For consumers with bad credit, buying a used car can be a great decision, as the price will be lower than a new car, meaning that the payments on their car loan will be smaller as well. Yet a driver loses that advantage if they wind up paying too much.
That’s where negotiation strategy comes in. ABC News recently tagged along with Edmunds’ senior consumer advice editor Philip Reed in order to find out how to get the best deal. Edmunds buys lots of used cars for their own testing purposes, and Reed is usually the one doing the negotiating strategy. He’s also worked on the other end – as a car salesman – so he knows the common tricks and how to beat them to get a great price.
Reed’s first tip was to always let the salesman make the first move with regards to price. Many salesman will try to get a figure or estimate out of the buyer early on. That’s because many buyers will feel like they can’t go back on their word if they tell the dealer a price that they’d be happy with. But if a buyer instead gets the first quote from the dealer, they’re in a good position to negotiate the price down further.
Once the salesman names their price, that allows the buyer to know that they can go even lower – and it also prevents them from going any higher.
