With my Compliments…

10 Essential TRUTHS About the Used-Car Business

“A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”
Sir Winston Churchill

That’s how Sir Winston Churchill described the Soviet Union in 1939.

But Ol’ Winston could just as easily have been describing the used-car business.

If fact, if he had said “A riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma where they take all your money if you let them” he’d have hit the nail right on the head.

Besides being mysterious and enigmatic, the used-car business is probably the most maligned industry in America.

I mean, how often, in searching for a villain to stereotype, have you suggested that someone is “as bad as a used-car salesman,” or “lower than a used-car salesman?”

ALL THE TIME!!!

The maligning of the business in general, which is deserved, is largely the fault of those who run the show.

When you conceal the secrets of your business from the customers, purposely mislead them, afford them respect only if they demonstrate negotiating ability, outright lie to them, charge them as much as you can get away with, sell them things they don’t need, cheat them when they finance with you, well, you should be maligned.

This is where I come in. . . . . .

Right here, right now, the riddles, mysteries, and enigmas about the used-car business will disappear in a gigantic puff of smoke.

I will reveal all the secrets that dealers don’t want you to know!

To explode these secrets, we’ll take the journey into a world of stellar performance, trickery, magic, sleight of hand deception, and finally, greed.

You see, I sold used cars for seven years.  In that time, I learned the answers to all the riddles, figured out all the mysteries, and solved all the enigmas.

And, yes, for the first two years at least, I took all the money, as much as I could get my grubby little hands on.  (But fear not, I quit the used-car business before I turned into a career slime ball.)

My experiences selling used cars taught me that there are 10 Essential TRUTHS about the Used-Car Business.

And you need to know and understand every one of them before you head for a dealership to purchase a used car.

I know the used-car business inside and out, backwards and forwards.

I know the tricks salesmen use to get as much of you hard-earned money as possible.

I know that right now, at dealerships all across the United States, used-car salesmen and their managers are waiting for you to arrive on their lot so they can wave their make-believe magic wand and make all your car buying troubles disappear.

I know that right now, at dealerships all across the United States, used-car salesmen and their managers are waiting for you to arrive on their lot so they can wave their make-believe magic wand and make all your car buying troubles disappear.

Naturally, their idea of making your troubles disappear is for you to give them too much money.

10 Essential TRUTHS about the Used-Car Business are taken directly from the pages of Car Salesman Tells All, the most candid, straight forward, tell-all book ever written about the used-car business.

Some of the truths you may have already suspected while some may come as a complete shock to you.

What you need to understand is that the used-car exists for only one reason… to sell used cars for as much money as possible.

Hey, I am a capitalist.  I believe in good business.  I believe in good products for fair prices.

But I also believe that in the course of free trade, consumers have a right to keep as much of their own money as possible.

I mean, you wouldn’t pay $250 for a sweater worth $50 would you?

Or suppose your neighborhood supermarket all of a sudden started charging $20 for a gallon of milk?  Would you buy it?  NO!  Of course not!

Yet, people will go into a used-car dealership and (figuratively) fall asleep while the salesman sells them a bill of goods about how great he is.  Then, while the customer is thinking about how lucky he is to find the only nice used car salesman in the whole world, they buy a car… and always for too much money. 

I worked at dealerships where the average total profit per used car sold was $2,800.  Now this isn’t a freaky, one month occurrence.  This was the average over a seven year period.

Let me put it this way… everything about the system is set up to take advantage of you: managers, salesmen, the financing they offer, the service department, the trade-in allowances, the sales extravaganzas, the warranties, everything!

And unless you know exactly what you’re doing, the system will take advantage of you.

I sincerely hope this information helps you out… I hope it helps you save a barrel full of money.

As someone who out-negotiated and out-maneuvered over 1500 customers in a seven year period, I know your chances of success without this kind of information are less than 50/50.  Much less.

In fact, it’s probably more like 90/10 in their favor.

10 Essential TRUTHS about the Used-Car Business are factual and apply anywhere, no matter where you live and no matter what dealership you visit.

TRUTH #1  Salesman love to take advantage of people who think they have the system figured out.  If you learn nothing else, learn this:

You do not have the system figured out, you do not know how it works…and neither does your know-it-all neighbor.

TRUTH #2  Used car managers and salesmen  are trained how to walk, talk, make eye contact, instill faith and confidence in them and the system, and finally, how to take as much of your money as possible.

