The article didn't really offer any good advice, so I'll add my own suggestion: ask for the "out the door price, including tax/title/license."
This entirely defeats the four-square method, particularly if you are not using seller's financing.
This entirely defeats the four-square method, particularly if you are not using seller's financing.
Also, do not use financing. Buy a car you can afford in cash.
1) GET YOUR FINANCING THROUGH THE CREDIT UNION BEFORE YOU EVEN STEP ON THE LOT.
2) DON’T HAGGLE OVER ANYTHING BUT THE PRICE.
When you go through the dealer for financing, they get a portion of the interest that the bank takes out (finance commission). That lets them take the price of the car below what they paid for it, because they can still make a profit on the financing and trade-in.
Apart from that, there are sometimes pretty big rebates and rate incentives that OEMs offer when you take their financing.
I built a system that estimates what monthly payments a dealer can offer a customer based on what incentives they might qualify for. It's pretty common to see a difference of several hundred dollars a month between the best combinations and the worst ones (even with the same term).