Good tips there Joel and I agree 100%, especially about the salesman thing, a good salesman isn't trying to SELL you a car, instead they are trying to help you purchase a car. I'd also add the following:
When buying a new car ALWAYS find out what the dealer paid for the car. Go to www.edmunds.com and look up invoice pricing (plus delivery charges). Once you have that price go into the dealership and make your first offer about $1,000 below dealer cost. You probably won't get it for that price, but at the same time you never know, especially if it is a $25,000+ vehicle. I won't give away all the secrets of the industry, but let's just say they aren't necessarily losing money @ $1000 below cost on most $25,000 vehicles and depending on how close they are to hitting their goals they may even take a loss on a new car just to move the units. Personally, I'd never pay over invoice for a new car.
For used cars, be smart... ask how long a car has been on the lot, find out what kbb.com and nada.com say the car is worth and what the average trade-in price is on the vehicle. If the car has been on the lot less than 30 days there is a chance that there won't be much room for movement on price (there is always SOME movement at this point, but it varies depending on a number of factors), as it approaches/exceeds 30 days the incentive is there to move that vehicle. In that case you may be able to pick it up at around $700 above average trade in value.
