The Pro’s Path to Car Buying

December 5, 2025

Car buying continues to be arguably the most problematic consumer experience of all time. The largest and most complex financial transaction most people will ever undertake is time consuming, confusing, risky and, sometimes, just plain unfair. Why? If you walk through the front door of a dealership you will encounter an archaic sales process, where dealers price people, not products. (The the industry’s legacy- all the way back to horse traders. Sign on the corral reads, “Horses $1 and up!” Note: there are never any $1 horses.) Going through the front door means a 3 to 6 hour ordeal that will wear you down until you likely pay more than you should for the vehicle, financing, aftermarket products and/or get too little for your trade. The good news is there’s a Pro path- engaging remotely via text & email with the Internet Sales team or in a small store, a fleet salesperson. There are 2 distinct sales teams in a dealership – showroom & Internet – with different processes and pay plans. Working with the Internet team will allow you to maintain control and get the dealership to fairly price each piece of the transaction. This is how you insure yourself a fair price and avoid wasting hours sitting in a dealership being pressured to buy now.

The following breaks down this Pro path that will finally simplify your new car purchase. Shop with confidence, understand where you have leverage, and avoid unnecessary surprises.

1. Getting Command of Your Financial Vital Signs

It is essential you update the financial vital signs that dealers and lenders rely on to evaluate your financial health. Your financial vital signs will determine your total vehicle price, especially your interest rate for a loan or lease. While today’s lenders use complex algorithms to underwrite and price auto loans and leases, the foundation of any lender’s analysis remains your three C’s: Character, Capacity & Collateral.

Character: your FICO score is an empirical measure of your financial character. How much credit have you been approved for, how much have you used, and how well have you paid. There are 5 main FICO score ranges. Excellent: 800 to 850, Very good: 740 to 799, Good: 670 to 739, Fair: 580 to 669, and Poor: 300 to 579. FICO Scores are calculated using many different pieces of credit and personal data found in your credit report to define five weighted categories: payment history (35%), balances owed (30%), credit history (15%), new credit (10%) and credit mix (10%). Learn more about FICO Scores - https://www.myfico
Capacity: The second “C” lenders rely on is your capacity to repay the loan as measured by your debt-to-income ratio. Lenders prefer your total monthly debt payments be less than 35% of your total monthly gross income (before taxes). How much do you make each month (gross) and what % do you spend on rent/mortgage, Home Equity loan, auto loan, student loan, credit cards and any other personal loans. Your debt-to-income ratio is the total of your minimum monthly payments for all your loans divided by your total gross monthly income. (Note – this does not include food, utilities or other discretionary spending).
Collateral: The final and most important “C” for auto lenders is the collateral as measured by the Loan to Value (LTV)% - loan amount / invoice (new) or loan value (used) of the vehicle you’re purchasing. A higher LTV increases the risk of a larger loss to a lender in the event of a default. You can lower your LTV by increasing your down payment to reduce the loan amount and interest paid. Lenders prefer buyers be < 100% LTV if possible but will finance more for buyers who have Prime or Super Prime credit. A higher LTV often requires lenders charge a higher interest rate so they can increase the amount they reserve to offset potential losses. Note: Tangible aftermarket products (racks, wheels/tires, trailer hitches) are added to the loan amount for the LTV calculation. Intangible products (GAP, Extended Warranties, Maintenance Agreements) are not included as they generate a prorated refund that is applied to any outstanding loan balance in the event of default or total loss.

Financial Vital Signs Recap :
Make note of your current FICO score and if you have recently paid off a loan or credit card balance, plan to have proof (check, statement, etc.) as a lender might want to see it. Calculate your debt-to-income ratio so know where you stand when it comes time to seek loan approval. Note: always get preapproved so know where your rate ceiling is. If a dealer offers to get you a lower rate, let them but always require them to confirm amount financed, rate, and term in writing for any dealer offer.

2. Shopping for a New Car or Truck

Always start with the manufacturer’s site so you can see all models, option packages, individual options, pricing, and available incentives down to the local level.

· Do not visit the dealership until your deal is completely finalized. If you go too soon, you’ll give them the home field advantage and once again wind up sitting in a dealership for hours on end and leaving unsure you got a fair price.

· Employing AI to Search for New Vehicles. While at a Manufacturers site, copy the description they use including trim - 2025 Toyota RAV4 LE AWD – and enter the following prompt, “find 2025 Toyota RAV4 LE AWDs within 100 miles” into Chatgpt or other AI tool. This will identify the stores where you can solicit a request for Out the Door Price and give you an indicator of current supply of your make, model, trim and options.

· Online Retailing. Do not confuse an online presentation of price, rate, terms, and more as being final. Amazon’s online purchase process for new Hyundais is on behalf of local dealers who control the final pricing of vehicles, financing, and aftermarket products. Pro Tip: beware the omission. A monthly payment without the interest rate and/or term is worthless…they’re pricing you!

· Dealership contacts: your best contact is the internet or online sales team. Go to the dealer’s site and click on the About or More tab, then staff or team. Chose one, copy his/her email and you’re off. (Occasionally you’ll have to call to get a name or in a small dealership ask for the fleet manager.) Again, if they ask to visit before the deal is final, say no. If they say they have to see the trade ask them to come to your work or home.

Next check the inventory of the closest 3-5 dealerships that sell the make & model you want. Drill down to find the model, trim, options and color(s) you want.

Copy (screenshot) the VIN number so you can find it and more like it.
Google Seach – Slowest selling new vehicle, then fastest selling new vehicles. If your selected vehicle is on either, you’ll have a better idea of the fair market price. Fastest selling means more demand than supply, so higher price. Slowest selling means more supply than demand, so lower price.

Contacting the Dealerships Internet Sales Team/Fleet Manager:
You don’t have to commit to a purchase for the dealer to realize you’re ready to buy. Being well prepared shows them you’re ready. This starts with the quality of your initial email: which vehicle(s) are you interested in, what vehicle(s) do you currently own (this could impact available incentives), when do you plan to buy (urgency gets them to act- next week doesn’t exist in a salesperson’s mind), what numbers you want to see. Long story short, you want complete transaction detail including sale price (MSRP – Discount), taxes (include the county you live in so they can calculate the correct sales or use tax), Fees (beware the Doc or Documentation fee- can be as high as $695 to complete the transaction- Imagine if the cashier at the grocery store charged you a $25 checkout fee-HA!), Total Amount Financed, interest rate, term, and monthly payment. Shameless plug: our Car Buyer’s Gameplan includes the tools you need to efficiently navigate this route- we’ve written email templates that are proven to get attention, deal calculators (to verify a dealer’s offer), Offer calculators (what you should offer) plus debt-to-income and Loan-to-value calculators to help update your vital signs.

Click https://www.thornebriar.com/collections/gameplans to get more information and tools.

If you were buying a $30,000 (avg price of a Used Car-2025) or $50,000 (avg price of a New Car-2025) piece of property you would have 2 advocates to protect you: a realtor and title company or real estate lawyer to review every line of your property purchase. That’s what we are doing, advocating for your purchase, lease, finance, trade in and more by putting a proven Gameplan in your hands including transaction specific checklists so you can verify each and every charge.

Next Blog – New Car Incentives, Getting Pre-approved Financing & how to verify a Dealers price line-by-line (Transaction Checklists).

If you’re in the market now, visit www.thornebriar.com for answers to questions (FAQs) and insights that can save you time and money, plus prior blogs including one on when not to pay tariffs- don’t be fooled.

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