Buying a Car Without Kicking Tires

It’s summertime, and my thoughts turn toward cruising the California highways in a shiny new sports car. But who am I kidding? These days I’d have to buy a minivan or station wagon. And you can bet I’d shop around.

Thanks to a cheap new program and the major on-line services, that’s easier to do than ever.

The program is 1-900-AutoFax Computer Pricing Guide ($29.95; 800-848-5500), a fast, easy MS-DOS creation that provides comparative information on more than 200 domestic and foreign cars.

You start by picking the make, model and sub-type from menus. That takes you to a screen that shows both list prices and dealer invoice prices. The latter is important because, in theory, it’s what the dealer pays for the cars.

In reality, the dealer probably paid less because of rebates, factory-to-dealer incentives and “holdbacks” that put extra money in the dealer’s pocket, so sometimes it’s possible to buy a car at or below invoice.

The program also gives the retail and invoice prices of each option and option package, which can add thousands to what you end up paying for a car. You select or deduct options until you find the bottom-line price. The program prevents selecting options that aren’t available.

I used the program to conjure up my dream car, but the price was a nightmare. A stripped-down 1993 Corvette convertible has a retail price of $41,745. But by the time you add in all the options, you’re looking at more than $73,000--unless, of course, the dealer is willing to give it to you “at invoice” for a mere $62,386.

I’m a little short of cash but, fortunately, the program has a loan table that calculates monthly payments and total interest charges. My Corvette, at 8% interest, according to the chart, would set me back $1,524 a month over four years. A six-year loan would reduce my payments to $1,094 but would cost me an extra $5,653 in total interest payments.

Of course, you don’t need software for this new-car information. There are several books that provide the same data, but the software automatically adjusts the bottom line to reflect the options you select, allowing you to experiment with different packages. It also lets you quickly switch from car to car when comparing prices and features. You can’t save your scenario to disk, but you can print out a report to take with you when you visit the dealer.

The program doesn’t have everything. It lacks fuel-efficiency information, projected resale value and what the dealer is actually paying for the car after incentives, rebates and holdbacks. All that information and more is available for $2 a minute from a live operator over the company’s 900 phone number. It’s also sometimes available from the library, auto club, insurance company, books and periodicals.

You can also get auto buying information from the major on-line services. CompuServe and Prodigy offer access to Consumer Reports, which rates new and used cars on their safety features and performance in road tests. They give price ranges but not actual retail or dealer invoice prices. Both services offer Consumer Reports at no additional hourly charge.

CompuServe offers an excellent service, the New Car/Truck Showroom, which allows you to view and compare features, specifications and prices. It includes retail and dealer invoice prices for the base vehicle and all options, along with details about fuel capacity, fuel-efficiency ratings, trunk capacity, weight, headroom and much more.

CompuServe subscribers pay an hourly fee ($8 at 2,400 bits per second) plus 90 cents a report. For $1.20 you can get a side-by-side comparison of two vehicles. For a 40-cent surcharge, you can have the service provide you a list of cars that meet the criteria you supply, such as price range, EPA class, fuel economy and other considerations.

You can also review comparative government crash-test data, organized by class of car and ranked in order of results.

Another service, AutoVantage, available on CompuServe and America Online, provides summary information and prices for new cars. You can join AutoVantage for $1 for 3 months, but beware! They’ll bill you $49 a year after that if you don’t call their 800 number and cancel. Or, for no cost, you can use their “browse” feature to look up pricing and summary information on any make or model.

AutoVantage also provides its members with information on the value of a used car but, believe it or not, they make you enter a postal address so they can mail you a report. It’s beyond me why they don’t give the data on-line or via e-mail.