Recent experience with a totaled car and car shopping

There are tons of posts here and on other subreddits that helped me during this process. Reddit was incredibly helpful and I recommend anyone buying a car really slow down and do your research and search around.

Insurance totaled my car – I got them to increase the value of my payout by about 2.5% by questioning some comps/adjustments on the CCC valuation instead of just accepting it.

New car shopping, I started with my local dealership and Costco auto. The only Costco auto was about 7 hours away but gave me a very solid starting point and quote – 5% below MSRP, the would have cost a few hundred to transport to me. Local dealership was about 1.5k above that and wouldn’t budge. I reached out to surrounding dealerships asking for 6-7% below. Most wouldn’t/couldn’t.

I figured out it’s because the exact model/trim/configuration wasn’t on lot and they were paying transport costs to get from a dealership it was on lot for. Found the one it was on lot for (some said they had it but really were just going to *get it*). They were two hours away, agreed to 6% below MSRP + a $1k rebate from manufacturer, delivered for free, and they threw in probably around a thousand of “addons” cargo bin, floor mats, etc. Without any back and forth. They delivered to my driveway and I signed paperwork in my kitchen.

I declined extended warranty and am still getting after I purchased from an online dealer. I went to the Honda subreddit and searched for online dealers that specialized in it. It’s over $1k cheaper vs if I got directly.

Reply with your best car buying tips for anyone in the future