Repair-It

Would you like to know the most powerful words you can utter in a car dealership? They are: “I’m ready to buy now . . . if . . . ” — and then fill in the blank with what you want. If you’re a “bottom line” kind of gal, say “I’m ready to buy now . . . if . . . you can get me to $22,000 out the door.” If you’re payment oriented, say “I’m ready to buy now . . . if . . . you can get me to $400 a month.” Whatever your goal is, use it to condition an offer to get what you want.

Why is this so effective? Because the car business is a “now” business. We don’t want the promise of a car deal tomorrow, or later on this afternoon, or even a few minutes from now. Like a crack addict, we want a car deal NOW! A salesperson will bend over backwards to help you if you say you’re ready to “buy now.” But be careful– don’t use this phrase unless you’re actually ready to buy.

By the way, the second most powerful words are “We’re leaving.” But again, don’t use these unless you really mean it, and only as a last resort.

Last time I purchased a vehicle, we had a really great salesman. He was young and looked like Clark Kent, we got along nicely, and spent quite some time with him, test drove the car, told him the payments we were looking for, went a little back and forth and left happy with our new car. We did have to come back in the next day for a little dotting of I's and crossing of T's, the car needed a couple of tiny adjustments that were noticed before shaking hands, and the dealership honored them. But that next day, the nicest salesman, barely recognized us, after having spent hours with us the very day and evening before...I don't think we even got more than a glance our way. That made me question wether it was just all an act the whole time. And no, he wasn't busy with another customer either.

I get my oil changes done at different dealerships, and while they play with my car for an hour or two, I talk to the staff, and mingle around. Some times I test drive vehicles, and I would usually tell them that I just want a test drive, i am not in the market.


This one time I went for a test drive, the salesman told me a sad story of how him and his wife were trying to have a baby for a long time, and they were blessed 2 years ago by an angel, but now his 2 year old has cancer, and the treatments are expensive, so to him every car sale helps.


I was touched by the story, but still was not in the market. When I went to the service dept. I told my service writer about it. He said, dont feel too too bad, as the guy is not even married, nor does he have any kids. Then you realize it was a great sales pitch.


He changed dealerships couple times, but is still in town. I ask him about his 2 year old angel everytime I see him.

A couple of thing I would add -- if you have to buy a car today because of accident and the insurance Co will only pay for the rental through tomorrow...you can always pay for the rental for a few more days or weeks. If you can not afford the $30/day for the rental, you probably can not afford to buy a car today (that will cost at least $20/day).

Also, when buying, do not forget the value of your time. In my case, I am constantly overbooked, and could earn $80 for any hour working vs doing anything. Personally, I value my free time a lot, and limit my work to normal hours. But, 10 hours to save $500 is not cost effective.

@DHS Good points. Some people don't want to pay for the rental, but it's not that much.
I once had a customer drive to another city that was about 300 miles away to save about $275 on a car. That's a minimum of 6 hours in a car, 2 or 3 hours in the dealer, and whatever the gas cost. By the time they were done they actually lost money, but they didn't see it that way.