You might be able to hammer a salesman into practically giving a car away, price-wise, but he’s never going to want to deal with you again. A fair deal that represents the salesman receiving what the item and his time is worth, without gouging the buyer, is much more conducive to a future business relationship.

Imagine a haggling scenario where you and the salesman reach a mutually beneficial price (neither one forcing the other to “lose”). Next time you’re in the market for a vehicle, you go to him, and he knows you’re not only looking out for yourself…you’re able to get similar deals with much less effort.

For example, when I bought my first car, I was desperate. The truck I had been driving had totally died on me, and was going to cost upwards of $3000 to repair. Instead of throwing more money into the trash on the ancient truck, I decided $3k would be better spent as a down payment on a car. I was off from work this particular day, but I had to work the next day, and I couldn’t find a ride, so it was crucial that I find a vehicle in one day. I managed to find a ride to the dealership, but my friend had to leave for work immediately, so I was stranded: I either had to buy a car or walk home in the cold. The salesperson picked up on this, and combined with my inexperience at haggling, I got an awful price on my car, with a mediocre interest rate.

The salesman was surely excited that he suckered me into such a ‘deal,’ but now that I’m more informed, I will never give him my business again.

I just wanted to say thank you for this article. I am getting married in June next year and searched the net for a few articles on haggling as I knew I was going to be doing a lot of it. I came across this one and it has helped a lot.

My recent success was our jeweller. He does not own a shop and came to our house for us to see the styles etc. We are getting custom made rings. Anyway his overheads are really low so unfortunately despite my best efforts he was not able to budge on the price, but then he mentioned that he would plate my wife to be’s engagement ring for free when we ordered the rings. I then asked him how much this normally costs which he told me. I then said since he could not give us a discount could he offer us 1 free plaing in the future, which he agreed on.

It just shows haggling is not all about getting money off, a lot of people can’t budge on price, so why not see what extra’s they can throw in instead!

I have learned it is better to walk away from a deal if I am not getting what I had in mind as that way I feel like I wont regret it after. It is entirely my fault no getting the intended price as I was doing it wrong and possibly not in the right frame of mind to be negotiating.
It is certainly a learning process and one that can be practiced but this post has and will help immensely and I am very much looking forward to buying something to haggle over. All I need now is money!!

Cheers

The other day, a service man trimming trees for my neighbor popped by and offered to do my trees for 50% off since he was in the neighborhood. Wow, great deal, right? I decided that I might as well get a quote from him at least. He offered me a price that made my eyes bug out. He countered with “well, how much you looking to spend?” and I vaguely responded “a few hundred.” He knocked down the price considerably, and I said I’d call him if I made up my mind. He noted “Well, don’t tell your neighbor the price I’m offering because he’s paying $1,500 for what I’m doing in his yard.”

After the trimmer left, I checked with my neighbor. He paid $1,000 to the serviceman. I guess that guy figures neighbors don’t talk to each other these days?

The point is, always be aware when you’re walking into a situation unarmed. It doesn’t matter if you’re getting a schnoozlelipznut for $200, which is 60% off the list price, if you know nothing about schnoozlelipznuts or what they’re worth.

About 5 years ago I was in the market for a used car and spent a lot of time at local dealerships meeting the salesmen and getting prices.

One in particular stood out – I saw the car I liked, but I maintained my walk-away power and indifference to his pitches (Car features, pricing, warranties, etc).

At the end, I thanked the salesman, gave him my phone number and left – next door the local restaurant where I sat for 30 minutes until he called. “I can take $500 off the price.” I thanked him and hung up. This happened three more times until he had shaved off over $2,000 from the original price.