Ladies, It’s Time to Start Negotiating

Please welcome my new financial contributor, Anne Fleming. Anne is an expert in the world of cars and is here to give all of us some valuable tips on being auto savvy.

How to put $3,000 back into your Budget

3 Steps to Saving Money at the Dealership

New and used car sales are picking up again after a punishing recession and rising along with them is a resource that helps to put women in the driver’s seat when buying a car.

Research shows, however, that many women hesitate to go to the dealership by themselves, in fact, 63% of female car buyers bring someone with them and 78% of the time it’s a man. The reason?  Many women aren’t comfortable negotiating.

Not surprisingly, women now buy 54% of all cars and influence 80% of the family car purchases. Further research indicates that when women have a “let’s get this over with” mindset and, when they don’t negotiate, they pay $1,353 more than their male counterpart*. That amount balloons to an estimated $3,000 over the life of an auto loan.

Three thousand dollars goes a long way in assisting women in taking better care of themselves and their family. That sum is the equivalent to:

• A hefty deposit for an IRA, 529 education fund, or a dream vacation
• An emergency fund
• 50 pair of shoes, or, 20 designer handbags
• 3 months of grocery trips for a family of four, or nine months for a single person
• 120 $25.00 Starbucks or Target gift cards

To level the playing field, Women-Drivers.com is a free and invaluable resource where women can Write and Read reviews of dealerships from coast to coast that have been designated as Certified Women-Friendly.

Anne Fleming, President and Car Buying Advocate of Women-Drivers.com says there are three things women can do to empower themselves and save money when going to the dealership. First, locate and do business with certified dealers; these are dealers that women rated and gave high scores to. Next, take the Negotiating Test to see what kind of a negotiator you are — and follow the simple steps to maximize your buying power. Third, stay empowered and use your voice and your intuition—just as you would if it were for someone else.

Women-Drivers.com allows women to rate their Purchasing, Browsing and Service experiences at dealerships nationwide and connect with Certified Women-Drivers Friendly™ car dealers.  Dealers are recognized as Certified Women-Drivers Friendly™ and use this to distinguish their dealership in several key ways. The company provides a number of innovative tools to assist dealers in attracting more women buyers.