WHEELING & DEALING AT THE CAR LOT

**** I bought a car last Friday . I didn't want to buy a car , I had too . My Mazda crapped out on me at 173000 miles .

My car developed the Yankee disease . A - Rod was a knocking .

I don't really like car dealing . My Dad was a master at it . I am not . Daddy could keep all emotion out of the deal . I can't.

I was dealing on a used car which is more difficult than dealing on a new one .

Dealing on a new car , you just go on - line , find the model with the options you want . You can find the invoice price for most new cars .

Now you can play dealer against dealer , for that exact model car . It is the identical product ,you just pick the best price .

You can't do that with a used car . No two sellers have the exact same car . Never the same model or mileage . You are comparing apples & oranges .

The best you can do with a used car is to play against the Number . The Number is what the Kelly Blue Book or the Black Book says the car is worth . So I was playing against the number .

As I was passing by a big car lot , I decided to whip in . I had been looking at some of these models at other lots .

They were just putting the price on the weekend special when I came in . I thought it was a good price . I asked a few questions & said I might be back .

I checked the price vs the numbers in the books & the price seemed like a good deal . So back to the lot I went .

For the next 3 hours we offered ,counter-offered , discussed ,& cussed but were a few hundred dollars apart . I told them I was going to go buy a car & if they changed their mind to call me before I did .

Then I went home & waited for them to call . They did not . I began to think , this car is a good buy at this price . Would it be smart to lose this deal trying to get a slightly better deal ?

Here is where Dad would have held firm but I buckled . I picked up Chili Pepper & headed back to the car lot .

I told them I was certain they were trying to call, so I just came on back . They laughed .

I had dickered a couple of hundred off that sale price But there was a new price on the car . Those turkeys had jacked up the sale price a thousand dollars . They said after they talked to me they realized they had their car priced too low .

I said Whoa Dude . They said they would honor the price we hammered out earlier . So I pulled the trigger .

Maybe I got a good deal , certainly a fair deal but it was not fun .

I have two pieces of advice in car dealing .

1. Wait until the end of the month - the salesmen have quotas to make

2. Never look at a better model than the one you want to buy . - you will not be satisfied with the lower model once you have seen the better model .

THANK YOU FOR READING !!!!!