After you sift through the exhausting details of over 400 vehicles currently on the market, you’re then brought face-to-face in the final showdown: negotiating price and terms with the dealer.

Few men and women relish this task. But unless you want to clunk around in some 2nd class hand-me-down, dealership negotiation is an essential skill in modern America.

It’s not hard. The key is knowing what to say and when to say it for maximum leverage. And now that the economy’s in the crapper, the process today is easier than ever.

Dealerships sell cars all the time whereas you and I only buy once in awhile. This allows them to get lazy and rely on the same old psychological tricks over and over. That’s why knowing what they are ahead of time (and how to reply) will make them stutter like a stood up date… and nab you a better deal.

So here are the 8 most common tricks car dealers have thrown at me over the years… and how you can use the dealers own words to turn the tables and back him into a corner from which there is no escape.

Trick #1. The Same-Day Urgency Ploy

You’ll see this one from a mile away because what he’ll do is quote you a price and then twist your arm to take advantage of it “today” because after that he “can’t guarantee” it will be around later so you better “lock it in” right now.

Obviously the idea here is to choke off any chances you have of further research or price comparison to discover how good (or bad) his deal really is.

What you should do here is come up with your own price and terms BEFORE you come to the dealership and when they pull this little stunt on you, calmly present your offer in writing and add that it expires tonight when the dealers close.

This gives you the freedom to walk away cleanly if he absolutely refuses. And that’s power in your hands.

Doing some research online before coming to the dealer will allow you to find out his real cost so you can make an offer that’s fair and reasonable to you… but won’t get you laughed out of the dealership.

Trick #2. Checking With The Manager

I’ve had car dealers, furniture salesmen and the whole lot dust this one off and use it on me as if they’d invented sliced bread. It’s dumb but it works on a lot of people.

What happens here is the salesman says that he’d like to accept your offer but before he can, he needs to “check with his manager” to see if the terms are acceptable.

If this sounds familiar, it’s “good cop/bad cop” for salesmen. He doesn’t want to reject your offer outright, because that would make him seem like he’s your “enemy” in negotiation. Instead he wants to appear as your “friendly helper” in getting the deal done on good terms.

To do that, he needs to be able to place blame on a faceless 3rd party. Hence, the “manager” who always seems to be in a back room somewhere smoking a cigar and thumbing through an old dog-eared issue of Hustler. Our fearless salesman wants us to believe that during his absence, he barges into his scumbag manager’s office, demanding he accept your offer, and fights the good fight to wrangle a good price out of him come hell or high water.

In reality, the conversation goes something like this:

“Hey Bill, any of those doughnuts left over from this morning?”

“Nah, Mary finished ‘em off in like 10 minutes.”

“Fuck, I’m starving but I got a guy out there and I can’t get outta here ’till I close ‘em.”

Don’t get pushed around by this lame tactic. Instead, use it to your advantage.

If he has to check with his manager, then why shouldn’t you have to “check with your wife/husband?” You say you’re not married? Well, how about your accountant, therapist, mistress, astrologer, stunt driver, cult leader or any other person of authority whose input you supposedly value.

Now let this 3rd party of yours hold up the deal. The more of the salesman’s time you can waste, the more time he’s working without a commission, which means the more skin he has in the game with each passing hour, day, etc. This will help motivate him closer to your side of the fence.

Remember, these car negotiations don’t happen often, so pull out all the stops and don’t worry about looking weird. This is no place for ego. After the deal’s done you’ll be all but forgotten in a month’s time anyway.

Trick #3. Salesman Pleads Poverty

“But Mr. Customer,” he whines, “I have to put food on my table. I’ve got 2 kids in college.”

Little Sally is sick and Jimmy needs a new pair of shoes. Boo-hoo. Poor little salesman.

Car negotiations are not charity, they’re business. The salesman’s personal problems, fact or fiction, are not your problem and have absolutely nothing to do with you buying a new car right here and now.

More than likely, this crumpled mess of a man slumped before you will not starve if he’s forced to accept your terms. You’re here to get a deal done… or walk.

To get this annoying sod off your back, remind him that YOU have to put food on the table too. Maybe throw a few of your own tales of woe so he’ll finally shut up.

