I bought a new car a few weeks ago. I hate negotiating. I hate conflict. I hadn’t bought a car for myself since 2000. I helped 2 of my 3 children buy their first cars and those weren’t pleasant experiences. We looked up car values on the Internet each time. I tossed out the ‘fair price’ figure to the car salesman. He liked Star Wars. It was hopeless. I quoted the trade-in value of my 12 year old Mazda, even opting to go for the ‘fair’ rather than good category. (I know – sucker!) Did I expect them to give me top dollar? No, of course not. But below ‘fair’? Ugh. Too bad they took it for a drive. If they hadn’t I might have done better but I would have felt so guilty! (For a moment or two anyway.) The only bright spot – besides the new vehicle – was the interest rate they finally offered.
Don’t you hate it when they leave you sitting there for 10-15 minutes while the salesman goes to talk with his boss about what they can offer? I put the time to good use and said ‘thank you’ to the smart phone gods. I pulled out my iPhone and after seeing the ad on my bank’s website, I called them to verify that I could get the 3.5% interest rate. When the finance guy offered me 4.75%, I said ‘no way’. He dug through his notebook and suggested 2.75%. I imagine I could have done better with more research and better negotiating skills. Please don’t tell me. I do not want to know. I’m happy about everything except for the monthly payments that begin in 2 weeks.
Do you have a new car buying horror story? Or have you whipped those car salesmen with your own amazing negotiating skills?
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