Bodhisattva:
Re: Question: if one buys a car on the internet, does one avoid state tax?
As John mentioned earlier, Autoweb.com will refer you to a local dealer, so you'll still have to talk to a car salesman (Ugh), waste 1-2 hours for delivery of your car (longer if you're trying to trade), and pay sales tax. The benefit of these on-line services is the ability to have the dealers set a bid price for the auto - you pick the best one, and there's no haggling.
I used Microsoft CarPoint and Autobytel.com last summer to purchase my Durango. Each on-line service referred me to a dealer, and someone from the dealerships called me back to describe what they have in stock, and how much it will cost. One dealership wanted 5% over the invoice price of the Durango (the on-line services can provide you with the invoice prices for free), while the other dealership wanted invoice+$800. Now, on a SUV with an invoice price of $27k, it was easy to see that the invoice+$800 was a better deal, and I took it. I'll purchase cars this way from now on. The procedure works best in a large city where you can use CarPoint, Autobytel.com, and Autoweb.com to get competitive bids from three different dealerships. I personally would like to see these on-line services work more closely with the dealerships to reduce the amount of time it still takes to get your vehicle once you buy.
Adam |