TRUTH #3  Most managers ascended to their positions only after they’ve proven their worth as salesmen or finance managers, or both.  In other words, only after they’ve become experts at taking you money.

TRUTH #4  The procedure you go through while buying a used car is not haphazard or aimless.  In fact, there are written scripts that outline exactly what a salesman should do in any situation.

TRUTH #5  From the moment you walk on the lot, the salesman is acting a part.  He follows a definitive sales procedure.  There is nothing random about the process.

TRUTH #6  Customers who tell a salesman that they have fallen in love with a particular used car, or who divulge financial information, always pay too much.

TRUTH #7  If a manager or salesmen laughs and joke with you, chances are you’re paying too much for the car.

TRUTH #8  The dealership wants you to finance your purchase through their finance department because, when you do, they make a lot of money.

TRUTH #9  Given the choice between making a profit and not selling a car, when the chips are down, the manager will give up the profit and move the car from his inventory 80-90% of the time.

TRUTH #10  And finally, if you believe you have a “friend” in the used-car business that will sell you a used car without making a profit, you’re dreaming.

Right now, you can buy Car Salesman Tells All! at a discount of 77%

The 10 Essential Truths about the Used-Car Business can make the process of buying a used car demoralizing.  What should be a fun time can become an ordeal rife with indecision and suspicion.

And the system, set up specifically to get as much of your money as possible, will never change.  The only thing left to you, the consumer, who is being asked to make a significant financial investment, is to learn how to function within the system as it stands.

And that’s not an easy thing to do.  These guys sell cars all day, every day.  You buy a used car what, every four or five years?  No wonder you’re at their mercy.  (Until now, that is.)

It’s rather like dropping from a cloud and landing smack dab in the middle of a foreign city.  You don’t know a soul, you don’t know the language, you don’t know what the rules are, and you can’t figure out how to get from Point A to Point B.

Suppose you had a map, though?  Suppose someone told you exactly what the rules were, what people were saying, what to be careful of, when to speak and when not to speak, and how to navigate?  Do you think you’d be better off?  Of course you would.

To illustrate this point, how many people do you know who thought they got a great deal when they bought a used car but something, a nagging feeling inside, told them they fell victim to an old-fashioned sales pitch?

As I’ve suggested in Car Salesman Tells All, these same people left the dealership feeling torn between two emotions.

On one hand they believed they got a good deal while, on the other, they felt as if they might have been bamboozled.  They’re just not sure how.

They saw the numbers… they made sense… the payment was OK… the amount they got for their trade-in was acceptable… they like the car they bought… but there’s something bugging them.

In their heart-of-hearts, while they seemed to get along with the salesman, well, he seemed almost too nice.

He seemed too accommodating, too willing to agree with them and accept their offer.  It seemed too easy.  And now they feel uneasy.

Think about the used-car salesmen you’ve met in your life.  Think about the one’s you’ve heard about from your friends.  Now think about how used-car salesmen are thought of, generally.

Let me guess… with few exceptions, the one’s you’ve met, and the one’s who your friends have dealt with, are all good guys, right?

What does that tell you?

Let’s examine this more closely… if every used-car salesman you and your friends have ever met is such a good guy, and if every one of the 10 Truths About the Used-Car Business are true, well, how did they all get such a bad reputation?  Ever think of that?

And do you want to know why this is so?

Because no one and I mean no one, wants to think that someone “sold” them anything.  We all take pride in our sales resistance, don’t we?

For example, have you ever met anyone, in you entire life, who admits that he walked into a dealership, ran into a hot-as-a-pistol used-car salesman, got lead around by the nose, and wound up buying a used car, within an hour, and for too much money?

Of course not!!!

But how many people have you known who claim to have taken the dealer over the coals?  “Boy, did I abuse that salesman.  He tried to pressure me but I showed him.”

And of course, the poor salesman, who claims he didn’t make a dime on the sale, laughs all the way to the bank.

It’s no wonder then that the notion of going to a dealership to do battle with a salesman is usually enough to make the average customer apprehensive.

Some customers, to their everlasting detriment and at their expense, reach a point where they just give up, concede their fate, and follow the salesman around like a little puppy dog which, of course, means they pay too much money for the car they buy.

It is sad… and so unnecessary!

Well, you won’t need to be fearful or apprehensive any longer… you don’t have to give up, concede your fate, and you certainly won’t have to give your hard-earned money to a used-car salesman.  Not ever!

My book, Car Salesman Tells All will tell you everything you need to know about how to out negotiate the salesman and beat him at his own game.

So let’s begin your education………….