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Research the car you are looking at
If you have looked through the paper or online car buying site, and you have found the affordable used car of your dreams, dont neglect to do your research. Specifically, the amount of money that it is worth, generally. The process of pre-research will help you to make up your mind when you will be making the final decisions on purchasing it or not.
Keep a budget in mind
If you are going to be using finance to buy the car, have a set monthly payment that you are willing to make, and nothing more. If you have saved up enough for a cheap car, dont go over that amount, whatever you do. On the other hand, if you want to deal with the lump sum amount that would be ever safe as a fair trading.
Choose a strategic time to haggle
There are windows of time when the likelihood that you strike a favourable deal is higher than normal. One of them is at the end of the month. This is when dealers are in a mad rush to fill their end of month quotas. If they are suitably desperate, you can then take advantage of this. Avoid weekends, when the dealer is spoiled for choice as far as customers are concerned. Your tactics are less likely to have their desired effect.
Never show the dealer that you are dying to buy a specific vehicle or you can lose the scope of haggling at the start point. Always ready to walk away if you are not happy with the price. In 80% of cases, the dealer will come back to you.
Relax
There are plenty of relaxation techniques that have varying degrees of success. My favourite is a meditation style that involves focusing on the breath entering and leaving the nostrils. It empties the mind a little bit, and with less thought comes less anxiety. If you enter the negotiating session in a calm and relaxed manner, you are more likely to make reasonable decisions. Furthermore, the dealer will see that you are calm and collected. If they can smell nervousness on you, they may take advantage of it.
Fool your adversary into thinking you are nearing the limit of your budget
This is not hard to do. All it involves is a bit of psychological trickery and manipulation. When most people are nearing the limit of their budget, they will increase their offer by increasingly smaller numbers. If the truth is that you are nowhere near the limit of your budget, how is the seller supposed to know? They wont, and they may just break, selling youre the car thinking that you will go no lower. Even though you could if you wanted to.
Be personable and polite
The dealer or seller will be more likely to want to do right by you if they like you. And it isnt that hard to establish a positive rapport. Agree with them a lot, laugh at any joke they make, use your manners and remember your social etiquette.
Finally, consider getting in touch with cash for cars firms and ask for the approximate price idea of the vehicle that you are going to buy. You might get the good price for your old vehicle that you wanted to get rid of as well.
