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Knowledge is power, they say, and if you arm yourself with the knowledge of a dealer's methods to sell cars, you'll be better equipped to avoid buying the wrong car and get yourself a better deal. Read on.
The salesperson may tell you that he is new on the job, just out of training and on probation, and he needs to make a few sales to retain his job. To further this he will hand you business cards that are hand-written, not printed because he needs to make sales before he can get his own personalized business cards. By doing of this, the salesperson hopes to make you feel that they are going through this with you as a learning experience and that they are just as new to this as you are. They may even try to make you the teacher so that you feel more in control.
What you should do
There are two ways to avoid this scam, the first of which is identifying it. Tell the salesman that you need to see someone who knows about everything you will need. This will force him to start acting as though he know what he is doing to keep you as his customer. The second is to play along with it and be in charge of the situation. Ask for everything you want and when he says that he doesn't think his sales manager will go for any of that, tell him you need to see his sales manager because his lack of training and experience is not helping you buy your car. Either one of these solutions will make the salesman feel as though his trick isn't working and he'll either shape up or you can deal directly with the sales manager.
Dealers often try to "control the conversation" when making a deal. They have many ways to try to do this but the most popular is asking too many questions and answering all of your questions with questions. They will need to ask several questions in order to determine what you're looking for but once you get past those questions, the rest are designed to keep them in the drivers seat and to not give you a chance to stop and think about what's going on. It's hard to think about what's going on when someone is throwing a million questions at you.
What you should do
Don't be afraid to ask them for a minute to think or to step outside. You are the one in control, not them. Make sure they understand that. If a salesman is answering all of your questions with questions, repeat your question. Don't answer his question without having yours answered first. Let him know that you would like your question answered by telling him, "You didn't answer my question" or "You shouldn't answer a question with a question." They don't like to lose control of the conversation, but stay calm and firm and turn the conversation around. You may have to try a couple of times if they seem unwilling to give up that control but sooner or later they will have to concede. If they are stubborn and refuse, ask for a different salesperson or the sales manager. If they will not get one someone else to attend to you, leave or go out in the lot and find a different salesperson. If they refuse to make the deal on your terms, there are ten other salesman walking around the dealership waiting for a potential customer. Go out and grab one.
How many times have you heard a salesman ask, "What do I have to do to get you into this car today?" This is their famous question. All salesmen ask it and for one simple reason, you feel obliged to answer which gives them more leverage to work with. When you answer this question, suddenly they have something else to bargain with. If you tell them it's the payments, they'll tell you they can work on those for you. If you tell them it's the color, they'll tell you they can find something you’ll like.
What you should do
You can avoid the question by either telling them that there is nothing that could get you into this car today (unless it was free) or simply tell them that the price is too high. This answer gives you some leverage because now they will try to work with you on the most important aspect: the price of the car.
A salesman will act as if he has cut every possible corner for you and give you the "this is it" phrase, otherwise known as "take it or leave it." When a salesman does this, it is to scare you into thinking this is the best you are going to get anywhere – so you better buy it now.
What you should do
When a salesman says this, your best option is to leave it, and leave. As you are leaving the salesman will either try to stop you and give you a better deal or let you go if that is in fact his best offer. If that was his best offer, it will still be there if you shop around and return.
This trick is played as there is a good salesman and a bad salesman. Your salesman will act as the good salesman who is supposed to be on your side. He will try to act as though he is willing to help you with anything you need to get into your new car. The part of the bad salesman will be played by another salesman or a sales manager. The good salesman will try to take all of your offers while the bad salesman will shoot down all of them. This is played in order to wear down the customer until they are willing to agree to other terms just to get out of there.
What you should do
When going through the negotiations, do it one issue at a time. This in turn will wear them down and they will be less likely to shoot down every offer you make.
