You’ve done your homework, figured your budget, you’re ready to take the plunge. You pull up to the parking lot at the dealership and you’re not sure quite what to expect. I worked at a fairly large store with 40+ salespeople and depending on the day of the week and time of day, the number of people standing outside would vary. We had three teams of salespeople but only Friday, Saturday and Monday would all 3 teams be on hand and with staggered shifts. I worked in Colorado and there are no car sales on Sundays. We used no system of “ups” so it was just up to the salespeople to determine who would greet the guest. That worked out pretty well. Some people would make comments that we looked like a bunch of vultures standing out there. Don’t say that. Believe it or not, car salespeople are humans with feelings, trying to make a living. The better relationship you have with your salesperson the smoother the deal will go. No sense starting out with name calling. Again, salespeople are humans, most are nice, friendly and easy to get along with. But as in all walks of life, you don’t get along with everyone. If you feel like the salesperson isn’t doing it for you, you can always request to work with someone else. That didn’t happen very often at our store, but it did sometimes. If you’ve read the other sections I’ve written, hopefully you took my advice and contacted the internet department of the store. You’ll get the best pricing that way and they should set you up with a salesperson with whom you would have already spoken, and they may have a car or two ready for you to look at. Communication is very important when purchasing a vehicle. Make sure the salesperson listens to you and understands what you’re looking for. If they’re doing their job, he/she should be asking questions like, who’s going to be the main driver, what will you use the car for etc…
Once you’ve been through the pleasantries and taken a look at the car that you will possibly purchase, the next step is to go for the test drive. At this point you’ll be asked for your drivers license and some stores will ask you for proof of insurance. Standard procedure. They will probably have a standard route they take people on, but don’t be afraid to ask if you can vary from that. Once you return to the store, you’ll give your opinion and if it’s the car you want, the salesperson will ask if you’d like to take a look at some numbers. Hopefully you’ve done your homework, have a budget and a pretty good idea of what the payment is going to be. You’ll be asked if you want to put some money down, what kind of term(months) and probably what you think your credit is like. At some point in the process if you decide to proceed, they will have to pull your credit, but that’s not necessary at this point. Typically the salesperson will come back with 2-3 options. Perhaps 48, 60 and 72 month terms, with different down payment options. At this point, the more homework you’ve done, the better off you’ll be. Did you run some payments on a payment calculator? You can find these easily online, and in fact, most dealerships will have one on their website. If you did, are the payments in line with what you thought they’d be? They should be close, probably a little higher than what you had looked at. Especially until they’ve actually seen your credit. They probably figured the payments on the high side. They would rather figure the payments at a higher interest rate and then give you good news when they find out you have really good credit than figure them at a low interest and then find out your credit sucks and your payment is going to be $65 higher. Now it’s time to start getting serious. Remember, HOMEWORK. Is the price at or near what you thought it would be? Could you do a little better? If your research shows that you should be able to buy this vehicle for $27950 plus fees and taxes and you’re at $28500+, tell them what your research says. If you’re at $27950 or less, you’re in good shape. You’re probably not going to do much better. It doesn’t hurt to ask but keep in mind they do have a bottom and if you’re at what you think it should be, you’re not going to squeeze much more out of them. Many times people would want another $100-500 off and say “What’s $500 to a store like this”. Well, we sold between 600 and 700 cars a month. If we gave just another $100 off, that would be $70,000 profit out the door. Another $500 off would be $750,000 out the door. So once they’ve gotten to what their bottom price is, they’re not going to be willing to give up much, if any, more. Now you’re happy, they’re happy, you’ve bought yourself a car. Well, not quite yet. Now we start the paperwork.