What Not to Say to a Car Salesman

Frank Williams
by Frank Williams

After listing everything from the "Top 10 Summertime Toys" to "10 Cars that Could Get a Computer Geek Laid" (not really), Forbes gives us the "Top 10 Things To Never Say To A Dealer." At the risk of denying Forbes a couple of dozen unique visitors, the eds say these words should never pass through a car buyer's lips: I'm ready to buy (ka-ching!), I can afford this much (over twelve years then), Yes, I have a trade in (let the games begin!), I'm paying cash (we HATE you), I'm not sure what vehicle I want (we know EXACTLY what we want to sell), I've wanted on of these forever (SUCKER), I'll take the popular options (yum!), What's the lowest price? (and we can't go ANY lower), Sure I'll look at the numbers (step into my parlor said the spider to the fly), I think you can do better than that (**** you!). Forbes doesn't say what you should say to car dealer. We'll start the bidding with "Stiff me and I'll kill you."

Frank Williams
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  • Megan Benoit Megan Benoit on Sep 19, 2007

    My sister learned the hard way to listen to me when it comes to buying cars. I wasn't afraid to tell her the truth about it when she bought it. Yeah, she was pretty ticked off at me at the time, but she has realized the error of her ways and that believe it or not, I want to HELP her to not make more mistakes. Saves you grief in the long run, when you don't have to bite your tongue over yet another ill-advised purchase.

  • TheNatural TheNatural on Sep 19, 2007

    There should not even be a discussion like this. Car dealerships are under a FULL DISCLOSURE law. This means that everything must be presented to you before you sign. There is a line for purchase price. There is a line for trade allowance. There is a line for down payment. There is a line for months and interest rate. If you get ripped off with having ALL the numbers in front of you, you deserve what you get. I hate to see people get ripped off, but when they don't take 10 seconds to look over paperwork, whose fault is it? Plus, do you realize how many people lie about rate? Hell, I have done it to make myself sound better in my family so they don't think I over purchased at a younger age.

  • TheNatural TheNatural on Sep 19, 2007

    Here is what you need to do when you purchase a car. Walk into the dealership and go straight to the service department. Ask the service writer or receptionist you should work with. They will give you the name of the "good guy" 9/10 times. Ask for that person and just be honest with them. Tell them the service department recommended them, it will stroke their ego and they will in turn want to prove they are the nicest guy. I know it works, I fall for it all the time.

  • Robert Schwartz Robert Schwartz on Sep 19, 2007

    "If you get ripped off with having ALL the numbers in front of you, you deserve what you get." No. There are many ripoffs that can occur befor any paperwork is completed: 1. Trade-in values. You need to do a lot of research, shop your trade-in around. Like I said. CarMax is a good thing. 2. Dealer options and prep charges. Research, research, research. 3. Finance rates. Should be quoted at the APR used on the TILA form, but they are not. Carry your HP-12C at all times, or learn to use finance web sites to calculate payments.

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