2006 White / Tan LX

I sell Hyundais in the Sacramento, California area. (Yipes, an evil car salesman!)

Most car pricing is a week-by-week and sometimes a day-by-day thing. It depends on tons of factors. For example (in no particular order):

- How many similar models dealer has and if they are in demand.

- Does dealer have some special financing deal ... perhaps some lender is flush with cash and wants to "sell" some of it at a good rate that the dealer can pass along to you.

- Is your trade in good shape and in demand? Maybe he went to auction and saw that your old model was commanding a high price.

- Maybe sales rep is close to "hitting the bonus" and will take a smaller commission so as to add to her monthly total of units sold.

- Maybe the car has been on the lot for only two weeks and dealer has not had to pay flooring (finance) charges on money he borrowed from Hyundai to get the car.

- Maybe Hyundai gave dealer a larger hold-back or some other incentive and dealer got car at a great price.

- Maybe dealer is not doing well and wants to increase sales/traffic. Or maybe he's doing great and wants to sell more so as to increase his next allotment off the boat.

Cars, like all items you buy (groceries, clothes, houses, computers), vary in price based on all sorts of economic, political, and even environmental factors.

Auto prices 'work' the same as the price of fresh produce... or the price of Apple or Microsoft stock. If you don't like the price today, come back tomorrow and you might get a better one. Maybe not. It's a free market.

One piece of advice. You may spend a couple of hundred more (or less) on a car. Try to remember something that is invariably true in almost all business transactions: "The way you are treated before the sale... is the way you will be treated after the sale."

I guarantee that the dealer and sales rep who treats you with respect, without any pressure, and who does not 'beat-up' on you (that's how our store is run) will be the best VALUE for your money ... even if you pay a few dollars more.

PR (Contact me? Add underscores between the words.)

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I only wish that were true! Experience shows: "You'll never be treated better than you are before the sale."

I don't know where you got your experience but in the many years I've been in business (I'm at middle-age) the stores and vendors and professionals who have treated me poorly from the beginning never got better after the deal was signed.

The car dealership that uses overly aggressive tactics, bait/switch, high-pressure, and plain old abuse will not get 'better' after you buy the car. When you come back for service it will be the same old, same old.

No doubt the auto industry has EARNED the poor reputation it has after generations of beating-up customers. But the Internet has changed a lot of things, there are a lot of young men and women who own dealers now, the 'old-school guys' are dying off, CSI scores are being taken seriously by the factories and media, and the winds of change are blowing through the entire industry. And it's about time!

You still have to look for them, but the good dealers (and reps) are out there.. and there are more and more of them each year. I work for one... I am one. I'm probably the only guy in the world not embarrassed to say "I'm a car sales rep," mainly because I work for a store that does it the way it should be done.... with respect and integrity.

A.C. (Contact me? Put underscores between the words.)

Scroll up and read my reply again. That's exactly what I said!

Excellent post, evil car salesman. ;)