Confessions of a Car Salesman

So, I've always been intimidated by the process of buying a car. Ever since I was a youngun, I always went with my father to the dealership and watched while he haggled and finally purchased the new family car. I'd see him get into arguments with the salesman and finally the finance manager. Fast forward to today, I've been in the market for a used van now for about two weeks, done my research and for the last week have been visiting and negotiating with salesmen.

The experience hasn't changed in 20 plus years.

The salesmen and finance managers are just as sleazy, sneaky and deceptive. They use the same old tricks they always have and really just make the experience a huge pain in the hindquarters, rump, and fundament.

I've always been puzzled as to why the car market has the negative stigma attached to it and what is it about salesmen and car dealerships that cause them to sell cars the way they do. So, in doing my research and preparing myself mentally for the experience (and you really have to, it's that emotionally draining for me) I found this great article on edmunds.com. If any of you are familiar with edmunds.com, it's a killer car buying resource that's become very popular the last several years. Anyway, this article is about a writer who works for edmunds.com who was assigned to go undercover and was hired as a salesman for 2 major car dealerships to learn the tricks of the trade and why the car buying experience is such a hassle.

Kind of a long read, however, very enlightening.

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