When I bought my Lexus the dealer was giving me zero flexibility. He dared me to find a better deal in town. Sure enough, some guy was looking to sell his two year old model for just a little more than the dealer offered for trade in…and $5k less than the dealer was asking for the same car on their lot.

It is amazing at how effective this process can be and how some dealers respond. There will be some dealers that continue to try and play games by offering prices for different vehicles or one that does not match your criteria. Others will request that you visit to determine the best vehicle for you. These dealers can be put on the “no” pile since they cannot follow your instructions.

The dealers that are aware of this approach to selling vehicles will deal straight with you and give you their best offer. Once you collect the offers, you have the option of contacting the dealers with the 2nd-whatever offers and ask if they can beat the best price you were quoted. If they cannot, simply pass on them and buy from the dealer with the best offer.

This approach can be quite effective and result in you only visiting the dealership to sign the papers and drive away in your vehicle. The next time you are in the market for a car, give this approach a try and see how it works.

And yet I have NEVER successfully completed the purchase of a car from a dealer in less than four hours at the dealership. Never. Not once. Every time I make an offer, the salesman needs to go sit and drink coffee with his boss for 20 minutes while pretending they haven’t already made up their mind long before I showed up, about where the line is drawn between offers they’ll accept and offers they’ll reject. And even once the offer is accepted, one STILL isn’t finished, because it seems like everyone on the dealership payroll has to have his own little bit of input into the process, and each person requires a long wait before getting things done. I even need to wait for the finance guy, despite the fact that I’m not financing.

Buying a car from a car dealer is like shopping in the old Soviet Union. You’d really really think that folks working on commission would be at least as willing to accomodate the customer’s needs and make him happy as the salary-only drones at a big-box electronics store…but no.

I have to say, anyone who anticipates car shopping with joy has probably never done it.

If I could reliably get good cars that way, I’d just buy from individuals forever. But I got rather tired of never having a car last more than a year, so my only acceptable option is things that are too new to be widely available on the owner-to-owner market.

Glad to hear that you have found yourself a new car and that you learned a few lessons that will help you and others in the future.