A consumer who recently sought my advice about a new car purchase joked that after shaking hands with a car salesman "you should count your fingers."
Although exaggerated, his cynicism may be shared by many Canadians. Car dealers ranked No. 22 out of 23 professions (behind telemarketers and ahead of arms dealers) in a trustworthiness survey released last year by Toronto-based Pollara Inc. A mere 4 percent of 1,200 Canadians surveyed said they had a lot of trust in car dealers, with a full 31 percent of respondents saying they distrusted dealers a lot.
The results are no surprise to Kendrew Pape, a former car salesman and coauthor of The Essential Guide to Buying and Selling a Car in Canada. Pape believes that car buyers need to treat a showroom like a battlefield. Buyers who want to score the best deal must know their opponent's tactics and come armed with a strategy, ammunition and reinforcements.
"Like every other industry, the automobile manufacturers and dealerships have spent thousands of hours refining their marketing and sales practices to benefit themselves," notes Pape.
Here are tips to help consumers gain the upper hand in showroom skirmishes.
Don't go into a show-room until you've researched financing, pricing, features and reliability. Study car-buying guides. Never shop when you're tired, hungry, distracted or rushed.Maryanna Lewyckyj is consumer advocate for the Toronto Sun. She conducts car care seminars for women through her company, Autophobics Anonymous.
The following books can help consumers learn how to drive a hard bargain when shopping for a car:
|
Subscribe to Chatelaine!
Want to streamline your life? In our Spring 2025 issue, we’ll show you how—whether it’s paring down your wardrobe, decluttering your messiest spaces or spending way less time cooking thanks to an easy, mostly make-ahead meal plan for busy weeknights. Plus, our first annual Pantry Awards.