Trick #4. Dealership Pleads Poverty

I laugh when a saleman tells me he’s “already losing money on this deal” to weasel his way out of accepting my offer.

“Actually dear sir,” I say in my best British voice, “it is I who is losing money in this deal… by handing it over to you.”

Look, these guys may be sleazy, but they’re not stupid. They’re in business to make money just like the rest of us. Remind them that it is you who are losing money just by doing the deal to begin with and perhaps, now that you really think about it, you should take your offer to another dealership who isn’t running on financial fumes.

After all, you want someone who’ll still be there after the sale. *wink*

Trick #5. Scarcity

“This is a hot car. I’ve got a higher offer from another buyer.”

If the car you’ve set your sights on really is rare, then there could be some truth to this. But if you could get the same thing down the street or online, then call him on his bullshit.

If you’re smart, you’ll never actually need the car “now” and the time it takes to wrestle a new deal will be green money in your pocket.

More often, this is just a false scarcity ploy used to box you into a particular deal. “Other interested buyers” and “production shortages” are cooked up schemes. There’s a reason why they call cars “mass produced” and even if you’re vying for a Porsche or Aston Martin, luxury dealers love to take advantage of a buyers prideful desire to “not lower himself” to negotiation squabbles.

Luxury prices too, are far more flexible than you’d think.

Trick #6. Unique Car

“Well, Mr. Customer, this is the only car of its kind. This offer is the best we can do.”

You want the weird one with the funky color? Chances are they’ll play the scarcity card, and rightfully so… but does this really trap you into a “take it or leave it” situation?

Of course not.

Instead you should reply, “Are you kidding me? How many other serious offers could you get on this bizarre bag of bolts?”

To grab the rare and the exotic you need to downplay it’s appeal and twist it into a grotesque monster. Inside you’re slobbering all over to burn rubber in this puppy but outside you need to be bored, even a little disgusted from the moment you lay eyes on their model.

The market is thin for these rare cars so sometimes they’re hard to sell what little quantity they get from the factory. Use this to your advantage.

Trick #7. Last Minute Changes To The Deal

Now that you’ve dragged each other through the mud of negotiation, you’re numb, exhausted, and crabby. But gazing back at you through a blood-caked face are the determined eyes of a salesman who has just one more trick up his slimy sleeve.

And that, my friends, is the last minute price increase and hidden fees.

He knows you’re interested or you wouldn’t have come this far. A price has been agreed on. Now his only hope lies in tacking on some plausible excuse for previously (strategically) undisclosed fees.

Do not falter in your resolve. In fact, counter this by LOWERING your previous offer. “Well, if that’s the case, I can’t do this price anymore… I’ll have to offer X so our deal stays within our agreement.”

Remember, he’s invested as much time in this thing as you have. To trip here would be a suckers game. He wants to get this bastard of a deal over with and move on to easier targets just as much as you want to get out of there with your new hot-rod.

Trick #8. Free Crap

Free crap ain’t free. There’s ALWAYS a hidden charge for it crawling around in the paperwork somewhere.

Dealers love to charge crazy prices for stuff like pinstripes, undercoating, fabric or paint protection, and pre-sale inspections. I never want any of this worthless junk and always make sure the dealer knows it. And since it’s that much less they have to do to the car, you should insist on a discount.

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Unlike the exotic romanticism of so-called “hackers” portrayed in movies, most of the online scams rely on posing as a trusted figure of authority who gets you to spill your own beans by asking a few simple questions. They call this human, or “social engineering.”

The solution here is NOT to stop using online services like Craigslist, Paypal, and eBay… but rather to look out for a few simple tell-tale signs that something’s not quite right.

In poker, professional gamblers are always on the prowl for “tells” – subtle indicators of true intention from the lesser mortals surrounding the table. To successfully do business online with safety and security, you too must become one of the pros.

It’s not hard. In fact, it’s really quite easy once you know what to look for.

Scam #1. Real Real Estate, Fake Listing

Let’s say you find a house or apartment on Craigslist. It looks promising enough – good neighborhood, cheap price, and with all kinds of enticing extras. When you write in to ask about it, the owner or landlord sends you back a request for some personal information so they can run a credit check.

That’s all fine and good, right? After all, it’s only natural for landlords and owners to do their due dilligence on a prospective buyer or renter.

