Secrets of Portland Car Dealerships Revealed

Dealers will employ all kinds of underhanded and deceitful tactics to maximize their profits. Here are the most popular tricks dealers use and how you can avoid them.

1. Bundling negotiations. When it comes to negotiations, dealers love to bundle the purchase price of the vehicle in with Oregon car loans. In other words, rather than talking about your Portland car loan and the sale price of the vehicle separately, the dealer will try to get you to negotiate monthly payments instead. This spells trouble for you because the dealer can manipulate the terms of your loan to not only give you a terrible deal on the price of the car, but also give you a lousy overall deal on your Oregon car loan. When it comes down to brass tacks, insist that you negotiate your car’s sale price and your loan’s terms separately to save money.
2. Starting with MSRP. Most consumers fall for the dealership trick of beginning negotiations at the MSRP, or manufacturer’s suggested retail price, of the vehicle then working their way down. A better way to negotiate is to find out what the dealer actually paid for the car, or the dealer invoice price. Once you know this figure, which can be easily found on the Internet, you can use it as a starting point for negotiations and negotiate your way up. This way, you won’t have to take out a Portland car loan for an unnecessarily large amount.
3. The full-court press. Dealerships are experts in apply pressure. They will make you feel like you have to get your Oregon car loan and drive off the lot in a new car immediately. Dealers love to ask the question: “What will it take to close this deal today?” They ask this because they know that car buyers under pressure make rash decisions that they would regret if they took time to think about them. If you don’t feel like you’re getting the best possible Oregon car loans or vehicle sale price, don’t be afraid to walk away and take some time to think it over.
4. The trade-in bamboozle. You might not want to deal with the hassle of selling your vehicle yourself, so you plan on trading it in to apply it toward the down payment on your Portland car loan. Be aware, though, that dealers will not give you anything close to what you could’ve sold the car for on your own. Usually, you are better off selling the car through independent channels and then applying the money toward Oregon car loans.
5. Interest rate inflation. It is common practice for dealers to inflate the interest rate of Portland car loans outrageously in order to make a profit on the financing deal. To combat this, try to get an Oregon car loan from an independent source, such as a bank, credit union, or online lender. You can also checkout our Eugene car loan page.