Car Shopping # 2

Went to three dealerships after work tonight and immediately started breaking the rules that I'd set for myself after reading my "How To Buy A Car" book (e.g. don't say much to the salesman, don't mention numbers first, etc.). But I got better at the schtick at each dealership and drove a couple of cars, and I learned some things, which was what I was after. I deliberately went to "practice" dealerships where I didn't really expect to see the car I'm going to buy so that if I slipped up it wouldn't matter so much. I'll probably go back to one of the places on Saturday, though, as one of the salesman seemed pretty reasonable and I didn't show him all my cards and there are some cars there that might do that I have yet to drive.

I learned that if I wanted to shut a salesman up when he tried to deflect the conversation away from the price of the car and talk about financing payments instead it was very effective to look him in the eye, tell him I'm a bankruptcy lawyer and understand credit and that we could talk about financing the purchase after we'd arrived at a price.

I think after I practice at this a little more I'm going to enjoy the negotiation part of the transaction rather than thinking of it as a hassle as I do now.

Comments

[pjm]

Well done. I imagine your book told you (as mine did) about how salesmen try to mix the financing and the price of the vehicle to improve their bottom line, and that they should (properly) be treated as seperate items; after all, the car should have the same value no matter how you finance it, right? (I told salesmen that I would be paying cash, thank you, and arranged my financing in advance with the bank.)

[brett]

Yeah, that's the way to do it. Don't even deal with the financing department (but don't tell them up front that you've pre-arranged a loan). You'll get a much better deal from your bank or CU.

By the way, I think I already know the answer to this, but is this the same Scheherazade that was Silliman '95?