“Up To” And Other Common Car Dealer Phrases To Watch For

Never never ever negotiate based on car payments, always negotiate on the absolute price of the car. Negotiating on car payment size will always lead you towards overbuying since they will base the payments on the longest loan they can secure rather on what may be a more sound, shorter loan.

This is a couple of years old. I read it just after being taken to the cleaners. Good article though, read all of them.

Am I the only one seeing something a little Freudian in that picture?

Kabukistar

Am I the only one that did a "Double Take" on the picture for this article?

I may have some things to work on. Something's not right with me :)

GaryJ73167

My favorite has always been "Pre-owned". I'm sure it's short for PREVIOUSLY-owned but it's still USED either way.

@GaryJ73167: You're certainly not the only one

lamintak

@Kabukistar: You're not alone

lamintak

The key to negating most of these tactics is to simply not be there. Very few of the tactics work over the phone, internet, or even fax. I've bought the last 2 cars of mine site unseen and conducted all negotiations over the phone, and used email and fax to send doc to and fro. A few "smart" dealers know this (typically more high end ones such as BMW, Landrover, etc) and they will heavily persuade you to deal "in person", but most average dealers are willing to do whatever it takes to move inventory and while not their preferred model, will talk to you over the phone. Heck, I even do this when the dealership is 3 miles down the road!

jl0810

@jl0810: do it on your cellphone while looking at the cars in the dealer's lot.

psychiccheese

@adjohnson916: What has been seen... ;_;

David Pogue's advice on buying cars: [pogue.blogs.nytimes.com]

Summery: Negotiate through the internet

The lemon tits were a nice touch. Is that another marketing scheme?

adjohnson916

OK, confession time. I have been a salesman for the last 15 years, though never a car salesman. First, let me say that the sales/customer interaction is broken. Customers expect to be ripped off and truly, "buyers are liars." There is nothing more frustrating as a sales professional than a customer who either doesn't know what their needs are or just won't tell you, or worse, won't accept your advice. The end result is lots of wasted time. It's up to the sales person to be prepared and trustworthy and it's up to the customer to be prepared and honest.

As a salesman, I much prefer a "No" to a "Maybe", or a "Not right now" or "Let me think about it." Buyers do not care in the least about a salesman's knowledge or time and will happily waste both. As a buyer, be direct and forthright about your intentions and be prepared to follow through on them. Otherwise, do your looking around online. Salespeople gotta make a living too, you know.

DaveyNC

WOW! The positioning of the lemons reminded me of...well, you know. Blah, I take that back! I don't feel like going there, not here; not on Lifehacker.

Anyway, since my father is looking for a car, he is usually checking the craigslist posts or he attends auto auctions. When I asked him about going with a dealer he said "I don't trust dealers" and we never spoke of that again.

lol i thought the lemons were cake...

cake something or others...

:V *munch*

@DaveyNC: In other words, salespeople have become obsolete in the age of the internet.

orlo

@snowmoon: this is totally true. if the car salesman starts talking monthly payments instead of the total price of the car, he's hiding something...and i absolutely hate that.

another thing to remember is BE ALWAYS PREPARED TO WALK OUT WITHOUT A CAR from the dealership.

i just bought a car...and when i was shopping at the first dealership i visited, the salesman insisted on talking on monthly payments. needless to say, i walked out.

oh, and one more thing: if you have an iPhone/BB/Android/Pre...there's a million apps/websites out there that computes monthly payments based on the base price, APR, downpayment, and tax. USE IT. Once agreed on the price, the finance department (if you're going through them) can still rape you on the monthly payment computation.

@lamintak:

Nope. I immediately had to check the url in my address bar.

jupiterthunder

I went ahead and read the entire article. It's pretty good! I'll be into the car-buying game soon so all these tips really help out.

Jurandr

@GaryJ73167: What has been seen cannot be unseen!

Jurandr

The other secret? Don't play the monthly payment game. If you name a monthly payment, the sales guy will almost always come back with a payment just a few bucks more than what you asked for. I always tell them, "Let's worry about the price of the car first, then we'll talk financing later - I may yet decide to pay cash for the vehicle." That can knock them off balance a bit, and that's always in your favor.

Floobtronics

Hey, you changed the article's photo! That's not cool! D:

@orlo: ummm, no...

LetMeSayThisAboutThat...

Lol somehow I knew this picture would be changed. Three people in the same room all thought "lemon breasts"... of course not in those words.

Sabbatai

@Jurandr: No, but I see now that they've changed the pic to something with a little less lemon eroticism.

Fyyzer

@bubuli: It's not necessarily that he's hiding something, but he is certainly trying to get you to think of the smaller amount. People are much more likely to overspend if they think only of payments.

I absolutely hate haggling. Buying a car is such a needlessly stressful event.

@here

lamintak

@DaveyNC: ...umm...you don't have to make a living, you either do or do not make a living selling whatever it is that you do.

Compelling reading. I could not stop. Excellent article!

@lamintak: How... Thorough. <_<

@GaryJ73167: No. Go google "George Akerlof" and "peaches and lemons" problem in economy. In short, peaches are buy-worthy cars , while lemons are not-so worthy cars. In other words, Akerlof argues that markets cannot exist if information discrepancy is too big. The salesman knows which cars are lemons, and which cars are peaches. The customer is at a disadvantage in such a market.

Here is a linkie:
[en.wikipedia.org]

Otherwise pickup a copy of the Undercover Economist by Tim Harford that explained Akerlof's argument in laymanspeak. The entire book is a fascinating read.

@DaveyNC: I think car sales is vastly different than most other types of sales. I own a professional tutoring facility and as the professional I am selling them the tools needed to help children. People do respect my opinion for the most part and I am very straight forward with them in regards to payment. Sales are needed in some areas but do we really need commissioned sales people to point out the most expensive TV in the room and say "That's the best one (and the best deal *wink, wink*)!"

ospreyguy

This is I just don't buy new cars.

shatteredmindofbob