If you hate car buying remember these tips.

[panther4life]

1. The better job you do at convincing the sales rep you are not planning on buying anytime soon or that you are just truely looking the less likely they are to stay interested in helping you gain knowledge about the product they are selling.This statement is amplified on busier days such as Saturday when they are busy and feel like you are stopping them from meeting a real buyer.

Case in point: Say you are shopping for a pre-owned vehicle and are not planning on doing anything until this summer but want to survey the current market.: This will immediatley deject the salesmen and he will try to broom you(get rid of you asap) and move on to a customer who is ready to purchase. In addition most dealers keep their pre-owned inventory on a 60 day turn, so if they can't sell a vehicle within that window they will send it to the auction and cut their losses. If your thinking any longer than a week or 2 out then inventory probably will not be the same, especially on pre-owned.

2. Being secrective is not always to your advantage.

example: If the salesmen starts asking you questions about your budget,financing or paying cash, credit score and you clam up because your afraid they are trying to use this info against you is silly. They ask these questions to save their time and yours (remember car dealers do not pay by the hour, commision only). So be honest and then unless they are new or suck at their job they will typically try to help you find the best bang for your buck, and match you up with the vehicle(s) that best suit your needs and wants.

3.If you hate them constantly calling you, try to understand why they do it. # 1 most dealers require their sales reps to make 100-125 followup calls a week and use technology to track them and make sure they are doing so. So if they are helpful and provide you with good information, give them legit contact info(at least an e-mail address). If they start to overstep their boundaries and call you too much just tell them nicely and they will nput that info into their system and will more than likely cut back on it.

4.If they say they are losing money to sell you a car (they may not be lying).

Let say you go and look at a car and fall in love with an off color like bright green. If the vehicle has sat on their lot too long they will do anything within reason to move it if they have a potential buyer. Another example is if your looking at a pre-owned vehicle that has almost been there 60 days(likely because they put too much money in it originally and tried to recoup that money and make a profit) then they might as well sell it you for what the auction is going to net them for it. The auction's charge them money to run a car through, where as when they sell it to you they get to profit off of their doc fee. (A doc fee is shortened for documentation and is pure profit that goes to cover overhead such as paying the finance person to do your paperwork,the title clerks to process it and so on). And no its not negotiable, illegal to charge to different people a different doc fee.

5. Car salesmen go by the odds and believe they will never see you again after your first visit. Therefore they do everything they can to impress you and convince you to buy while you are there. This can be a good thing for you as most will drop their profits to a bare minimum before just throwing in the towel and letting you leave.

6.KBB,EDMUNDS, ETC. are not the end all be all when it comes to trade in value. As a matter of a fact no dealer takes into account what those sites say when they are apprasing your vehicle.So if you look your 1994 whatever up on kbb and it says 2k and they offer you 1k they are not trying to steal your car. If you have a car that is something they feel they can retail (re-sale on their lot) they will offer maximum value for your trade. If it is a p.o.s or has high milegae then its going straight to the auction and they offer you the auction value to cover themselves from a loss on your car. As a matter of a fact all car dealers use what is known as an A.C.V(actual cash value)and you will never see this document. This is what your car is worth in real life terms,generally the current auction value(which changes weekly btw). They do this because all those little scratches you have or your half worn tires,brakes, etc. have to be replaced/fixed if they plan on selling your vehicle to another retail customer. And of course they need to try to make a profit off it,because after all it is an investment on their part.

7.If you want to avoid being stuck with the new guy or an unknowledgable rep call ahead and ask to speak to a manager and tell them you are coming and would like a veteran sales rep. They will be happy to accomadate you.

Only thing to keep in mind is that most vet's will go straight into interview mode because they don't want to waste their time.

8."I hate the back and forth, just give me your best price upfront".

That is a dumb statement on so many levels its not even funny. A lot of people who say that are only using that dealership as a pawn to get the best price and take it down the street to another dealer that sales the same product and ask them to beat the price and they will buy. This is unfair to the rep who worked for free in showing you cars, test driving with you,etc. 99.9% people who say this won't buy even if you offer them a ridicioulsy low price they will likely never see again.

9.It takes to long to buy a car

While the average transaction takes a couple of hours, thats just life. A lot of papwerwork has to be done right and information has to be transferred from the sales rep to his manager who confims it is right then takes it to the finance manager who ends up helping you with your official contracts. If you want to buy a car and get in and out, then don't do it on the same day (weekends) that most others are buying a car. The wait is longer is because you are waiting on those that agreed to purchase before you did to finish.

*All this information is from me a Salesmen who has a loyal following of customers. I also know the ins and outs as I was a sales manager by the time I was 22.

