Selling Cars

I came across a rather interesting article on Edmunds.com, an automotive web site. The article, Confessions of a Car Salesman, goes into good detail about what happens on the sales floor of an automobile dealership.

The article is a long one, and well worth reading. It should be, as it is actually written by a journalist who went “underground” to learn about the automotive business. From the Introduction,

“ We hired Chandler Phillips, a veteran journalist, to go undercover by working at two new car dealerships in the Los Angeles area. First, he would work at a high-volume, high-pressure dealership selling Japanese cars. Then, he’d change over to a smaller car lot that sold domestic cars at “no haggle” prices.”

Besides buying a house, purchasing a car is likely the second largest purchase people make in their life. Unless of course, they purchase a vehicle like a Hummer, that is as big and costly as many houses. Regardless, it is worth it to be familiar with the tricks and traps of the business before making a purchase. It will help you make a more intelligent decision about that major purchase as well as familiarize you with the strategies often employed by car dealerships to “encourage” your purchase.