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A Calculator
A calculator is important for you to do all your figuring. Don't accept the salesman's or the manager's figures. As a matter of fact, do the calculations for them. Use our calculators
Clothing
Wear a comfortable outfit because you are going to be in it for a while, and you might as well feel good. You should look presentable because you want to give the impression of a real buyer. Don't think that ripped or torn clothing will get you sympathy and a better price on the car. If anything, a pauper's look is likely to get you a higher interest rate on your financing.
Time
Go with plenty of time to spare, all night if necessary. Go with the attitude that you will buy a car today ONLY if the price is right and if you are treated well, both money-wise and courtesy-wise.
The point being: if you walk into a dealership on a whim, unprepared and without having done your homework, you will probably end up paying more than you wanted for a car that doesn't meet all your specifications, and you might keep paying for your mistakes over the next few years. So, bring someone who can help, gather all your homework and supplies, look like a real buyer, have the right attitude, and be free to spend as much time as it takes to make sure you get the best possible deal.
How to Win the Dealer's Game
If you are like a lot of other people I know, you might have purchased a new car and then walked out of the dealership wondering how they did it to you? How did the salesperson twist your mind into a pretzel and convince you to buy that car which wasn't the one you came in for? That car you bought only a few years ago, that car you didn't need, that car you are now so ready to trade in to avoid further hassles. And, they did it so skillfully, you weren't even aware of what was happening. Well it is no great mystery, as I said previously. Salespeople have the edge on their own turf with an uninformed consumer. Salespeople learn tricks and techniques from the masters. They spend years trying to apply them, and even longer discovering the type of person who is most susceptible to each technique. Knowledge is power, and if you know when a clever "technique" is being used on you, then it becomes easier to ignore it and single-mindedly get on with your business of buying the car of your choice at the lowest possible price. You can't be confused or bamboozled if you can dismiss anything which even remotely resembles a manipulative sales technique. Once you recognize them, you might even want to learn to use them yourself. Some might come in handy when you sell your own car.
So let us go over some of the most common and most powerful sales techniques that you, as the buyer, must watch out for.
Take It Or Leave It
"Take It or Leave It" is a standard marketing policy all Americans have grown up with. You go to a restaurant or a department store or a furniture store, and you "take it or leave it" with respect to price. You either buy it or you don't at the stated price. However, in the auto business, you don't have to take it or leave it, even if the salesperson tells you that you do. You can negotiate for it. When the salesperson says "take it or leave it," it is usually a ploy to force you into an early decision. For you, it's a good negotiating practice to always leave it before you take it. That is, you can leave it, and then come back and take it later. In rare situations, you may have to take it at the price offered if you really want that vehicle, but you'll never know if you really had to take it unless you test this sales ploy. Threatening to leave it and coming back later is the best way to test the "Take It or Leave It" technique.
Make You Feel Guilty
Do any of these statements sound familiar? "I really need this sale," or "You're just wasting my time," or "Are you serious about buying this car?" or even, "One more sale this week will win me a trip to Hawaii." These are common means salespeople use to play on your emotions. If you just found out I was able to play on your emotions and make you feel a little bit guilty, some clever auto salesperson will be able to do the same thing to you. Remember their problems are not your problems. You want to buy a car, not make a friend or solve the world's socioeconomic problems. Your showing empathy will merely encourage further appeals from the other side. Hard as it may be, try to keep a businesslike distance between you.
Write Makes Right
Somehow or another if things are written down, we are not as apt to question them. The written word has a certain power of legitimacy. Car salespeople are armed with an array of written facts, figures, stickers, forms, and rules which they say are etched in stone. I've got news for you; they are not. You should always assume that anything written is negotiable, that their prices and rules are meant to be tested, and that any item can be adjusted. The fact that a dealer has written something down doesn't mean it is really so. Therefore, question everything, most specifically if it's written down.
