Reader question:
I know that the way to get a good deal on buying a new car is to negotiate, but I just can’t. I know about what I want and all that, and I know what I should accept and what I shouldn’t, but when I’m in front of the salesperson I stumble and just give in to everything they offer, even if it’s the furthest thing from what I want and know I can get. What do I do?
Mia
You sound like you need a broker, Mia.
I understand how you feel. I hate haggling. In some countries, people haggle over everything, down to a piece of fruit. It’s just part of the culture. In the United States, though, it just isn’t that way, and so a lot of us Americans feel uncomfortable haggling. We don’t know how to do it, and there’s this sticky feeling in the back of our heads telling us that we should pay whatever the price tag says or take our business elsewhere, because usually that’s how things are done. But not in the auto industry. Even knowing that, though, it’s sometimes difficult to get over nervousness when negotiating a deal on a car.
So how do you get around it? Get a broker! It cuts straight through the negotiating process and leaves the whole thing up to a professional who knows what he’s doing. You don’t even go to a car lot until you already have the deal that you want settled with them. It’s extremely easy, and it can cost as low as two hundred dollars, and sometimes as high as one thousand, to hire one of these handy guys.
Even if you end up having to pay your broker on the higher end, you’ll still be saving a lot more than what you’re paying them off the price of your car. It works like this: you hire the broker and tell them what you want. What kind of car, what kinds of features, and what kind of deal (total price, interest rate, down payment, etc.). Then, they find it for you and order it. Brokers usually do business with a bunch of different car dealerships, so they have their eyes on a lot of prices and it’s easier for them than it is for the rest of us to shop around for the right price and talk dealers down on the price.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.