1) Shop around for financing until you are physically exhausted. Call every single bank in town. Tell each one the best interest rate you’ve been offered so far. You’ll have to make a LOT of calls before they stop coming up with lower offers. The difference between the offer from the first bank I called and the financing I eventually took (the dealer’s) was almost four percentage points, and that was after calling just seven banks (small town). I bet I could have gotten a few more tenths of a percent knocked off if I had kept playing them against eachother.

2) Dealers, at least the smaller ones, are EXTREMELY motivated to do your financing. That’s because they often make more money on the commission for your loan than they do in profit on the car itself. I was amazed at the offer the dealer gave me after I told him the best interest rate offer I’d gotten from the local banks.

On the other hand, big dealers have in-house financing (e.g. a big Toyota dealership will go through Toyota Financial), and they may work different. I’ve got no experience there.

I had a 6 month stint selling cars (I had a car accident, couldn’t type, and needed to do something to make some money). Sold ‘em in 2 states. I think everyone should do it once in their lives. It’s an education to be sure…

Some things you might consider:
* The salesperson isn’t supposed to say “No.” to you. They’re supposed to practice ‘relationship selling’ so, they would like you to perceive them, in some way, as positive. After I attended some mandatory sales training, I had a lot more respect for car salespeople, whom I’d formerly despised. In most places, they’re subject to more oversight than you might think. No, I wouldn’t sell cars again. No, I can’t imagine ever buying a new car off the floor. But, also No, not all the people who do the work are as reprehensible as they initially seem. YES…
some certainly are.
* Never start at the sticker and work down. Find out what the price should be–and that’s what credit union auto purchase services are good for–and work as far down as you can from there. The dealer expects Some profit, and they will get more than you imagine, but some of that does come from kickbacks. Sometimes it’s more important to make a unit goal than squeeze every penny from a customer.
* End-of-the-anything, month/quarter/model year is a good time to buy. Many dealers also work for annual incentives too. Check the awards in the showroom–and, NO!, don’t go to a dealer that doens’t have any–see what the date is on them. Hopefully your buying window is around that timeframe. Find another dealer of the same make/model, with 2nd place awards, and start them bidding against each other. That Always works to your advantage.
* Do Not let any dealer in the area run your credit report. If you do, all the other dealers will know where you’ve been and what you’ve been doing. They don’t just ask your name to be polite…
* Do not get too set in your preferences. If your dealer, Dealer A, knows there is only 1 Metallic Gold Mist, 4 dr sedan, with the HO V-6 and the 6-speed manual in the area, and you refuse to consider anything else, you’re gonna’ get stuck with sticker price. You’ll go to Dealer B, they’ll look at the area inventory, and also see Dealer A is the only one that has it. This is almost never a good thing. The only time you have even the slightest chance at a deal is if Dealer B has a similarly unique vehicle that Dealer A needs more, for say meeting a manufacturer incentive. Otherwise you’re completely hosed everywhere. If you can, be willing to accept alternates in color, body style, engine and transmission.
* If you have good credit, and you know it, clap your hands! Get the best price and the 0% financing and all the other incentives. Company financing only sucks for all of those folks–Every. Single. One–with less than perfect credit. Otherwise it can be a very good deal. The automobile companies know how to compound your interest, to Their gain, better than your bank.
* If you’re ready to do the deal, and it’s just a few dollars keeping you from nirvana, threaten to buy the car but give a bad survey. Those customer service surveys are good leverage. A bad one, when they try to get them all perfect, notably impacts the manufacturer incentives they can get, along with those omnipresent showroom awards.
* Do not be unrealistic. Lots of people I worked with certainly got pissed even when they got a fantastic number. Why?
They weren’t willing to accept it was a fantastic number.
In a mythical scenario, let’s say a customer wheels, deals, feints and counterpunches and gets a 24,000 sticker down, to say, 21,000. With 60 months of financing, 0%, you’ve got a $350/month payment. The sales person explains that to the customer and, in a fit of brain-fartitis, thinks he can do better and demands, “‘What’s another $50/month gonna’ hurt???” Well. A $300/month payment means 18,000. How’s that 3 large gonna’ get made up? The customer refuses to budge on a downpayment. THAT is what I mean by unrealistic. So, yes, do your homework and know when you’re getting a good deal.
* Finally, do not go in ‘Old school’. If you’re going to sit there and dicker over things like floormats, and cargo nets, and whatever else, and be supremely satisfied when the salespeep comes back and says, “I talked to my supervisor. You win. We’ll throw those in.” You’re gonna’ get your pockets cleaned out. Many a good deal, meaning as much in the customer’s favor as humanly possible, has turned into an outrageously bad deal (a happy, Happy, HAPPY dealer!) on minutiae. If you’re the type of person whose eyes are gonna’ light up when the sales one tells you that ‘The Option’–the one that is completely, totally and utterly unavailable on the model you have to have– can be put in, aftermarket, “just for you”, “Just a few dollars more a month.” and you do the “I’ll never notice That!” nod. You really shouldn’t be buying a car. Let someone else do the deal for you.

