Bad Dealership experience

jginnane

All dealerships are desperate for customers. But they will also instantly "qualify" you based on age, dress, car you drive in, etc.

They also pay a lot of money for leads.

That's why you should use a quote/referral system to make your initial contact. This means you're actually shopping comparative price -- and the dealership pays the referral both for the initial contact and if a sale ensues.

So, using this hypothetical... get the overstock price and it's probably a dealer 50 miles away. Call up the dealership near you, get a contact in Sales (specifically the "Internet manager") and say -- "I've got this price $x at Overstock.com. Are you price matching other dealers?" And then refer to a specific car you saw in his inventory listing, via nissanusa.com.

At that point you're set for at least a prepped test drive.

Make sure you dress three classes better than you're used to, and bring a high-end GF who will act bored and, on your cue, say she "wants to wait in the car". Do not surrender keys or license, etc. to the salesman for any reason, like "looking at your trade-in" at the initial meeting / test drive. And know what kind of outside auto loan rate you can get before going in there.

The salesman will follow up with you in a day or three with some invented excuse, and at that point you can begin to negotiate. But it's better to play him off against another dealer in town, so you really need to go to a few showrooms.

Good luck!