Buying A Car, Part 4 of 4; The Negotiation

How to negotiate for the purchase price and buy the car. Generally, I like to maintain a friendly relationship with the dealership and salespeople. It’s more fun and you may need them in the future. Dealerships and salespeople are good for future advice, maintenance, and repair services.   You should only enter the dealer showroom when you know what type of car and the options you want and how much you should pay for the car. Make sure you learn how to use your calculator, either bring one or used the one on your cell phone. You need it to calculate loan payments and check the dealer’s paperwork. % of car purchase agreements have errors based on my experience. Bring a pad, pencil and a pen to the negotiation, obviously the dealers are not going to provide one to you. When you go to buy your car go on a day when they’re not busy typically at the end of the month on a Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday. I like to go late in the afternoon. Let the dealer know you’re ready to buy a car today. If he asks, tell him you will discuss financing and other issues after we’ve negotiated the price of the vehicle. Try and avoid telling him that you already have financing in place. Once you have the car price negotiated you can then discuss the financing alternatives (reiterate to him you’re buying a car today, if the price is right). Salesman may try to complicate the negotiations to confuse you, you need to keep them uncomplicated. Once you have negotiated the car price, you then can negotiate for after sale items that you may want, like tire insurance, or free lifetime oil changes etc. Once everything is agreed to you then may want to discuss a car trade or down payment, but you want to keep the negotiation as uncomplicated as possible. Remember you can sell your car yourself or use Autotrade.com