The California Approach
Have you ever heard a salesperson say over and over again during the course of negotiations, "What do I have to do to get you to buy a car today?" This technique is called the "California Approach," and each time it is used, it is applied more forcefully. The salesperson is effectively trying to address your objections as the buyer, and to counter them one by one. Most people buckle under the pressure of the "California Approach," and just sign on the dotted line for relief. Your counter to the "California Approach" is to know what a good deal is, to ask for it, and to demand that the salesperson stop pressuring you. So when they say, "What do I have to do to get you to buy this Buick today?" you answer something like this, "As I have told you before, I am a real buyer, and if I can get $2,300 for my trade-in, and get that new Buick for $21,000, we may be able to cut a deal. Do you understand?" If you answer that way, they'll understand you; believe me, they'll understand you.
Good Cop/Bad Cop
This technique requires two salespeople. In this scenario, the first salesperson, the "Good Guy," becomes your friend and helps escort you through a maze of roadblocks. A second salesperson, the "Bad Guy," usually the sales manager, keeps bringing up problems, and the "Good Guy" salesperson helps you to solve them, usually by having you give way on point after point after point.
Your best tactic is to recognize and reject this play and keep a formal distance between you and the salesperson, even the so-called "Good Guy." It helps to indicate that you know about the "Good Guy/Bad Guy" approach and that this tactic is so old that you are surprised that anyone at all is still using it.
For example, if the first salesperson says, "My sales manager wants $21,000 for the car, but maybe I can talk him into taking $20,899, since I am your friend." Then you say, "PLEASE! That "Good Guy/Bad Guy" technique is old news. Either take my offer of $19,500 or I'm gonna go somewhere else. GET IT?"
Control Through Questioning
This approach is one of the most frequently used and simplest of all the sales techniques. So simple in fact, you don't even know it's happening during the whole course of the negotiation process. This technique is known as "Controlled Questioning."
During negotiations, the one who asks the questions and demands answers is usually in control of the situation. So if it's going to be between you and the salesperson, it's vital that you are in control. Salespeople do have a need to ask some qualifying questions to find out what your wants and needs are, and even what you can afford. But they have no right to demand answers from you or to answer each one of your questions with a closing question.
For instance, you ask, "Can you get me a power sunroof?," and the salesperson answers, "If I do, will you buy the car from me today?" That response puts a question to you, asking you to make a decision about buying prematurely. Your reply should be, "Look, first answer my question, please. Can you get me a power sunroof? When I get an answer, I will determine if I am going to buy or not." Remember, you don't have to answer all of his questions, and you should get your questions answered before you address any of his.
Lowballing
Let's look at this common sales technique. You already know that dealers always "lowball" your trade-in; they try to get you to give away your trade-in for well under its true value. This is because their profits on the new car are sometimes severely limited by the amount of money banks will lend towards a new car transaction. Lowballing is used when salespeople determine that you are very concerned about the new car price, but are relatively unconcerned about what you get for your trade-in. They will then focus you on an attractive price for the new car, and yet lowball you on the price for your trade-in. So don't focus your attention on saving hundreds of dollars on your new car and forget to watch the possibility of losing thousands on your trade-in.
The reverse could also be true, if salespeople think you are adamant about getting a good price for your trade-in, possibly for the down payment on your new car, they will give you an unbelievably good price for your trade-in, and then charge you way too much for the new car. In this way, by tying both prices together into a package deal, the dealer will come out the winner and you the loser.
To counter the dealer strategy of giving you your price on the new car but not on the trade-in, or on the trade-in but not the new car, first make them believe that the only thing of importance is a good price for your trade-in. After you get it, make them realize that the only important thing is a low price on the new car, and you don't give anything back on the trade-in price.
Bait And Switch (illegal)
This sales technique is also so old that you'd think no one uses it anymore, but it is as common as it is old. If you are not careful, you can walk into a dealership to buy the car that you have thoroughly researched, and come out instead with one that you really didn't want but just fell in love with at the dealership. In effect, you were "baited" with one and "switched" to the other.
What makes the "Bait and Switch" technique so useful for the dealership is that salespeople are so skillful at applying it that you can't really pinpoint when it actually occurs. You will even be happy and drive away thinking that the dealer actually did you a favor. If you realize that a switch is underway, stop, take a break, think it through. When you find yourself switched, for any reason, (usually from a lower- to a higher-priced car), don't hesitate to leave the dealership until you can fully understand what you are doing.
