Your Turn To Drive discusses Top 6 Things Car Dealers Do To Make Car Buying Difficult. Jim Dykstra of www.vinadvisor.net, James Raia of The Weekly Driver and Jaclyn Trop discuss what to watch for when buying a car.

#1

The single biggest reason 99% of consumers expect car buying (and car buying online) to be a hassle is because dealerships don’t offer consumers any real transparency. Ask a salesperson in a dealership the simple question, “what price can I buy this car for?”, and you’ll never get a simple, clear answer. It always depends on something else somewhere else…

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#2

Dealer advertising is consistently confusing. They promote a monthly payment price point, say $199, but obscure not just the down payment but ignore taxes, license and even options sometimes. In other words, they advertise a price that doesn’t exist. This forces consumers to basically start over when they get to the dealership.

#3

Car buyers sometimes forget that sales people at car dealerships are sales people. They'll do nearly anything to sell you a car. They'll bring in other staff members, they try to confuse the public on occasion, because they have so many people there they're trying to wear the customer down. So why not counter that? Why not bring an advocate or two in with you when you're considering purchasing the car? There's always strength in numbers, right?

#4

Dealers have mastered negotiate pieces of your purchase. They most often separate the sales price, down payment, trade value and monthly payment into 4 distinct pieces of your price. Then they ask questions to uncover which number is most important to you. Spoiler alert, it’s monthly payment for most consumers. Once they get you to choose one, they ignore the rest to deliver on your most important “piece.”

#5

Once in the dealership, salespeople are hyper focused on getting you to buy today! Don’t wait, you’ll lose money. The truth is most new cars are oversupplied and incentives don’t evaporate if you leave the dealership. Their “leaning in” to get you to make a decision only makes it harder for consumers to say yes.

#6

There's always a lot of paperwork at car dealerships. They bring in all kinds of offers for extended warranties, or other promotions, or different kinds of paint with an extra charge, or this and that. So, when you go into a car dealership, have your price in mind. Certainly, the car dealerships know what their bottom line is and if you go in with your bottom line, all you have to do is wait for it.