ForbesAutos has ten things you should never say to a car dealer, unless you feel like beefing up his kid’s college fund. Hit the link to find out their rationale. The basic premise is hide your assets and weaknesses until the right moment, to not say stupid crap, and watch out for the little maneuvers that hand over control to the salesman.
10. “I think you can do a lot better than that.”
9. “Sure, I’ll look at the numbers with you.”
8. “What’s the lowest price you can give me?”
7. “I’ll take whatever the popular options are.”
6. “Oh, I’ve wanted one of these all my life.”
5. “I’m not sure…which model do you think I need?”
4. “I’m only buying the car with cash.”
3. “Yes, I have a trade-in.”
2. “I can afford this much per month.”
1. “I’m ready to buy now.”
Things to Never Say to a Dealer [ForbesAutos]
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Also, never say to a dealer “I need a car today, my other one is going to be impounded tomorrow”. After I got taken I caught the salesmen actually laughing at me.
Ahh to be young again.
I like using the tool of an awkward gap of silence. I also like the tool of creating a conflict. But I have to warn the people who I am with ahead of time, or they try to fill in the uncomfortable silence or to diffuse any tension that they may feel. Tension is your friend.
Speaking of #5…The last time my sister-in-law bought a car, she showed up in a new Taurus, and was going on and on about what a great experience she had and how nice her salesperson was. She started telling us how he took the time and let her test drive lots of different cars – F150s, Explorers, Crown Vics, Mustangs, etc. before she decided the Taurus was the car for her. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t sell her a Taurus, he sold her a full-sized FWD sedan. She should have known that going in, and then cross-shopped various models in that size/price range, but the damage was already done, so I kept my mouth shut. Considering her dad doesn’t see a need to test drive a new car before buying it because “it’s brand new so there shouldn’t be anything wrong with it”, I guess the fact that she actually test drove something is a step in right direction.
@flackette: When I started college my folks and I went in together on my first car. The day we went it was storming pretty bad, and there was virtually no one in the dealership. I remember during the in-office negotiation my dad saying something about “you guys don’t want to sell a car today” and getting up to walk out the door, but they got him to sit back down. About that time the weather service issued a tornado warning, and the sirens started going off all over town, so the few people left in the dealership quickly departed. We got a pretty good deal on the car as I recall, and I definitely learned a thing or two.
Sometimes reading the fine print on a car dealer advertisement is helpful as well. My parents were looking to buy a car and we had seen a used one on the lot they liked. Lo and behold, a few weeks later I’m looking at their ad and that car is in there, and in the fine print in the description it says “sp 6995″ which was “Sale price, 6995″ So my parents decide to jump on it because it was about 2000 less than what it had been. They go to the dealership and the guy quotes them 7500, my parents call BS and leave and bring the ad back in to prove what they had seen.
I guess the guy really wanted to sell the car because he said it was a misprint and it should not have been that price (and there was the “Not responsible for errors in the ad” clause) but he did sell it to my parents for that price.
I’m the guy who always gets taken at the car dealership. I’m the worst negotiator in the world. That’s why I vow to pay cash for everything from here on out.
seriously, I suck.
Last two cars my parents have bought were handled smartly and ahead of time. Dad works for people who buy a lot of cars, so one dealership wanted the business. For the 07 Edge they just bought, they paid 200 over dealer invoice (what the dealer pays for it), plus in this case since they had to get it from the other side of the state, a few hundred for the moving charge. My dad asked the other Ford dealer that was in the area about price for said/similar vehicle, they wanted to “discuss it.” Dad didn’t have time, because it was busy season at work, so was doing it all over the phone. He told the second dealer that he had a price from the first dealer and wanted to know their price. They asked instead to find out what the other dealer offered. It kept going back and forth. Obviously he went with the first dealer.
I’m still young, but I’ve already quickly figured out what the three big rules for buying a new vehicle are:
1) Know exactly what you want and what features you want in the vehicle/or don’t want.
2) Know exactly what you’re willing to pay for it (easier if you get pre-financed, though some special financing can still be cheaper than what you find pre-financed)
3) (the hardest one) Don’t be in a hurry. Parents bought the Edge because my mom hurt her back at work, and the Accord they had (and traded in) sat so low to the ground that it was harder for her to get in and out of it. Parents wouldn’t have bought a new car so quickly (maybe ever again) if it weren’t for that fact (the accord was 2 years old). However, since they already had the accord, they weren’t in a hurry and could have waited as long as needed to get the deal they wanted.
So forget what “not” to say, know what to do beforehand.
@strum40:
Thats probably the best advice on this thread.
“Never scold or accuse the salespeople.”
If you have a legitimate reason to do either, you should not buy a car from that dealer. Just pretend their cars don’t exist.
You really do have to be willing to walk away. I accompanied a boyfriend when he went to buy his Lexus, and he wanted it so badly that he was letting the salesguy jerk him around. I’m in sales myself and I just got up and left. First the bf followed me, although he was awfully confused, and then the salesguy followed me, as he had figured out who was in charge. We negotiated the final deal on the driveway of the dealership.
As others have said, you really do need to know what the dealer paid for the car and what they stand to make from it in order to negotiate well. I got my last car, a Saturn Vue, for a substantial discount below the “GM employee pricing” that was on offer at the time, got them to throw in some extras like the heavy duty rubber floormats, and at.9% financing. You can haggle on those ‘no-haggle’ prices, folks. Most folks just don’t. This dealer actually drove into Manhattan to pick me up and take me to the dealership in NJ, so I knew out of the gate they were desperate to make a sale. I still can’t believe the deal Ii got on that car!
I think I violated at least half of these things when I went car shopping in June and I still managed to go it alone (young single female) and walk out with the exact vehicle I wanted, 2 thousand under blue book value, outstanding customer service experience, and less than 3 hours at the dealer. I even got lower financing on it than my pre-approved blank check loan so I saved money. I realize that this is the exception to the rule though. I think I was just lucky that day.
1st of all I have a newz flash for you guys. “Invoice” is NOT the dealers cost. If you would have done your research you’d know that. Think of it like a software rebate. You go in… see the software and it says 50$ with 10$ mail in rebate. The invoice (your receipt) says 50$ but your actual cost was 40$. The car game is the same game. Also I NEVER hesitate to say #10. When people bullshit me I call them on it. In fact I just bought a car 2510$ below the sticker price b/c I called the salesman on all his BS and got up to walk out 2X. Don’t EVER be afraid to walk out and any price they give you today can be had tomorrow.
@dirtymoney:
Recently my hubby and I were looking at buying a new pickup truck (GMC Sierra 1500). We checked at several dealerships in our area. We went to one in Pryor, OK. Got out of the truck and looked around. There was not a single salesman come out to even talk to us. When we left, I told my husband, “Well, this frelling dealership just lost our business.” We will not even go back to that dealership, even if they sent us a check for $10,000 off!