1 Other thing, it's a terrible way to make a living, I have given up lucrative postions several times and as a salesmen several times due to the grind of the long hours, the unknown of how much you'll make from month to month(which makes budgeting a nightmare), pooty upper managerment,and asshole customers who hate us before they even meet us. So bottom line unless your desperate for money do not get involved in selling cars. Worst thing that could happen is you are good at it and the money sucks you in and then you think oh wow I can afford this and that now and incur monthly bills which are stupid for somebody who will likely quit their job at some point just to get a break. In addition theres a ton of other factors that can hamper your ability to make money in spite of how good you are. Unfortunatley for me I appear to be stuck because I do not have a college degree or know anything other than sales. With the permanent bills I have I can not afford to drop down to a lesser(paying) job outside of the industry in spite of how bad I would love to, to get my social life back and have a normal schedule.

tl;dr version. Just read the damn tips and don't allow your children, friends,fam or yourself to get stuck in the industry of selling cars as it sucks in spite of the ability to make more money than you otherwise could based upon your resume'.

[Wither]

and asshole customers who hate us before they even meet us.

Trust me, you have no idea.

And thanks for the tips. :)

[panther4life]

Trust me, you have no idea.

And thanks for the tips. :)

you're welcome, but now you peaked my interest what do you do?

And let me say this. Stereotypes exsist for a reason, so yes many car dealers have ruined it for the good guys out there like myself. But damn try judging people on and individual basis some time.

Edit: I am an idiot if your s/n suggest what you do and just now catching on.

[sunbunny]

Best thing my husband ever did was get out of retail and into wholesale. I wish he'd done it when the kids were small. He was gone more than he was home. It wouldn't hurt my feelings if he got out of the car business completely.

[Wither]

you're welcome, but now you peaked my interest what do you do?

I call it "customer service."

[Carolina Husker]

I love car buying. Negotiating is fun.

[Panthro]

I sold cars many moons ago

[Chimera]

I've only bought used from a car lot once, but I knew exactly what I was going for. The vehicle had been there for about 3 weeks already, so I knew I would be able to get the price down a little from the advertised $15,500 price. I did manage to get it down to $13,600, which was better than I expected. I would have bought it at $14k.

I don't know if I could have gone lower - they did the "the manager wants you to initial this piece of paper to show you're serious before he offers you a lower price" thing.

[Bob NC]

I'm in sales. Thankfully I don't have to give my customers a 12 paragraph primer on how to talk to me.

[logic1977]

I'm in sales. Thankfully I don't have to give my customers a 12 paragraph primer on how to talk to me.

Theres a lot of truth to that. I read all of what you wote and found it interesting and incitef, but as a car buyer it isnt really useful. It tells me how to make the Seller happy. It doesnt tell me how to get what i want.

For example the whole point about not telling the salesman if you dont plan to buy that day. I get it on hiw the salesman will feel like he is waisting his time. But you dont explain how to handle the salesman if that is truly all you want to do

[charlottenian]

As an fyi, the money in automobiles is used cars, not new cars. New cars are very competitive and the customers are able to know basically the dealer cost on a car. Used cars is a completely different animal, there is usually a considerable margin to be made on the car.

[Panthro]

When buying a car go at the end of the month. Hold out on bringing your trade into the deal. Tell them that you want to negotiate the price of the car first. Then when finished to your satisfaction bring up the trade. That way you get bottom dollar for your car and then whatever your trade is worth. Take it by first and see what they'd give you for it.

[panther4life]

I'm in sales. Thankfully I don't have to give my customers a 12 paragraph primer on how to talk to me.

Thanks for your worthless contribution to the thread. Most people hate buying cars because of the unknown factors and they think car salesmen are crooks. I just to wanted togive them a new perspective on why dealers operate the way they do. Its very helpful for both sides if they can understand that. Besides the title was "if you hate car buying", not "I hate customers that...".

[panther4life]

When buying a car go at the end of the month. Hold out on bringing your trade into the deal. Tell them that you want to negotiate the price of the car first. Then when finished to your satisfaction bring up the trade. That way you get bottom dollar for your car and then whatever your trade is worth. Take it by first and see what they'd give you for it.

That does not really get you a better price. What it does do however is clear the smoke on what your car is worth, vs what they are selling you there's for.

Example If you are looking at a 30k car and they are willing to sell it to you for $27,500. Then you have a trade in with an ACV(actual cash value) of $12000.So at the end of the day $15,500 difference is going to be your best price.

Often times customers will telegraph their hot buttons with statements such as "I want top dollar for my trade in" or "or I know my trade is not perfect but I want a hefty discount of your car".

So if your hot button is trade in we may present something like(probably not on our first presenation)

ok sale price on our car $29,000 and we will allow you 13,500 trade-in value.

coming to the ultimate difference of $15,500 anyway.

So if you use Panthro's method it will just get you the true value on your car, not more for it. Reason being they have already gone as low as they can on their car and can not afford to show you or give you more than your car is actually worth to them.