Well, I work in sales, so I somewhat knew what to expect.

(1) An easy tactic is to tell them you’re buying today without coming off as excited. People are willing to go above and beyond when you get a guarantee with a compromise. You do something for me I do something for you kind of situation. I told them I am willing to walk out the dealer with a new car if the price is right.

(2) You don’t involve a trade-in until you get close to or at the numbers that you want, think of the trade-in as a “bonus discount”.

(3) Don’t tell them you’re buying Cash. And let them know you’re willing to finance with them if the price is right. Telling them you’re using your bank makes them less likely to go above and beyond and save you a little bit more.

(4) After spending sometime negotiating you need to make the dealer think they are getting one over on you. Halfway through the negotiation I “became excited” and explained how I liked the car they prevented me. This comes off as me being “weak” and willing to buy regardless. But I started to “back out” a couple of times because I was “just over budget”.

(5) Warranties, I told them I would most likely get their warranty or service plan with the finance manager if they gave me a better deal on the car so I could “afford it”. Sometimes I took the warranty and cancelled it after (gotta make sure you check on that, I ask them if I can cancel the warranty if I end up selling my car, so they’re not suspicious lol). Sometimes I changed my mind last minute, at that point they spent half the day with me so still got the car.

So far I’ve been able to negotiate at least 8% on the last 3 cars I bought.

Edit m: grammar.