I personally love the car-buying process. I've bought all my cars (both new and used) the exact same way: * pre-select make, model, color, options, etc (this

I personally love the car-buying process. I've bought all my cars (both new and used) the exact same way: * pre-select make, model, color, options, etc (this way I'm comparing apples to apples) * find various examples meeting my criteria on the market from different dealers/private sellers * get initial offers from all the dealers * get financing in-place - either cash or an approved car loan from your bank * Whichever dealer has the lowest price, call the rest and say "dealer X has beaten your price by $Y. I have cash in-hand and I'm ready to buy today. Can you go lower?" * Depending on the answer, either cross that dealer off your list or update all the other dealers with the 'new' lowest price. * Rinse and repeat until nobody goes any lower, then go buy your car. Dealers hate that method, but it's saved me thousands of dollars with each car purchase regardless of new or used. Ignore all pleas for 'financing', 'what do you want your monthly payment to be', etc. You're going for the absolute lowest price you can wrangle. As far as time investment, outside of figuring out what make/model/options I want and securing financing from my bank (or getting cash), the 'rinse and repeat with the lowest offer' method has never taken me more than a weekend to implement.