IN THIS TUTORIAL   Tune Up Your Car-Buying Skills Get the Best New Car Deal How to Negotiate a Lease Myths About Leasing How to Shop for a Used Car Useful Car Links Should You Keep Your Old Car?

CAR BUYING
Useful Car Links

Find information on:

• Reliability and Safety
• Manufacturers
• Prices
• Financing
• Buying and Selling

You can find all the answers you'll need for your next car purchase on the Internet. Here are some of the best and most popular sites out there. And we've included some of the biggest retail sites, for after you've kicked enough virtual tires.

Reliability and safety

Carfax. This site offers a free "lemon check" (and powers the same tool for several other auto sites), but it makes its money selling detailed title histories for $19.99. (You can check up on more than one car for $24.99.) By entering the car's vehicle identification number, Carfax can tell you if the car was ever titled as salvage, was rebuilt or reconstructed, was flood-damaged or had its odometer rolled back.

IntelliChoice. Maintained by the publisher of the Complete Car Cost Guide, this site provides ownership costs and safety information for almost all models.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Check recall histories, consumer complaints, defect investigations, crash-test results and more. This site is a little tricky to navigate but contains essential information for every car buyer.

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Manufacturers

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Pricing information

CarPrices.com. Used- and new-car prices, as well as reliability reports and national classified advertising.

Edmunds.com. This company brings 38 years of automotive consumer writing and rating experience to the Web, offering a ton of great information on its homepage.

Kelley Blue Book. From the publication synonymous with car values, this site also offers a buy/sell section and reviews.

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Financing information

Bankrate.com. Find the latest and lowest new- and used-car loan rates in your area.

Kiplinger calculators:

• Should I finance or pay cash for a car?
• What term of auto loan should I choose?
• Should I use a home-equity loan instead of an auto loan?
• How much will my monthly car payments be?

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When you're ready to buy

Autobytel.com. For-sale-by-owner as well as dealership listings.

AutoTrader.com. Specializes in used car listings from dealers.

AutoWeb.com. A fair amount of dealership listings, but this site requires your e-mail address and phone numbers before it retrieves sellers' information.

eBay Motors. Bypass the pressure of the sales floor and bid online.

How to Shop for a Used Car

Should You Keep Your Old Car?