My advice is not only to women, but to anyone thinking about purchasing a car on their own.

If you don’t know anything about cars, then you should not go alone to purchase one. Period. Why? Because you are not educated enough to make the right decision. Even my own husband doesn’t like going to the dealership alone, and he knows a lot about cars. When you are under pressure, you tend to only hear half of what the salesperson is telling you. It’s kind of like when you go to the doctor’s office and leave not remembering most of what they’ve just told you. It is all very frustrating and very confusing for most of us.

Car salespersons use high pressure techniques in order to get you to buy their cars. They don’t want you leaving their lot until you’ve signed on the dotted line. They will tell you the deal will not be there tomorrow, they’ve already had several offers, and that you will be paying a rock bottom price. Lies, lies, lies. They will hold you there as long as they can, and say whatever they can to make sure you don‘t leave until they have your money. After you have been there for more than 2 hours looking, test driving cars and listening to their doubletalk, you just want to close the deal and get the heck out of there.

But, if you absolutely have no one to go with you and you must go it alone, please take the time to do a little research to avoid getting ripped off, and to avoid having that vacant look on your face when the salesperson is speaking to you. Is there anything you can do to take some of the fear and frustration out of shopping for a new car?

Yes! If time is on your side, start asking questions. Ask your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers or your car maintenance mechanic for recommendations. Write down all of their recommendations on a sheet of paper. Make 2 columns and write down the Positive and the Negative comments you received about each dealership. Ask if they remember the name of the salesman who sold them their car. Now you should have an idea as to where you might want to start looking.

Don’t go running to the dealership yet! Next, think about what kind of car you want and what types of upgrades you might consider. New or used? Sedan or coupe? Sunroof, cd player with sub-woofers and the works, cloth or leather seats, heated seats, fog lights, GPS capabilities…etc. Think about everything you want your next car to come equipped with and write it down. So many people shop for a car without having any idea of what they are looking for. Only later to be disappointed that they didn’t stop and think about what they really wanted.

Look through the newspapers so your mind and body have a chance to absorb the sticker shock of today’s new and used car prices. Ouch! Look through your small hometown newspaper as well. Now you have an idea of what you will pay for your next car. Maybe by now you have decided what car style you want.

Go online and look up the car’s fuel consumption/efficiency, crash test ratings, or current recalls. Can you afford to gas it up? Can you afford the regular maintenance and repairs for that particular model? If it’s a used car, what is the mileage? What repairs are recorded in the maintenance log? Do your homework and gather as much information as possible. Some of the information you gather could possibly be used to negotiate down the price of the car.

Now you can go to the dealership and take a look around. Go on a day that you have lots of time to spend looking. Let the salesman know you arrived at their dealership on a recommendation from a friend. A referral is the highest compliment you can pay to a salesperson. If he is successful in selling you a car then you will also recommend him, and so on. Tell him what kind of car you are interested in and let him show you around. Let him know that today is your first day looking at cars and that you are “just looking“.

If the salesperson asks you how much you are looking to spend, don’t tell him. That is the oldest trick in the book, but still widely used in sales. If you tell him you are looking to spend $19,000.00, he will make sure he sells you something slightly higher than that. Or he won’t let you spend a penny less than $19,000. You can say you haven’t yet had a chance to compare prices. Or, this was your first stop and you don’t know yet how much you want to spend because you don’t know what kind of car you want. You might have an idea of what you want, but you don’t really know what you want yet.

Test drive several cars to get a feel for it. Write down what you liked about each car, and what you didn’t like. What will upgrades cost? What can you live without? Write everything down so you can later compare amenities and prices with other dealerships.

Now after spending so much time talking, looking and test driving, your salesperson is ready to put the pressure on you to buy the car today. Right now. Remember your intention when you first arrived? You were “just looking“. Stand strong! How can you possibly feel confident enough to make a purchase when you have nothing to compare it to? When you bought a house did you only look at one and decide to buy it? No! Of course not! Buying a car is a long term investment and you need to take this purchase as seriously as you did when you purchased your home.

Thank the salesman for his time and let him know you have written down his quote and that you have an idea of what you are looking for. Let him know you need some time to digest all of this and that you aren’t quite ready to make a decision. Now he will probably use a few more high pressure techniques like: You won’t get a better deal anywhere else. This sale won’t last long. I’ve already had a few people look at it….blah, blah, blah. He knows you are going to look around at other dealerships. He doesn’t want you to educate yourself and find out you can get the same car for $1,500.00 less down the road at his competition’s lot. Thank him for his time and leave.

Don’t burn yourself out by spending the entire day looking at cars. You could probably visit one more today. But wait until next weekend before visiting your third dealership. (In the meantime, it might be wise for you to call your car insurance company for a quote. You want to make sure your new car isn’t going to cost you megabucks to insure it!)

Did I say third dealership? Do you actually have to do this three times? Yes, I did. And yes, you do. I am a firm believer in getting at least three quotes for any major purchases. Remember, you are educating yourself and learning to comparison shop. After getting your third quote you should have enough information to decide where you want to buy your next car. Take the lowest priced bid back to the other two dealerships and see if they can give you a better price.

You can generally do this over the phone. “Hello, John Wheeler Dealer? This is Mrs. Divauto. You showed me a car last weekend but I seemed to have found the same car for $1,500.00 less at Dave’s Cut Throat Auto Sales. You were highly recommended by a friend of mine so I would much rather do business with you if you think you can beat their price.

Now the ball is in your court, which is where you want it to be. Always ask if they can beat their competitor’s price. Sometimes they will offer you free lifetime tire rotations, oil changes, car washes or some other services as a means of getting your business. It might be worth it for you to accept their free services instead of paying a little less for the car. Don’t forget to use your other negotiation tools. Remember all of those notes you took? Let them know if the other car already includes amenities at no extra cost. Use whatever information you have to negotiate down. Then make your decision.

Read your contract carefully and make sure you get all of the services they promised you in writing. Do not sign the contract until everything is there. I hope you now feel more confident purchasing your next vehicle!