Car Dealer Tactic #7

Some car dealers pursue a potential customer until they wear them down to buy.

Now if you don’t want to be pursued by a car dealer, just don’t give a phone number. Say ‘it's a silent number’, ‘…don’t have a mobile’, ‘can't leave a work number’, or at the test drive ‘accidentally’ give the wrong phone number.

Even after continual phoning, and when you end up buying from a different dealer, the sales person (who has missed out on the deal) will then give you the bad news. When you tell them you bought elsewhere (at a very good price of $34,550) they will say, ‘Oh no, you shouldn’t have paid any more than $32,000 for it!’ This is designed to make you feel as bad as the salesperson, who lost out too.

Car Dealer Tactic #7

The End-of-the-Month trick

This trick deserves serious consideration. It is the most elaborate trick of this type. Manufacturers know that companies often buy around this time of year for accounting purposes. They therefore rarely offer any factory discounts, and they sometimes increase their retail prices to take advantage.

No matter when, where or which car dealership you may stroll into, there is always a reason to feel ‘lucky’, according to the keen sales person. Early in the month, they might say they missed their target last month and are desperate to make it up. During the middle of the month, ‘the boss has told me to push out more cars or I'll never reach my target this month either’.

The time of month may matter to some dealers sometimes, though; it never matters to a car broker. Beware of this because you may end up paying more than you expected. Don't fall for tactics like this that appeal to your feelings, such as compassion and guilt or regret. Remember when buying a car, you have to keep a steady head and not let your emotions rule over.

Car Dealer Tactic #5

Some car salespersons connive with mechanics just to undervalue your trade in car. If you think your car is worth more than it really is, then you hope that you just might get a clever salesperson who will give in and agree to an excessive price for your trade in. Now you might be pleased by this, because you may be thinking that you are ‘putting one over’ the dealer. Not so. Generally, the sales person will look up on the computer or in the Car Dealers Price Guide to find out the going price for your trade in and will start from there. And if you don't watch out, you might end up shouldering all the car costs in the end. How, you ask? Well, when the dealer charges TOO much for your new car.

Let's say the car dealer contacts you before your new car is delivered. When the niceties are over, you will be told that there is an issue with the trade in. You will be asked to bring the car into the workshop for further inspection. When your vehicle has been in the garage for 60 minutes, (having nothing done to it), the salesperson will tell you that the mechanic claims to have found it is really only worth $500 less than what they have offered for it. Thus, the salesperson gets to pocket an extra $500 if you give in and agree your used car is really worth far lesser.

Car Dealer Tactic #6

Salespeople sometimes quote prices of a car excluding the on-road costs. If you don’t specifically ask for on-road costs to be included, the salesperson will most likely give you the excluding on-road costs price. Of course, you have to be guarded because your contract may be drawn up on this proviso. Trouble is that when you are ready to sign, the ‘quoted’ price of the car, will then be understated by many thousands of dollars.

To make sure this does not happen to you, shop around for car prices online. There, you'll get a wide array of information on car trends, models, and car price range. Armed with such knowledge, you are at a much better bargaining position with the car dealer. You know what your used car is worth in the market, and you know how far a leeway you can go without losing too much at the bargaining table.