and done I felt we got a good deal. It was helpful to be firm on exactly what we wanted and not allow the sales people to move us towards models or options we didn’t want or need.

If you buying a Ford, I know a very good Manager in Sanford. He is really good.
I buy a lot from him and most of the time depending on the car or truck i get invoice or right around there, with not BS fee's

All of this is good advice to anybody buying cars anywhere.
I’m a widow….have had to buy several cars on my own. In my married life I just drove whatever car my husband purchased.
I watched a lot of YouTube’s and follow their advice.
Beware of the upcharges and bull**** fees. One dealer even added a $1000 ceramic topcoat to the car, between the time of my commitment to purchase and the closing. I guess he thought I’d feel obligated to pay but I absolutely refused.
Know what you’re willing to pay going in the door. Then stick to your number.

When discussing the price with a car dealer, only discuss the out-the-door price. If you start discussing individual line items on the sales contract, you will lose.

What should be a typical doc fee in Florida & examples of doc fees people have paid in Florida?

The doc and/or dealer fee should be zero, which is what I have always paid. Florida has nothing to do with it. Note that Mullinax Ford doesn't try to charge any of these fees.

Interesting that you were able to negotiate between different purchase programs. Did distance between your home and the dealership or anything else help?

Thanks, that is good to know. While we are not in the market right now, you never know. When we do buy, we use the A Plan from Ford. It is the absolute cheapest way to buy a Ford product. No haggling, and you know the cost before you even walk in the door.

Love Chevy is another one, major rip off !

Car Dealers
 

One thing I know first hand is stay away from any dealer that has Jenkins name involved.
Many people including myself have had the worst time dealing with them. They try keeping
you there for hours with nothing good to offer. That place you tell them what you will
pay and if they don't accept it walk out the door. Never do a trade in with them either, they
don't want to give you much for your trade either.

Doc fees are not capped like in many other states. Some dealers charge $1000+ doc fees. I believe the law requires that a given dealer charges everyone the same doc fee. So to "reduce" the doc fee you need to negotiate a better discount of the car price off MSRP. Dealer advertisements need to disclose the doc fee and electronic registration fee - another rip off.

It is my understanding that when you question the doc fee, the dealership will reply.they are required to charged everyone the same fee otherwise they could be charged with discrimination. A typtical buyer reply should be, we both know your doctor fee is bogus but you need to lower something else so you don't get charged with discrimination.

I would like to know the amount of doc fees people have paid in flordia any any other bogus fees.

Dealer and doc fees are negotiable and dealers do not have to charge them. Any dealer who tells you that they are required by law to charge a fee is lying to you. But the only thing that really matters is the out-the-door price.

Thank you. My above post was before I read yours.

I have found that the best way to buy a new vehicle is to use KBB.COM to calculate the out-the-door price. When a dealer wants to discuss any line item in their sales contract, I ask them to give me their OTD price. I refuse to discuss anything else. They can list the line items any way they want but I only care about the OTD price. Their argument about discrimination is hogwash. What do you gain by engaging in a discussion about a dealer fee or doc fee?

The doc fee at Phillips Toyota is $899.

Do everything online or through email. The first and only time you should ever step into a dealership is when you are there to pick up the car you have already purchased.

If you are going to finance, go to a credit union and get pre-approved for a loan. Shop as if you are paying cash. Then when its time to close, let the dealer know what your approved interest rate is and give them an opportunity to beat it.

Garaged? Not in my area some can’t even get golf cart in garage. :D agree, If I was buying used 3 or more years old vehicles I would review history make sure it didn't come from rust belt. Salty roads and electronics/wiring don’t fair good.

This guy IMO best finding problems other shops can’t.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7iFFYkwIVY

LOL. The doc fee at Mullinax Ford is zero. So, what is Phillips Toyota doing with the $899?

having been in the state since 2006 we have a few rules -

never buy around here
never buy in orlando
never buy in daytona area
do look in Wesley Chapel/Tampa area
never bother with Ft Lauderdale/Miami area ever.
only deal with actual brand dealers
ALWAYS examine critically only CarFax on cars no other vehicle history.
ALWAYS be ready to walk away from anything.
CPO is the goal, otherwise still within adding extra warranty coverage
never let the F&I guy run the deal.

Thank you. Greatly appreciate others post the doc fees, which dealership, and approximate date.

Can you share the name, dealership, etc?

Costco's auto Program is Terrific!
 

Beware Carvana
 

We recently (during June) purchased a car from Carvana. We were charged $1,000 to have car delivered from Sarasota to Orlando, where we had to drive there to pick up.

KEYS - MAKE SURE you get TWO AUTHENTIC KEYS! Not a 'cloned' version. Since they cloned our second key, our car gets confused and just shuts down (NO KEY DETECTED error) if hubby and I are both carrying our keys. Carvana won't provide a REAL key. Figured out after this cloned key problem that is the CURE for several issues (Like driver 1 and driver 2 features. Since it is cloned, the car can't tell who is who).

Rolled back Odometer. Our 27,000 mile car has 50,000 mile tires which are totally worn. wear and tear in the interior shows up AFTER the 7 days return period. Whatever they used to fill the scratches in the leather show up a couple of weeks later.

We did take to Ford to have things checked out. Carvana initial coverage w
on't cover keys, the super worn out Window Buttons and other issues.

At least once a month this thread shows up, with the same folks posting their convoluted process, for saving a few bucks when they buy an automobile ...

These are the same folks who insist on buying a Golf Cart from The Villages and are willing to pay 30%-40% premium for a cart.

I guess $500 saved on an automobile is worth a few hours time, but it's a different story with golf carts for some reaso?

Dealers wouldn't waste their time for $500. My estimate for the price difference between an uniformed buyer and an informed buyer is about $3,000 to $4,000. If you walk into a dealership having done no independent research, that is how much extra you will pay for a typical vehicle.

Had a similar experience using Sams buying program to buy a Camry. Within about 10 minutes got 4-5 phone calls. Asked for the out the door price and Courtesy beat everyone by about 3000.

Made an appt to buy the car the following weekend.

A Toyota deal in Ocala called a few days later. His price was about 2500 less. Told him not interested unless he got me best price. His suggestion was to go to their dealership walk their lot and might see something at his higher price I liked better.

Asked him if he thought a nearby village lost their idiot and was he looking for him. Conversation soon ended.

Six years ago we bought a new Toyota at Phillips. Using the info we found at Edmunds.com, we computed the OTD price that we were willing to pay and they accepted our price.