Are You Fabulous or a Hammer?

Everyone wants to get a deal on a car, but some people are willing to put in a little more effort than others.  Let’s look at the different types of car buyers and see where you fit in.

Types of Car Buyers

1. The Fabulously Wealthy.  We’re talking about Vincent Chase from Entourage wealthy.  You walk into the dealership, pick out a Maybach and pay the full sticker price without batting an eye.  You ignore advice because your time is just too valuable to waste negotiating.
2. The Average Joe.  This is the category most people fall into. You know that you’re not supposed to pay full price.  You do no car research, decide you like the look of a Toyota Highlander, and throw out a number.  Eventually you buy it when the salesman knocks off a whopping $200 (but you could have saved $2000).  You leave feeling like a winner, not knowing you left money on the table.
3. The Savvy Shopper.  You realize that getting car price quotes online from multiple dealerships will allow you to get a better price than negotiating at the dealership. You probably got a pretty good deal, but you didn’t bother to negotiate.  In fact, you may not even know that Internet prices are still negotiable.
4. The Hammer.  Like the Savvy Shopper, you got price quotes online.  But you took it a step further.  You dropped the hammer and told each of the dealerships that you were going to take the best offer you could find, and you’ll give them each a chance to beat your best price.  You don’t mind driving an hour out of your way because it could save you several hundred dollars more than your next best offer.  You are a true negotiator!

So are you a Hammer?  Do you want to be?  It’s not that hard.  Learn how to buy a car and that spending a couple hours to send a few emails could save you a couple grand.  And feel free to send me a thank you note or gift basket (my wife likes chocolate 🙂 ).