Even if you don't have "a friend of a friend in the business," here are some insider tips to help ease your online car-buying experience.

Get a Copy of the Contract

Make at least two personal visits to the dealership. The first visit is merely to allow you to test drive the car you're interested in. And, before you leave the dealership after your test drive, be sure to ask for a blank copy of their contract form. You want to read this over and mark any questions you will want to ask later, or changes you want to make. You want to consider these issues in the calm of your own home. Don't put off reading the contract until the last minute when you are at the dealer, negotiating your final price and otherwise distracted by everything that's going on. (You were planning to read the contract before signing it, weren't you?)

If You're a Woman

It may not be PC, but there are sites devoted to women car-buyers only. Even if you're not a woman, you may still find some information of use at the Woman Motorist site (www.womanmotorist.com). The site isn't a raving pit of chauvinism — you can find reviews by both men and women.

This site offers a complete panorama of varied topics including reviews, maintenance, tips on buying a used car, safety, a glossary, Q & A, new product features, and a chat feature. It's a good site. Give it a try.

Try Go's Express Search

Anyone who spends any time online must master the art of searching. One of the best freebies on the Internet, in my view anyway, is the Go Express Search engine. Go offers several significant advantages over most other search engines. It allows you to scroll through the hits (so you don't have to keep using the Backspace key or the Back button in your browser to get back to the hit list to click on the next link). A second big advantage is that pages in the hit list are automatically loaded in the background. This means that while you check out one of the links, the links following in the list are loading into your browser. When you click the next link (or Go's Next button), the next site snaps quickly onto your screen.

Search Engines to Try

You can choose from many excellent search engines. Try the following and see if there are a couple that particularly suit you. This is a list of some of the most popular search engines, in no particular order: HotBot; Go2Net (MetaCrawler); AskJeeves; MSN (Microsoft Network); Google; Yahoo!; WebCrawler; AltaVista; DirectHit; Snap; Northern Light; Excite; Infoseek (Go); Netscape; GoTo.

Don't Ignore Any Financing Options

You can get great financing online, and often it's the best deal you'll get. Typically, a blank check is sent to you (as quickly as the next day), and you then fill it in to the limit of the loan you had approved via e-mail online. However, don't neglect seeing what kind of rate the dealer may be able to offer you. Sometimes dealers use super-low-interest loans as one of their come-ons. Also, check with your credit union if you belong to one. These non-profit organizations can often undercut current loan rates. Keep your options open.

Consider an Open-End Lease

A special kind of lease that may appeal to you is called the open-end lease. You agree up front to pay for the difference between the predicted value (called the residual value) of the car at the end of the lease and the actual value (called the realized value) that the car has at the end. The predicted value is written into the lease when you first get the car, but the realized value is determined at the end when you return the car.
In some cases, you may actually get money back if the car is worth more at the end of the lease than was predicted in the residual value. But, as always, keep your eyes open. The realized value can be calculated several ways: how much money they get when they sell it to someone, the retail value (as determined by an agreed upon source), the wholesale value, what's called the "fair market value" or even the best offer the dealer gets for the car. You need to know which of these methods of calculation are used in your lease and how to ensure that the car's value will be determined fairly.

Don't Forget that People Pay Different Prices for the Same Car at the Same Dealership

People pay different prices for a new car. You can pay top dollar; you can pay close to dealer cost; or you can pay somewhere in between. If you're a really weak negotiator, you might give the dealer $3,000 in profit; a great negotiator might give the dealer $300 in profit. Obviously, salesmen and dealers would prefer to get $3,000 from everyone — but experience has shown that profit is determined largely by how customers behave during the haggling process. If you're polite, persistent, and above all, prepared — you should be able to drive the price down near the low end of the spectrum. You'll find loads of techniques and tips on how to negotiate throughout this book.

Lowering Your Insurance

We all want to save money on insurance, and there are several ways you can. You can usually get a discount on your auto insurance if your insurance carrier also handles your homeowner's or renter's policy. Check, too, to see if you can get a discount if you have more than one auto to insure. Also, if you have a child who's a driver listed on your policy, most insurance companies have "good student" discounts if your school-age student maintains a B grade average. Students who have completed driver's education classes usually get a break, too.

Another option is to ask your agent to see if his company provides a discount for drivers with a good driving record. Many insurance carriers also provide a discount for an annual low mileage (typically 7,500 miles per year), and also if you have a security system (alarm) on your car. Nonsmokers are usually charged (or is that charred?) less, too.

One final insurance rates reduction tip is to consider taking a defensive driving class, especially if you're a senior or if you're trying to dig yourself out of a mess of tickets.

Another way to lower your auto insurance costs is to remove both collision and comprehensive insurance. Don't live in a dream world, though. If you don't carry collision insurance on your car, and then you have an accident that's your fault, chances are good that your auto insurance company won't pay out anything for your damage.

You can also consider boosting the deductible. A deductible is the money you pay for repairs before the insurance kicks in. The usual default deductible is around $500; if you have an accident with $1,000 damage to your vehicle, you pay $500 and the insurance company pays $500. Ask your agent to see how your rates would change if you raised your deductible to, say, $1,000. Get quotes for various levels of insurance, then make up your own mind about what amounts you really need. And don't forget to make adjustments every couple of years, as the vehicle ages and circumstances change.

Always Have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Insurance Coverage

In my state, North Carolina, over 7 percent of all drivers are uninsured. Whoa! And according to statistics, that percentage is likely to be even higher in your state. What do those uninsured drivers mean to you? Consider this: Most people who drive without insurance have few financial resources. That's why they don't have insurance in the first place. That's also why, if they total your car, or hurt you badly, you cannot rely on much, if any, money from them to help you get repaired. In my opinion, it's always worthwhile getting the (relatively inexpensive) addition to your car insurance coverage called uninsured! underinsured motorist coverage. See if you have it; if you don't, consider getting it.

Don't lgnore Rental Cars If You're Looking for a Used Car

Did you know that car rental companies are the biggest sellers of nearly-new cars? They like to offer their rental customers as new a car as possible, so they recycle their fleet of cars as often as possible. After all, their rental car customers like the feel of a shiny new-like car. But that means a potential deal for you as a used car buyer. Take, for example, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the biggest rental car company in North America. Check out their website (www.ecars.com) and you will find a big pitch by Enterprise, or Ecars as it is also known, to sell their huge selection of slightly used cars. Looking for a great used car deal? You might find it there.

Enterprise calls its pitch "The Perfect Used Car Package: Haggle-Free Buying & Worry-Free Ownership". The "Haggle-Free" claim refers to a one-price system that Enterprise offers. The "Worry-Free" claim comes from the great warranty that buyers get, as well as a seven-day return policy that lets you drive the car for a week and sell it back for the very same amount you paid for it, minus a small fee to clean the car. That way, you can check the car out to make sure it is still in great shape. Rental companies usually have a huge variety of makes and models in the fleet of vehicles they rent out. They are definitely worth checking out if you are in the market for a well-maintained, low-mileage, nearly-new used car.