Rodney

Every dealership/car salesman is going to see how much they can take you for. The difference is, some back off when you show you're not totally ignorant, and some don't.

Last car I bought, I talked to two dealers. One wouldn't even give a straight answer on what they wanted. They would show me the "deal cost figures" (yeah, right), and we could negotiate from there -- once I put down $100 deposit to show I was "serious." When I told them that was objectionable, they actually screamed at me. Obviously, I didn't buy from them.

Went to another dealership, same car model, 10 miles away. The saleswoman (right out) asked if I'd be willing to pay a certain figure for the car -- it was list price, which I knew. I told her no, the figure I had in mind was much lower. She told me that my price was too low, but took it to the manager, who came back with a counter offer that seemed quite fair, and which I took. (A little later, dealing with the inevitable buyer's remorse, I did a little more research and found that the price was in fact quite good. It probably helped that there were about 50 of that model sitting on the lot -- they wanted to move them.)

As I sat there with the salesperson waiting for the papers the clear, she let all the bullshit drop and said, "There are plenty of good cars on the market, plenty of good brands. It doesn't make any sense to turn people off with a hard sell. They'll just go down the road and buy something else." She told me she'd been selling cars for 30 years, so I guess she would know.

So that was a good experience -- the saleswoman definitely wasn't my friend, but when she saw that I wasn't totally ignorant, she changed her tactics and closed the deal professionally. That's what a "good" dealership does.