As I mentioned in first part on automobile buying – dealing with a car salesman, the 4-square worksheet is designed to maximize the profit for the car dealer.

The process will generally begin with you being asked how much you are planning on for a monthly payment. Or, what type of monthly payment range are you looking to achieve.

The operative sales set up word here is ‘range’. Of course, if you have spent some time on this website then you already know what your monthly payment will be based upon, what you intend to finance, and for how long.

You also know that your budget and the monthly payment you can afford are on a need to know basis and the car salesman doesn’t need to know.

But anyway, let’s get back to the 4-square and the monthly payment box. If the salesperson is truly following the sales model, after they ask you what you want your monthly payment to be, and you say “$300″, they might just respond with “up to…?”

Now this is very significant because right out of the gate what they are trying to bump your monthly payment expectations (increase gross profit and commission). And if you say (just like a big ol’ fish) “oh, up to about $350″ just watch the car salesman write $350 in that square!

Remember it’s all about maximizing that profit. You should see what they do when they say “that’s great… $300… up to?”… and you respond with “oh about $250.” And do so with a very serious straight face. In other words… stop trying to bump me up the ladder.

And don’t be surprised if this “up to” approach is also used when the salesperson begins talking to you about how much money down you plan to put on your new car purchase.

At this point you may be thinking ‘how can this possibly work?’ Believe me it does. This 4-square approach has withstood the test of time. So, if it wasn’t working and working well, car dealers that do use it wouldn’t be using it.

O.K. The final box (or at least as presented here) on the worksheet is reserved for your trade-in allowance. The area of the trade-in is where the most profit can be made.

Buyers can sometimes be so fed up with their old car that they can’t wait to say good bye to it and they don’t do the research on the value of their trade-in. Believe me, the used car manager is well aware of it.

Next 4 square and desking the deal…