I will add, if you ever drop your beware radar because the salesman seems honest, that just cost you an additional 1000. Car sales staff’s job is to do or say whatever it takes to get every penny they can out of you.

Happened to me.....
...When they delayed the return of keys for 45 minutes after I demanded my keys back ....
I called the non emergency police number..... told them I was being held against my will at the car dealership....

A cruiser happened to be nearby and the officer came in ...and after some discussion ...
took the salesman outside to talk... and explained why he should show respect to the officer.

Probably the salesman would have been better off IF he wasn't so disrespectful to the nice officer.

I told the officer ... .. just make him be less apt to do it again.

Good for you.

I just did it. It is a low ball offer.

The most important thing is to choose the kind of car you truly want to own.

Then compute the out-the door price you are willing to pay.

Go to a dealer that has the car you want to buy and offer your price.

If they do not accept your price after ten minutes, leave.

For example, last year we wanted to trade in our 2005 Honda Accord and buy a new Toyota RAV4. We offered $25K plus our Honda. They just talked for about 5 minutes, so we got up and started to leave. Then they said they would accept our offer.

We wrote them a check for $25K and drove the new car home.

Yes, it really was that simple.

I agree. It is that simple. I have done it several times. You just need to be willing to walk out the door.

When the salesman says he has to check with his manager about your offer do not say anything about how much you love the car. Those cubicles the salesmen sit in are bugged and they hear every word you say.

Yes, they can bugged, but I never go into their cubicle. I stay in the lobby.

A couple times they said they would accept our offer when we got up from our chair and grabbed our coats.

Another time they followed us out to the parking lot, and another time we got in our car and started driving away before they said our offer was accepted.

Of course, other times we got in our car and drove away and they did nothing. That proved to us that our offer was too low, so we went to another dealer and offered $100 more. Of course, that was in Virginia where there were six Honda dealers near us. It is different here in The Villages.

Sorta like buying a house in TV