The most widespread car buying trick in the book is to make the customer believe that the salesperson can get the lowest price for the car, so that the customer herself will start negotiations almost immediately. The specific methods vary, but here are some common ways of doing it:

The car dealer will tell you. ’You could probably get the car for less than $36,250…’, but will avoid giving a specific price. Next, the salesperson will say, ‘When you are ready to buy, we can strike a deal. Are you ready to buy now?’

The salesperson tells the customer: ‘If you're going to spend more than $36,250 on the car, you should come back and see me’. When the customer returns and asks to buy the car for $36,250, the salesperson will point out that he/she never promised to sell you the car for $36,250, but is ready to give you the best price when you are ready to buy. ‘Do you want me to get a good price for you? …so are you ready to buy now?’.

Your salesperson may give the price for an older model car. Either the ‘old’ car is a previous model, or perhaps it has been gathering dust because no one has dared buy such a used car (usually for good reason) and the dealer just wants to get rid of it quickly to make room for newer car models. This is likely to happen if you don’t think carefully and specifically ask for the price for a current model car that is not older than 3 months.

The other ploy is when the salesperson takes your credit card along with an insufficiently low offer to ‘the boss’ for approval, but then returns to say it was not accepted. This is intended to drag the customer into more negotiations. i.e. ‘…we only need to increase it slightly and she’s yours..."

Of course, not all car dealers are unscrupulous and sneaky, but it's still better that you armed yourself with a few basic knowledge on car buying. Be wise and do your homework online. Really study the different car models and car prices out there before you go spending your hard-earned money.

Another trick employed by used car dealers is appraising your trade-in car at a far lesser price than what you initially offer.

Car Dealer Tactic #5

Some car salespersons connive with mechanics just to undervalue your trade in car. If you think your car is worth more than it really is, then you hope that you just might get a clever salesperson who will give in and agree to an excessive price for your trade in. Now you might be pleased by this, because you may be thinking that you are ‘putting one over’ the dealer. Not so. Generally, the sales person will look up on the computer or in the Car Dealers Price Guide to find out the going price for your trade in and will start from there. And if you don't watch out, you might end up shouldering all the car costs in the end. How, you ask? Well, when the dealer charges TOO much for your new car.

Let's say the car dealer contacts you before your new car is delivered. When the niceties are over, you will be told that there is an issue with the trade in. You will be asked to bring the car into the workshop for further inspection. When your vehicle has been in the garage for 60 minutes, (having nothing done to it), the salesperson will tell you that the mechanic claims to have found it is really only worth $500 less than what they have offered for it. Thus, the salesperson gets to pocket an extra $500 if you give in and agree your used car is really worth far lesser.

Car Dealer Tactic #6

Salespeople sometimes quote prices of a car excluding the on-road costs. If you don’t specifically ask for on-road costs to be included, the salesperson will most likely give you the excluding on-road costs price. Of course, you have to be guarded because your contract may be drawn up on this proviso. Trouble is that when you are ready to sign, the ‘quoted’ price of the car, will then be understated by many thousands of dollars.

To make sure this does not happen to you, shop around for car prices online. There, you'll get a wide array of information on car trends, models, and car price range. Armed with such knowledge, you are at a much better bargaining position with the car dealer. You know what your used car is worth in the market, and you know how far a leeway you can go without losing too much at the bargaining table.