In the market to buy or lease a car? Terrified of the “tactics” the salesman is going to use on you, and how he is going to persuade you to pay more than you should? Below are some tactics that are used and how you can avoid the traps.

1) Method: The Take Away

The Problem: Its Car sales 101 to create need and a feeling of urgency when deciding on which car or dealership you will be purchasing form. To ensure commissions, a salesman needs to get you to feel like you might be losing something if you were to not purchase the car today. To you, it may be a good idea to go home and think about your purchase, but to the salesman, there is no assurance that you are going to come back to him to purchase the car, and every time you leave the dealership without a new set of keys, the odds of you purchasing a car from that specific salesman at that dealership reduce significantly.

The Tactic: Create the illusion of need and or scarcity: “Well, the deal now is $339/mo with $1500 out of pocket. If you leave, I may sell the car to somebody else who is willing to sign the paperwork today. I am not going to push you, but just keep in mind that if you come back tomorrow, the deal will be negotiated tomorrow”. To most people in the car buying space, this is terrifying… “If I go home and think about this, I may lose the deal and all of that negotiation that I went through may not be worth all of the effort”, I better get the car now.

The Reality: Reality is that if you were to assure the salesman that you have his business card, you’ve written your deal that you guys agreed to on it, and that if you do indeed decide to lease this car, you will give him a call, the salesman will relax and admit to you that the deal is good until tomorrow, or the next day… Reality is that deals come out around the 4th of every month and there is no justification toward changing pricing overnight, especially if it is the middle of the month. If you come back the next day, you will get the same deal, or even better on your new car.

2) The Switcharoo

The Problem: People are shopping around on the phone without commitment,causing a bidding war before even walking into the dealership. With that much exposure to different dealers and specials, the customer will be empowered to gain leverage over the salesman and take control of the sale. This can allow a customer to call up and say “Lexus of Van Nuys has better deals than you over in Beverly Hills”, the salesman has no choice but to start offering prices on the phone and further fuel the bidding war.

The Solution: Offer you a crazy good deal on the exact car you want to get you to the dealership. Once you are there, they are going to claim something like: “Oh, the Nissan Altima you asked for that we negotiated on the phone is actually not here at the dealership, it is on order and won’t be here for another few weeks.” After you vent your frustration to the salesman who is now going to tell you ho abad he feels, the switcharoo happens: “Well, I don’t have the model you are looking for, I do, however, have an extremely similar model with almost the same equipment. The issue is that this one is black on black, which is highly desired, and I’d have to charge you just a little bit more, but it also has a couple more options.” The goal is for you to feel committed to the salesman already as you are at there dealership already, and you would have already invested your time and effort to be there.

Hope this helps!