This one courtesy of a negotiation professor at Stanford.

1. Pick a car you want, choose the features you want, write it all down, make copies, and get some envelopes.
2. Go to a dealership and tell the dealer that you want this exact car (hand over the sheet) and tell him/her to put their best offer in the envelop.
3. Inform him/her that you're going to collect envelopes from several dealers in town and take the lowest offer you get.
4. If they start saying bullshit like "but we have the best customer care center in town!" just ask them if they want to put in an offer or not.
5. Go to other dealerships, repeat 1-4.

After you collect several envelopes, you'll probably notice that most of the numbers inside the envelope are very close to each other. Pick the best deal (or if the numbers are negligibly close, the dealer you feel most comfortable with) and purchase the car (or don't, if it's still too expensive).

What did you do here? You prevented the dealers from playing the game the way they want to, and instituted your own (and fair) rules. Dealers love to talk you into believing that they offer the best deal in town or have the best service in the state. You've probably heard things like "We have the best/biggest/most..." or "We sell the most...".

I've actually never tried this (or ever looked into buying a new car) but the professor told me he's had several people use it to their success. If you try it, tell me how it goes.

Just don't do the same with drug dealers.

Labels: car, how to