There was a study that I came across recently that was done on consumer behavior and how touching an item physically dramatically increases their chance of buying that item regardless of price. Now you know why dealers want to get you on the car lot!

There are a bazillion tools for doing online research when you want to buy a used car. Professional reviews, consumer ratings, industry value reports and referrals to car lots that might have a car that you are considering are all pretty easy to come across while surfing the web. As much as you like to think that you are prepared when you arrive on a lot there is always that moment when you see a car that you weren’t considering; it could be a newer model, have less miles, be a different trim or be completely different than anything you had every considered and now you are second guessing yourself and all of that armor of research you did.

Carsala now has a free tool that you can use on your iPhone while you are standing in front of the car that is making your mind race and help you answer some questions quickly. By going to http://www.carsala.com/pricecheck/ on you iPhone you simply enter the 17 digit VIN number found on the driver’s side of the dashboard, your ZIP code and the sticker price.

What next?

• Carsala will tell you if this car’s make/model/trim/mileage is common in dealership inventories
• The dealer’s asking is price is rated out of 4 possible stars & if the price can be had better elsewhere or be negotiated better by Carsala, it will tell you
• Carsla’s Self Service or Full Service tools for finding and negotiating similar cars of the same year, make, model, and color (if selected), with equal or fewer miles, and the same number of doors within 200 miles of your ZIP are offered as a next step.

Just to show you in more detail how the site will work, I put a VIN for a 2005 Honda Civic in my area in the Price Checker and when I followed the link to the self service tools, the Carfigurator showed me that there were 639 cars in my area that matched that search. Maybe the one in front of me isn’t such a good deal at $13,995.00 because it indicates that 3 Killer Deals can be provided to me to go see for $9.99 on my own.

What if you had just gone with that car in front of you? Now you know that armed with an iPhone, BlackBerry, Google Android or any other phone that has browser capabilities, you can know for sure that you have choices and are paying the best possible price for a car in your area.

At a time when I have become a bit “meh” about the automotive industry, Carsala has come up with some tools that appeal to the how and why I started writing about said industry. Okay, I say appeal but what I really mean to say is inspire! Yeh, that does sound really like some silly PR statement but I am serious. These tools, and by tools I mean applications that can actually help buyers in the used car market, haven’t existed before. I know we are all a lot more than “meh” about words like “appeal”, “inspire” and “unique” being thrown around a world where every car is going to do all of those things and get you to work and protect you children and change your life and help you find the love of your life and express exactly who you are AND not make you feel like you are the one being owned when you realize you are expecting a hunk of metal to do all of those things and you can’t even get your garbage disposal to work like you would like!

Follow me here for a few minutes and you tell me if you have seen anything like this before.

• Which car can you afford? I don’t mean one of those many calculators that asks you about expenses and APR and how many months you will slave before you see the title in your name and uses a little Java to pop up numbers that are not the crystal ball to your next car! Let’s start simple! Carsala Budget Search allows you to start with the simple idea that you want to know which car you can afford. Your parents want you to buy a safe sedan but, gosh darn it, you saved the money, have your job to pay for the car and you want to know if you really can afford a convertible or a crossover that reflects you and your lifestyle? How much do you want to spend, what is the oldest year of used car are you willing to consider and what is your ZIP code? Et, VOILA! Look at all of those cars that will make your dad squirm! See a sample result where I searched for $16,000 SUVs in my city. Pretty amazing, huh? Now click on one of the models and see how much Carsala says they can save me by negotiating for dealers in my area. Are you with me here?

• What about THIS car I found? You are standing on a car lot OR you found your dream car online through one of the many sites like eBay Motors, AutoTrader, Cars.com or another dealer classified site. Is it a good deal? Can you do better? With Carsala Price Checker you will know more easily than walking in and asking a random salesman, calling the salesman listed on the site or emailing and waiting for a response. By simply entering the VIN, ZIP and dealer’s asking price you can have a realistic price immediately. Believe me: I entered a VIN in my area for a 2008 BMW 3-Series that I know to be quite rare here and Carsala’s Price Checker told me the truth: “There are not many cars with this trim, engine, transmission, and color in your area. If this is exactly what you are looking for, you should probably buy this car. If you are flexible, request a detailed quote.” When I entered a VIN for a pretty standard Honda Civic Si for sale in my city, the results gave the dealer’s pricing 2 out of 4 stars and gave me the option of Carsala’s Full Service (where they will negotiate for me) or Self Service which showed me, “We searched through 6 million cars, analyzed 819 Honda Civics in your area,
  and found these 3 killer deals” and that Carsala can show me 3 “Killer Dealers” in my area up to 44% of the price I entered. See a PDF of a sample Killer Deals report here.

Anyone else know of a site out there that can do those two things (and, oh, so much more)?