With the opening numbers now in place, the car salesman now can easily see all of the significant numbers they have worked you for during the part one of dealing with the car salesman, or how high they have bumped your expectations as noted in part two on dealing with the car salesman 4 square hell.
So, there they are in their own little square on the worksheet – the purchase price of the car – the trade-in – the down payment – and the monthly payments.
If you have somehow allowed yourself to be funneled into this 4-square sales approach you have put yourself at a disadvantage in this car buying process.
As the car negotiation prices continue, this worksheet allows the automotive dealership and the salesperson easily move between the numbers depending upon what the customer’s hot buttons are.
If you dig your heels in on the trade-in value, be sure to know that the dealership will shift their focus on maximizing their profit on the purchase price or even the financing.
Keep in mind that the numbers that first appear on the worksheet have come from the customer. Well, sort of. Some pushing and poking from the salesman was probably involved. However, the games are yet to begin, because now your loveable car salesman will probably take these numbers to their sales manager so they can begin to ‘desk’ or ‘pencil’ the deal.
Don’t be at surprised or left gasping for air, if when the salesman comes back the numbers are going to hit you quite a bit on the high side. All part of the plan… again to keep bumping you up and wearing you down.
You’ll notice during car buying negotiating process that the salesman will always try to remain your friend while it’s the person in that other office that keeps writing these ridiculous numbers on this piece of paper who is the adversary.
An important point to also consider is that this is just the ‘front end’ money the car dealer is trying to make at this point which is what the car sales person’s salary is based upon.
You guessed it.
There isn’t a front end without a back end. And in the automotive business the back end money will be made on financing interest, dealer holdback, and other add-on’s throughout the car buying process.
As a general rule, if you find yourself suddenly sitting in front of a 4-square worksheet with your car salesman, you can assume that this particular dealership is serious and aggressive about making the most money they can on each deal.
Usually the pressure they put on their sales people is significant and the less aggressive ones probably won’t last. So, your chances of working with the type ‘A’ (aggressive) personality are pretty high.
So if you find yourself feeling a bit tense, frustrated, or worse getting confused, you might want to try a fresh approach with a different car dealership.
Let’s look over the car dealer tactics next…
