Disclaimer

This blog contains some simple tips and advice from two regular guys. We're not accountants, financial advisors, or brokers, so follow, ignore, or discuss our ideas as you see fit.

Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Article: 6 Things You Should Never Tell A Car Salesman

Posted By Paul

I've always been interested in the psychology of buying and selling, so articles like the one I found on CNN Money fascinate me. Here is the link to the article:

6 Things You Should Never Tell A Car Salesmen

It reminds me of the first new car I ever bought (which I'm still driving now by the way). I was fresh out of school and was starting work in a week so I had a week to buy a car and find an apartment (and of course driving the car was how I planned to find the apartment).

It was so long ago that I don't quite remember the process, but I do remember that I definitely broke some of the rules the article mentions. Specifically:

Thing not to say #2: I need to get a car by tomorrow - I was pretty close to this, since I made no secret of the fact that I was fresh out of college, and had a week to get a life set up before starting my job. I think that for a time I rented a car, so I'm sure that showing to a car lot in a rental car shouts "I'm in a hurry to find a vehicle."

Thing not to say #5: I don't know anything about leasing - Talking to the salesperson, I'm sure it was pretty obvious that I didn't know anything about ANYTHING.

Though it didn't apply to me, I was especially intrigued by:

Thing not to say #4: My trade-in's outside - The idea of taking your keys as a way to hold you hostage during the sales process strikes me as very clever. I could totally see myself falling for this. (Has anyone out there ever had this happen to them?)

If you are like me and are interested in the more subtle ways to manipulate the sales process, then this article is definitely worth a read.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

salesmen are awful tricky aren't they? haha. i brought my father in law with me when we purchased our car last year...he did all the talking for me and got us a good rate :)

Leah in Oregon said...

I don't know if you know this, Paul, but I used to be a car salesperson (gasp!). This article makes some good points. Warning: every single dealer I ever met would rip his own mother off if he could.

And yes, I had the old "we lost your keys" trick happen to me when I was shopping for my first new car in college. I ended up having to threaten to call the police before I got my keys back.