New Car Buying Tips: Beating the Dealerships at Their Own Game

Politics and religion may cause arguments till the end of time, but there's one thing that we can all agree on: It's a real pain in the you-know-what to buy a new car. Dealing with salesmen, driving from one dealership to the next and haggling are just some of the hurdles you'll have to overcome. Even after all of this, many people feel like they are getting a raw deal when they buy a new car.

Well, it's time to put an end to that. A little homework can go a long way, and it will really pay off down the road. Try as they might, the dealerships can't pull a fast one on a well informed consumer. You should start by choosing the car you want before you set foot into a dealership. At the very least, narrow your choices down to about 3 vehicles that fit your needs, then research them thoroughly online. Pay special attention to reliability, safety and pricing. When you know the MSRP of the vehicle you intend to buy, you can easily figure out the mark-up of the car's sticker price, and how much profit the dealership is expecting. This makes it nearly impossible for the salesmen to trick you, because you know what the vehicle should cost.

My next trick includes calling ahead to the dealership, and asking for a price quote. This tactic may or may not work, but if you are able to entice a price quote out of someone over the phone, it will almost always be lower than the price you would be quoted if you were standing in the showroom. Be careful- a clever salesman might try to coax you into setting an appointment at the dealership without giving you a price quote. Salesmen know that people can become passionate about a car during the test-drive. They take advantage of the emotional connection that people make with cars, and expect people to accept the first offer that is made after a test drive.

Salesmen like to play a 'shell game' with your money! If they know you're a trade-in buyer, or that you're financing through them, they will be willing to pay you more for your trade in than it is really worth, but they do this by jacking up the price of the new car and pile on hidden fees. The amount of money you pay doesn't change, it just gets shuffled around.

The best way to avoid this shell game is to take away their ammunition: get your loan somewhere else, and don't tell them that you have a trade in, even if you do. When you handle the new car purchase and the trade in separately, you get a better deal on both. If you do have a trade in, wait until you've agreed on the price of the new car, and then tell them you've changed your mind, and you actually do have a trade in. Now they can't shuffle your money around- you've already agreed on a price for the new car, and they have no control over your financing, so now they can't fiddle with the price of your trade in or your payments.

To prepare for negotiations, you should eat a decent meal, get plenty of rest, be clean and dressed comfortably, in somewhat casual attire. When you sit down to negotiate, set a timer for thirty minutes, and tell the salesman that if the deal is not made by that time, then you're walking out. Whenever the salesman decides that he's got to review an offer with the sales manager, tell him that he just ate up ten minutes of his time. The great thing about this is that it prevents the salesmen from 'ganging up' on you. The salesmen love to constantly switch salesmen on you, in order to wear you down. They like to call this tactic "turnover" because they keep turning you over to progressively aggressive salespeople. Don't let them pull this trick on you: tell them that you are on to their scam, and you'll walk if it doesn't end immediately.

Once you've agreed on a price, you might think that you've reached the end, but it's not quite over yet. Once you sign the purchase and sales agreement, the salesman will take you to an office to finalize paperwork. This could take an Hour or more. They'll also offer you a truckload of overpriced and unnecessary services, such as extended warranties, and frivolous add-ons. Now it's time to remember all those anti-drug ads from the eighties, and Just say no! That is, unless you really want something that they're offering. In that case, you can haggle on the price of those add-ons as well. Add-on services are pretty much pure profit for the dealership, so you can usually talk them down to less than half of what they're asking for.

Buying a new car can be so complex that I could literally double or triple this article and still not cover every angle, but if you've followed these rough guidelines, you should be able to get yourself a great deal on a new car when all is said and done. Good luck, and happy shopping!