This car buying checklist covers everything worth settling before you set foot on a dealership lot. Most of what goes wrong in a car deal is decided before you arrive — by what you did or didn't sort out in advance.
I sold cars for five years. The buyers who were hardest to move were never the aggressive ones. They were the ones who walked in with their numbers already done.
Two weeks out
1. Set your total budget, not a monthly payment
Decide what the car will cost you in total — price, fees, taxes, registration. A monthly payment can be engineered to hit almost any number by stretching the loan, so it tells you nothing about what you are actually paying.
2. Check your credit
Pull your score from your bank or a free service. It determines the rate you qualify for, and knowing it in advance means you can tell whether a rate you're offered is reasonable.
3. Narrow to two or three specific models
Same trim, same rough year and mileage range. Comparing across a wide field makes it hard to know what a fair price looks like.
One week out
4. Get pre-approved financing
Your own bank or credit union. This is the single highest-leverage item on this list. Dealers can mark up the rate a lender approves you for, so having your own approval sets a ceiling they have to beat.
5. Get written trade-in offers
Two independent sources — CarMax and Carvana both give written numbers. These are your floor. Without them you are guessing, and the dealer knows it.
6. Research actual selling prices
Not asking prices. Look for what comparable cars sold for in your area, and note how long the specific car you want has been listed. A car sitting 60+ days is costing the dealer money.
Two days out
7. Request out-the-door prices by email
Contact three or four dealers with the same message. Ask for the total including all fees, taxes, and registration.
"I'm interested in stock #____. I'm ready to buy this week. Please send your best out-the-door price including all fees, taxes, and registration. I'm contacting a few dealers and will move on the best written number."
8. Book an independent inspection
For any used car, arrange a pre-purchase inspection with a mechanic who does not work for the dealer. Around a hundred dollars, and it either confirms the car or saves you thousands.
The day of
9. Bring your documents
Licence, insurance, pre-approval letter, written trade offers, and the email with the out-the-door quote. Having the quote in hand ends most disputes about what was agreed.
10. Set a time limit out loud
Say at the start how long you have. The long wait while someone "checks with the manager" is a tactic, not a process. Tired buyers sign what rested buyers don't.
11. Keep the trade separate
Don't mention the trade until the purchase price is settled in writing. A strong discount that gets clawed back on your trade is not a discount.
12. Read the buyer's order line by line
Before signing, check that the price matches the quote, the interest rate matches what was offered, and no products were added that you didn't agree to. Verbal promises that aren't written into the deal do not exist.
What this list is actually doing
Every item above removes one piece of information asymmetry. The dealer knows what the car cost them, what it's worth, what rate you qualify for, and what your trade is really worth on the wholesale market. You start out knowing none of that.
Pre-approval tells you your real rate. Written trade offers tell you your car's real value. Sold comparables tell you the car's real price. Once you hold those three numbers, the conversation stops being about what you can be talked into and starts being about whether the deal beats the alternatives you already have in writing.
Print version
The free cheat sheet below condenses the dealership half of this list onto one page — the five most common tactics and the exact line that stops each one. It's built to live in your glovebox.