Never buy at sticker price. Sales people will always initially quote you the sticker price. Dealerships have a substantial price buffer for every brand new car in their lot. You can always go online and scour the Internet for really good deals and bring these price quotes with you when you negotiate.

Time it. The wisdom of trying to negotiate at the end of the month still hold some water. Most dealerships still segment their sales quotas on a month-on-month basis and nearing the month’s end is the time when plenty of sales people are willing to shave off some bucks on their commission just to get quotas.

Ask for a no sales-talk talk. Many sales people will try to butter you up with their sales talk. The tactic I used was to be upfront with the sales person is to say that I was also into sales and I knew all their secrets. I asked to do it by the numbers – the lowest price I can get the car with a set of options where he still got a bit of commission but not get in trouble with his boss. Now, this worked for me, but you can try it out too.

Negotiate with the decision-maker. One of the limitations of sales people is they still have to go through their managers for some of the decisions. You can try and bypass this by negotiating directly with the sales manager.

Stick to your budget. Now, a pitfall for many is to spend more than they can afford. Mind you that many of the advertised prices are for the base model. Options would cost much more and sales people will try to have you get all the add-ons by making you feel bad about considering the base model. And you have to factor in taxes for those.

Be prepared to walk away. Never enter the dealership looking like a sure buyer even if you’re really riled up in getting that sweet new ride. If you don’t readily get the deal that you want, walk away but leave your contact details. Based on my experience, sales people will contact you to follow up, even offer a better deal to persuade you to visit back.

However, be realistic too. If you’ve been through several dealerships already and you can’t get any lower than a certain amount or configuration, that would probably mean that those would be the lowest dealers can go for that model.

This investigation is the latest blow to the company’s reputation. But Toyota execs admit that this is more than just a battle for reputation. Toyota also faces 200 lawsuits involving faulty throttles and other types of problems, including liability claims for 79 deaths and hundreds of crashes.

The automaker is already addressing the problem on several fronts. Toyota has repaired 48% of the 5.4 million recalled cars due to potential pedal entrapment by an unsecured or incompatible floor mat, which Toyota defends as the root cause for the unintended acceleration. 80% of the 2.6 million cars in a separate recall aimed at fixing potentially faulty or sticking accelerator pedals have also been fixed. Analysts estimate that the cost of all of these measures is to exceed $2 billion.

Those estimates do not include a significant cost that Toyota spends for aggressive sales incentives such as, cash rebates, 0% financing, etc. It’s the automaker’s way to keep its older baby-boomers customers happy, since recent buyers haven’t had much good experience to speak of. Toyota’s incentive spending has jumped from $1,400 per vehicle in January to more than $2,200 today.

It has taken Ford nearly a decade to overcome awful publicity for its faulty Firestone tires on the Ford Explorer. Audi took almost 20 years to rebuild its reputation for its own unintended-acceleration controversy in the late 1980s. Despite richer incentives, Toyota’s market sales have only increased a meager 2.8% so far this year. It’s going to be hard to convince back consumers that their cars are safe. And with the NHTSA spotlight still on the automaker, can Toyota ever bounce back?

The list is composed of spacier cars with wagons, CUVs, SUVs and people carriers. Pretty much a given. Thing is, these cars cost more than $20,000. Among those in the list, only the Kia Soul can be had for less. Not really a practical thing if transporting a pet is your prime consideration.

Besides, it’s about the size of the pet. If you have a chihuahua, even a Honda Fit will be overkill. But hey, a St. Bernard fits even in a Toyota iQ.

Here’s the list:

BMW 3-series wagon
Sticker price: $35,700 – $37,700
Mileage: 17 City / 26 Hwy

Volvo XC60
Sticker price: $32,400 – $41,550
Mileage: 18 City / 27 Hwy

Subaru Forester
Sticker price: $20,295 – $28,495
Mileage: 20 City / 27 Hwy

Hyundai Santa Fe
Sticker price: $21,695 – $30,295
Mileage: 19 City / 26 Hwy

Honda Element
Sticker price: $20,525 – $24,320
Mileage: 20 City / 25 Hwy

Toyota Venza
Sticker price: $23,777 – $26,595
Mileage: 21 City / 29 Hwy

Mazda3 wagon
Sticker price: $19,685 – $22,895
Mileage: 20 City / 28 Hwy

Mini Clubman
Sticker price: $20,450 – $31,000
Mileage: 28 City / 36 Hwy

Ford Escape Hybrid
Sticker price: $27,762 – $31,639
Mileage: 34 City / 31 Hwy

Kia Soul
Sticker price: $13,300 – $17,195
Mileage: 26 City / 31 Hwy

The thing is, car dealerships charge quite a lot compared to your friendly neighborhood mechanic. Some would have a price difference of 10-20% on both parts and labor. So where are you going to have your car serviced? Many would often think that you need not throw good money after bad (in depreciation) and just have the car serviced elsewhere.

However, the complication here is that having the car serviced elsewhere can void the warranty. That is the warranty that you have paid for when buying new. So voiding your warranty for savings might just be the worse option.

Besides, dealership work is often guaranteed service. Something breaks, then they’re responsible for it. Besides, given the electronic systems fitted in today’s cars, dealership have the best equipment to diagnose what’s wrong with your car making having your car serviced elsewhere a gamble on your car and money.

Now, when getting one, many would be basing their decisions mostly on price. One best way to get the best price is to let dealers slug it out. Shopping around (including the Internet) can yield some pretty good deals.

But is that all that you should be basing your decisions on? Here are a few intangibles that should influence you as well.

1. Dealer reputation – How high does the dealership rank among the automaker’s list? Not all dealerships rank the same even if they carry the same makes and models. Some shoddy dealerships might even be selling you an older stock, or a returned vehicle.

2. After sales – Some dealerships are just interested in the sale so the moment you drive off the lot, you’re on your own. How well does the dealership follow up on the sale? Are your after-sales inquiries met with the same enthusiasm as when you’re doing the sale?

3. Service – New cars demand that they be serviced at the dealership for warranty purposes. So how good is the dealership’s service department. There’s value in having it serviced at the same dealership from which you buy a new car since, as a customer, you can put more pressure on them to fix whatever issue you might later have with the car.