The Dirty Little Secrets of the Car Business

When I was about 19 years old, I walked into a dealership and asked: 'How much for this car?' The salesperson told me the price and I said 'OK'. I was pretty green when it came to negotiating for a vehicle. Then, a number of years later, when I was just starting to sell cars, one of my first customers was a factory worker. He asked me: 'How much for this car?' I told him the price and like me, he said 'OK'. Yet I suggested; 'I'll see if I can knock off a few hundered for you.' He was very happy. I went to the sales manager and presented the customer's deal with the few hundred off to which he replied, 'great' - sniffing a 'lay down' buyer. 'OK,' he added. 'But get him to sign over to us this $500 customer appreciation incentive from the manufacturer.' A customer appreciation bonus is supposed to go directly to the customer. It was then I knew that I was eventually going to write this book, to help those like my prior self - an unknowledgeable customer, get a fair deal.