* Car salesman deliberately waste your time to wear you down. "I have to ask my manager. I'll be right back." is bullshit, they go in the break room and have a

* Car salesman deliberately waste your time to wear you down. "I have to ask my manager. I'll be right back." is bullshit, they go in the break room and have a coffee. If you want a test drive, "OK let me go find the keys. I just need your drivers license." that's another 40 minutes wasted, and you can't leave because they have your driver's license. After spending 4 hours at a dealership you're tired, your resistance is low, but you've invested so much time in this process now, it's human nature to want your time investment to produce something, so you don't want to leave empty handed without a new car, so now they start talking about numbers you asked about 4 hours ago, and get you excited that you might drive the car off the lot tonight, you just need to sign and here are the keys ... "oh actually, the car is being cleaned now ... can I get you something to drink?" * Car salesman DoS attack the customer with numbers and options, for example using 4-square grid of options: overwhelm the customer with at least 4 different financing and trade in options, too many decisions to compare, lot of numbers, math, options, numbers, more options, overwhelm the customer, then steer them into the set of numbers that maximizes your commission. * That amazing deal of the week advertised in the paper? Sorry, we don't have it anymore, we just sold the last one (bullshit) but this one here is similar model for just a little more (bullshit) I read this article over 10 years ago, and it remains the gold standard of what you must read before stepping into a car dealership. Basically stand firm on what you will pay total and if they start playing these games then be prepared to walk away without the new car.