Give and Take
Remember, professional salesmen are very good at asking you for concession after concession. Before you realize it, you'll have given away the store. If you feel you are being nit-picked on, then do your best to counter nit-pick. Don't ever give away anything without asking for something back in return. ( This is paramount to a successful car deal)
As an example, if the salesperson asks you to agree to a higher price before the offer is again presented to his manager, use this as an opportunity to ask for an upholstery upgrade. (You don't get if you don't ask!) they just may give it to you. Ask, ask, ask, no one will give you anything unless you ask for it.
"If I Can....Will You?"
This is a very successful technique that is used all the time by salespeople to get a buying commitment from you. The technique is designed for them to quickly test if you are a real buyer or only dressed like one, and perhaps to probe your limits.
The salesman might say, "If I can get you that new car in blue, at your price, will you buy it right now?" Or even, "If I can get my manager to accept your trade-in at your price, will you accept our price for the new car?" (referred to as a "probing" question)
The best way to handle this tactic is to keep restating your terms and become a "broken record." Just keep telling them what you want. "I want my new car in blue," or "I want my price on the trade-in." If they give you what you want, of course you will buy right then and there, that is, if you want to. Later on you can always change your position. Remember the advantages you have as a buyer: you're the customer, it's your money, and you can change your mind at will. After all, you can negotiate from limited authority as well as they can.
If they tell me to "take it or leave it," I threaten to leave it.
If they make me feel guilty, I turn hard-hearted and keep the distance between us.
If they show it to me in writing, I question everything, especially if it's in writing.
If they pull the "California Approach" by asking, "What I have to do to get you to buy today?," I tell the salesperson, "Hey, stop pressuring me."
If they try the "Good Cop/Bad Cop" technique on me, tell them, "Hey, I'm not gonna go for this."
If they attempt to control me through questioning, I ask them a lot of questions instead.
If they offer me a "lowball" price, I hold out for my price since I went in knowing what my trade-in is worth.
If they play the old "Bait and Switch" game on me, I stop and rethink my priorities.
If they nit-pick at me, I'll counter nit-pick.
Finally, when they say, "If I can do this for you, will you buy?," I turn on a "broken record" and keep repeating my demands.
It will take a lot of vigilance to be able to recognize all the sales techniques that may be used against you, and a lot of practice to respond to each one with the appropriate counter technique, especially when you are under the gun of a real car buy. Don't be fooled into thinking that any salesperson really cares how you feel. It is merely their way of finding out your objections as a buyer so that these objections can be effectively counter-argued. Therefore, consider this as another weapon to add to your arsenal of counter moves. Merely say...
"You'll Have To Do Better Than That"
"You have to do better than that," is a great technique, because it forces a salesperson to do something/anything in order to save the deal. "You will have to do better than that" will force him to respond creatively and haphazardly. Sometimes the salesperson will make a concession without even really knowing what it takes to save the situation. Here is an example:
YOU:"You'll have to do better than that."
Salesperson:"If I can get my boss to accept $300 less, will you buy the car right now, today?"
YOU:"Look, maybe I didn't make myself clear. You have to do considerably better than that, and by the way, I do really want to buy a car today."
If "you have to do better than that" technique is used on you, the way to beat it is to ask the salesperson exactly what is it you have to do better on and get them to explain how much better and in what ways.
YOU:"I won't pay more than $19,000 for the car."
Salesperson:"You'll have to do better than that."
YOU:"Look, tell me exactly what it is you need to make this deal go through."
Salesperson:"I need more money."
YOU:"how much more money?"
Salesperson: "I know the boss won't let that car go for less than $21,400."
YOU:"You're gonna have to accept much less than that."
Correctly using a combination of techniques, such as "broken record" and "You have to do better than that," can make your negotiating position much more powerful.
"Why can't I buy this car?
Saying "why can't I buy this car" will totally shock the salesperson. Usually they spend their time trying to get you to make up your mind to buy a car. Make the salesperson believe that THEY are "Blocking" the sale, place the blame squarely on their shoulders, they'll be overwhelmingly confused. It will frustrate even hardened salespeople. Don't use it more than once in a negotiation. Its value is as an initial shocker.
Here's another technique that, when used deliberately as part of your well thought-out buying plan, is difficult for salespeople to counter. It's the old delay tactic. See page 4
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