Dealing With The Dealership Tips On Purchasing A Car By: Jeff Breitner There's two key words to getting a fair deal on any vehicle purchase at a dealership and they both sound identical -- KNOW and NO. It doesn't matter if your salesperson is a slime-ball or the altar boy. KNOW what you are buying before you step foot on the car lot. Know how much it is worth, how much the dealer paid for it and know a little about how car dealerships work. You should study the tricks of the trade and know when they're trying to play you for a sucker. Know how to quickly reverse-amortize financing deals to get the real price of the car (a programmable calculator or a print of estimated loans done on a spreadsheet are invaluable tools). Know about car salesmen and how they earn their living; you can usually know when they are very receptive to selling cars. Fortunately, the Internet makes it easy to get into the know. Edmunds.com has great articles on the art of negotiating and purchasing, tips on purchasing a car, plus a humorous article on a guy who became an undercover salesman. Not to mention, they'll tell you everything you want to know about cars, what they are worth and helpful research and reviews. Just like the word know is power, so is NO. Far too many people fail to realize that they are in command when it comes to dealing with car dealerships. Think of it, they don't eat until YOU say it's time to do so. So when you start negotiating, you see that because you KNOW, the only realistic reply to 99% of the offers made by the dealership is to say NO. Obviously, the first offer is always NO because they'll try to sucker you. But even when you think you are getting a fair deal, say NO again and you'll be surprised what the dealership offers. The last time I purchased a vehicle (my Honda Civic), I spent easily 10 hours at the dealership spread out over several days.That doesn't include the research time spent online learning about dealerships and how they work, about the car I was interested in purchasing and reading funny dealer stories in an attempt to understand where these people try to tilt the deal their way. Car dealerships love uninformed and careless buyers -- don't be one and you'll come out ahead. Here's how I play the game... Continue Reading: tips on purchasing a car