Car Lot Lessons

     If the title wasn't a dead giveaway, you're all in for another post from the car salesman half of the couple. I've been wrestling with the idea of posting about car buying tips for some time now and I believe I've learned enough tricks to help you all do some damage on your next car buying trip (assuming you're not buying from me that is). I'm about 6 months in to the car business now and despite seeing something new almost every day, most customers generally fall in to a few different categories and we train to overcome those situations. I'll give you some anecdotes and some tips from my short time in the business so far and you can choose to do with them what you will.

     The type of customer that worried me the most at the start was the guy that came in wanting the "bottom line price" and tended to be very combatant and know-it-all. I often heard phrases like "I've been buying cars for 40 years and I've never paid sticker, I always get a deal". To that I'd simply respond, "Well sir, what do you consider a deal? Is it a certain percentage off the sticker price? Is it a certain dollar amount you save? Is it a monthly payment you're aiming for that I need to meet?" Most of the time said customer doesn't have a response to any of those questions and sometimes he becomes a little more bullish, notice I said he, it's almost always a man acting this way, usually trying to show out in front of his wife or significant other. At this time I usually follow it up with a "Sir, I've probably sold more cars in the last month than you've bought in your lifetime, I do this every day, I see this every day, let me work for you and help you find the car you really want, then we'll worry about getting you the deal you want." With those few short lines I've either disarmed my customer or got to the bottom of what he's really on my car lot for. It's not often I get aggressive, but when I have a customer like that I have to; I'm not an order taker I'm a salesman. With that, lets move in to a few car buying tips.

1. DO YOUR HOMEWORK- Seems like a no brainer, but know what you're looking for before you go to the dealership. You have so many resources as a consumer now, Kelley blue book, Edmunds, consumer reports, get a rough working knowledge of the vehicle you want before you encounter a salesman. If  you haven't actually seen the vehicles you're interested in yet, go check them out on a Sunday, car dealerships are almost always closed on Sunday and it's a good way for you to see if you like the styling of a vehicle before going any further. You can also usually find what kind of rebates or incentives dealers are getting from the manufacturer online at any given time of the year which you can use when it comes time to negotiate price.
2. DON'T GET SWEPT UP IN THE URGENCY- Flow is everything to a car deal, if a salesman can set the pace and bring you along, you'll be signing paperwork before you know it. The salesman is going to lead and almost expect you to follow. When you're told the same "deal" won't be available tomorrow or at any point after you leave, it may actually be the truth, but chances are you can still get that same price at another time. Don't let yourself get pressured, unless it's the end of a special promotion or perhaps the last day of the month, you can probably find that "deal" somewhere else and at another time. Which brings me to my next point..
3. THE END OF THE MONTH IS GOOD, BUT...- As I mentioned above, the end of the month is a great time to buy a car, but to max out what you might save, show up on the lot 2 or 3 days before the end of the month and shop. Don't buy, just shop, take some information, and leave. As a dealership we're always trying to sell cars and at the end of the month there are certain numbers we need to hit as an individual salesman as well as a dealership and many a time the customer can find a better deal that last day when we're feeling the urgency. If we have a customer that we think was truly interested we will do whatever we can to get you to buy before the end of the month so we can reach our goals.
4. WAIT UNTIL YOU GET TO THE DESK- I'm referring to keeping all of your information close until you get to the desk to negotiate the deal. There's really no point in talking payment on the lot because the salesman doesn't get to determine that and if you did your homework you know what cars are going to fit into your budget already. It's always better to have printed out quotes from online or other dealerships of what you're willing to pay for the new/used car, if they don't see it in print they probably won't try to match it. Invoice prices are listed online as well as fair purchase prices and are readily accessible. Realize that no matter what, the dealer is going to make some money, if he wasn't making money or taking away a deal from his competition he wouldn't sell you the car.
5. EVERYTHING IS NEGOTIABLE, EVERYTHING- There's a certain process to working a deal that can max out what you'll save as a customer. Avoid working the monthly payment figure until the end at all costs, don't even mention it on the lot. Work the overall price down by using all of the research you did before your visit to the dealership. Bring up and produce a copy of the invoice price as well as any special incentives from the manufacturer you were able to find. You should be a few thousand lower than MSRP at that point, which is when you bring up your trade. Most salesmen will ask you right away if you were planning on trading, just deflect and say you're undecided but you'd like to hold on to it. If you've done your homework you've also looked up what your car is worth as a trade-in, be honest with yourself and evaluate it without any sentimental feelings involved. You just raked the dealership over the coals on the price of the new car, so he's going to try to make it up on the trade by offering you way less than what it's worth. He'll probably tell you it needs brakes, tires, or a combination of things that will cost him a lot of money before he can resell it. Chances are your car isn't in excellent condition, but you can probably present some numbers off of Kelley Blue Book on the value of your trade and settle on one of the established values there. If you've gotten everything you wanted so far, congratulations, but you're not done yet, you still have the interest rate to discuss. Don't agree to anything until you know what interest rate you're getting. Rates are currently at an all time low with some dealerships offering below 1%. Once again, if you did  your homework, you know what rates are out there for certain manufacturers and you should know where your credit score is. Roughly anything above a 700 credit score can score you the best rate available, don't let the dealership tack on 1 or 2% to the prime rate, they're usually allowed to by the bank. At this point you made your salesman work, you've probably talked to the sales manager, he's probably not too happy, but you got the best deal you could and that's what you were after. 

     With all of that being said, the car buying process is as easy as you want to make it. The  happiest customers I've had are the ones that spent the most and inadvertently allowed Jess and I to go out for a nice dinner or take a fun day trip. They didn't do their homework.