That’s all i got…

Also, don’t hesitate to reply to the initial offer saying you’re sorry (even though you’re not), but you’ve had a better offer from somebody else. They often come back with an even lower price. Iterate through the options until they all give up except the eventual winner. This can save you a lot of time and driving around once you’ve decided on a vehicle.

I didn’t think online would get better prices, but I actually did better most places than going to the same delaerships in person.

Also, consider where you are geographically. Big cities have higher overhead, so it’s often cheaper to head for the suburbs. Prices and taxes can also vary significantly if you cross state lines. Just make sure this won’t wind up biting you later in excise or registration taxes. A little research can go a long way.

2. Do your homework before you get into negotiation. There are sites out there that will tell you what the dealer paid for your vehicle and every option on it. That’s your starting point – and ideally your ending point – for your negotiation. Don’t ever negotiate from the sticker price. If they cry poor, tell them they’ll make money off you when you bring the vehicle in for the ridiculously overpriced regularly schedule maintenance.

I bought a truck in February. Secured financing and had a printout of the dealer cost for my truck and all the options I wanted. Once they saw that I was prepared, negotiation was easy.

3. Ask for an itemized list of fees. Realize that half are bullshit and another quarter of them are negotiable. Only a few are legit (usually those required by law). Again, the internet is your friend.

4. After you get the price that you want, walk away. It never hurts to take Dealer A’s “best offer” and shop it to Dealers B & C. They might be hungry, desperate, overstocked, etc.

I knew I had the best deal I was going to get when I called a competing dealership, read off the specs on my truck and the price ($21K on a $35K sticker) and he told me, “Buy as many of them as you can for that price and start your own dealership”.

When I went back to sign papers on the truck, the dealer told me they were taking a slight loss on the truck. I asked, “How can you do that?”. He replied, “Look around (at the crowded showroom). Some of these people don’t negotiate at all. Most of them work down from the sticker. We can afford to make a satisfied customer out of you”.

I still disagree about the humanity of salesmen. They are the vestigial organs of the modern retail process and should be abused until they wither away like the apendix.

I realized I wasn’t cut out for the business when I found myself calling a customer after hours on my cell phone and telling him, “Off the record here, they’re trying to screw you. I’d shop somewhere else.”

One final thing, though. When dealing with a car salesman, remember he’s *is* human, and he’s just doing his job. He probably has a family at home to feed and, if he doesn’t meet his quota, there’s a good chance he’ll get fired at the end of the month. So, while you should always keep in mind he’s not your “friend”, envision him as more of a business associate from a competing firm. Don’t be a dick. It serves no purpose whatsoever and will only make the whole experience more unpleasant.

Oh, and it is definitely worth it to go with a credit union…

I’ve found that once the sleazebags realize you mean business and aren’t just their average mark they will sometimes stop with the shenanigans and talk straight with you just to make the sale and get you out the door (but don’t count on it). Of course you can avoid all this drama by going to a credit union, but it’s often a easier to get a loan from the dealer’s sources and it’s always more convenient. It’s not a bad thing to go with the financing at the dealer (I’ve had good luck with interest rates, personally) but don’t do it unless you’re prepared to fight off the sales sharks.