Dealing with Car Dealers

Gus Philpott
Woodstock Advocate
February 3, 2009

If you are ever going to buy another car, be sure to read this article. OK, so you already know this; right? Well, read it anyway. Just click on the link.

http://autos.aol.com/article/buying-tips/_a/negotiate-car-financing/20080708135409990001

There is a lot to know about payments, term of loan, options and how to pay for them (or whether you should get them at all). With the F&I computer, you can have about any term and any payment you want. No payments for three months? No problem. No down payment, no interest, no payments for a year? No problem. Just look out for the total cost.

If you are a person who can buy a car, make the payment arrangements and never look back, skip the article. If you are still satisfied with what you paid and how long you are paying it, skip the article.

If you want to know how to keep more of your money in your own pocket and still get the car, read the article.

I recall a conversation with a car finance manager in East Dundee a few years ago. He said, "You're not going to let us make any money at all, are you?" And I said, "No, why should I? Every dollar you get comes out of my pocket. Frankly, I don't care if you go out of business tomorrow."

His response? "You used to sell cars, didn't you?"

I worked for a new car dealership in Denver for two months in 1986. It was the worst two months of my life. The attitude there was that, if a person in an old truck had a flat tire in front of the dealership and came in to use the phone to call for help, he really came in to buy a new truck. Wrong!

After I quit, I created a seminar titled "How to Deal with Car Dealers." The first seminar was scheduled and promoted, when I was offered a job in Kansas City and moved. I gave the seminar to a trainer I knew, and he presented it.