VCuomo

You can't really blame the salesman - he's just following his dealership's policies on negotiating prices.

When I bought my Z I went to a dealer about 5 miles from where I work, test drove a car, then told them exactly what options and color I wanted, and also told them that I was only willing to pay invoice (and I even gave them that price, quoted straight from edmunds.com). Then I asked them if they would do the deal. The sales dude says "I gotta go get my General Manager.", then the GM comes over, repeats the MSRP price (which I had already given to them too). I said "No, will you do the deal at invoice?" Then he asks "Are you ready to sign right now?" I said "No, I'm on my lunch hour, but if you are willing to do the deal at invoice and you can get the exact car I want, I'll be back at 7pm when I get off from work." The conversation went back and forth like that for a few more minutes, but long story short is he wouldn't say if he would or wouldn't do the deal, so I left.

The next day I found a dealer 30 miles from work that I contacted over the internet, then talked to the sales guy over the phone and, after getting approval from his GM, he said he'd do the deal I wanted - and I had never even set foot in his showroom. Plus he had the exact car I wanted in his inventory. Guess where I bought my car from?

Eventually these car dealerships that want to do business like they did back in 1972 are going to go broke and be replaced by dealers like the one I bought from. The buying public is way more informed today, thanks to the internet, than ever. The old-school hardball tactics just aren't going to work very well much longer (and I'm 50+, not a young guy who grew up with the internet).