Yes, except… that sort of thing should be done in person, and never over e-mail. Often, these sorts of e-mail requests are from identity theft scammers who run fake listings on real property and add a bunch of mouth-watering details to bait the hook.

Another variation on this is when you see a real estate listing with no specific address – only a vague description of the property and general location. When you write in on these, the “landlord” will ask for a credit report before they even let you see the property.

What’s that you say? You say you don’t have a credit report on hand? No problem, your jolly ol’ scammer will be happy to provide you with a link to get a “free” one. Of course, this is a link to a company that actually does offer a free credit report… but with an expensive credit monitoring service attached to the backend. They’ll wring your wallet dry and you’ll still be left without the new home you wanted in the first place.

(By the way, the only real place online to get a true, honest-to-God free credit report from each of the 3 big reporting agencies is called AnnualCreditReport.com – they’re ordered by government mandate to give you a free credit report once per year. Experian, Equifax, and Transunion all participate in this program.)

Scam #2. Fake Question From A Buyer

You may have gotten one of these if you’ve ever sold anything on Craigslist or eBay.

Basically what happens is you get an e-mail from someone who’s either asking if your “item” is “still available” or they’re hot to buy it right now and wanting to send you payment sight unseen.

The key word in the first one is “item” – because a real prospect would never call your product an “item” they would say the actual name or use slang. These messages are generally short – one or two sentences at the most – and it’s best to not reply at all. If you do, be prepared for a tidal wave of spam.

If they’re a little too eager to buy and want to pay right now via “cashiers check” or my personal favorite “bank draft”… then it’s a scam. When you reply, what they’ll want to do next is send you a fake check for more than the thing is worth and then want you to mail some 3rd party the difference. And they’ll have some dumb story as to why it’s gotta be done this way.

Save yourself some hassle and just hit delete.

Scam #3. Fake Security Notice From Your Bank

What scammers do with these is send out a ton of e-mails pretending to be from financial institutions like PayPal, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, etc. One time I even got one from some Mexican “Commercia Bank” – ha!

They don’t actually know if any one particular person on their list has an account at any of these places; they just bank on the fact that out of a list of tens of thousands to millions, they’ll hit the nail on the head more often than not. To them it’s a numbers game, pure and simple.

These sorts of e-mail scams and others like them are called “phishing” – a nasty little word that evolved from the phrase “fishing for your personal information” or as I like to say “fishing for suckers.” Don’t you fall for it.

It may seem corny to talk about, but a lot of these e-mails are written well and look pretty convincing. Here’s what to look for in an e-mail to know whether it’s “real” or not.

Check #1. Look at the e-mail address the message supposedly came from. Most of the phishers out there open up free accounts at Google, Hotmail, or Yahoo with nonsensical names. Look at the name before the @gmail.com or whatever and ask yourself if it makes sense. If it’s just a jumble of letters, watch out.

Check #2. Is the person oddly vague in the e-mail when asking you questions or making statements? Do they use language that seems a bit outdated or “too proper” for someone who’s supposed to live in your area? I remember getting a phishing message one time that said something like “Sir, kindly let me know if the item is still available.” I mean c’mon, real people just don’t talk like that. Language like that is a sure sign it’s some idiot in Nigeria trying to rob you from afar.

Check #3. Watch out for links in the e-mail. If any of the above 2 checks raise suspicions, you should never click the link. But if it seems legit, try hovering your mouse pointer over the link and look down at the bottom of your window to see where the link leads. Look at the web address printed there and see if it looks suspicious. Is it a jumbled mess of letters and numbers? Is it a .info, .biz, or some other less common type of domain name? Is it a particularly long link with lots of letters a numbers? Does it appear to lead where they say it does?

Check #4. If all else checks out and you’re STILL suspicious, then you might have a real deal on your hands. But just to be sure, you can always look at the e-mail headers and trace the e-mail back to its origin. Explaining how to do that will take up too much space here, so I’ll write a new post soon on how to do that.

Until then, be safe.

And if you’re really serious about safeguarding your privacy and hiding your money, check out “The Perfect Privacy Solution” by Joe Decameron. It’s a blackbelt-level course that shows you how to live in complete privacy without sacrificing a comfortable lifestyle.

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