Negotiating With Dealers: It’s an Important Part of the Car Buying Experience

Being an informed consumer is very important when you are shopping for a new or used vehicle. Consumers also need to be aware the California lemon law in case they have problems with their new vehicle and need to pursue a legal remedy. Consumers also need to be familiar with some of the ways that they can try to save money on a new or used vehicle purchase.

Car buying can be an inherently stressful process because of lack of up-front pricing and because of the nature of negotiations involved. Consumers who take the time to do research to find out how to be good negotiators can often do much better when it comes to getting a good deal on their vehicle.

Negotiating with Car Dealers to Maximize Savings

The Daily News has some tips that can be useful to car buyers on how to negotiate with car dealers in order to maximize their savings and get the best deal possible on a new vehicle.   These tips include:

• Understanding how car dealers manipulate the negotiation process. Car dealers know that negotiation is a high pressure situation that is time consuming and no one likes to do it. Car dealers use that to their advantage, but consumers can avoid becoming overwhelmed and making a bad deal if they are more prepared for the negotiation process in advance.
• Getting a separate car loan. You should consider getting approved for a third-party car loan from your bank, credit union or other lender. Dealers tend to use financing as a tool of negotiation and they often use interest rates to distract buyers from the goal of getting a low-priced car. If you have a loan from a separate source, you can keep the negotiations focused on the price of the car. If you end up happy with the vehicle price, you can always ask the dealer if it can match the interest rate on the car loan you've already been approved for.
• Decide in advance what to do with your old car. You could sell it privately if you want to get more money, but many people trade in their vehicles for purposes of convenience. If you decide to do this, be sure to know what your old vehicle is worth. There are a myriad of online resources that will allow you to value your car.
• Do research into pricing. You can look online to find out what is reasonable to pay for your new vehicle.  Pay attention to invoice price (which is the price the dealer pays the manufacturer for the car) and the sticker price.

Learning these tips is important because the average American ends up purchasing a total of nine new vehicles during the course of his or her life.  This means that you may have to go through the negotiation process nine times (or more, if you're above average). You should also understand how consumer protection laws, like the lemon law, can protect you.  Being an informed consumer can make all the difference when it comes to getting a good car at the right price.