[fabsroman]

LW,

The problem with car buying is the haggling. I would probably be okay with it if a dealer just gave me the lowest price they were willing to sell the car for and allowed me to shop around. Honestly, I have no idea why buying a car is any different than buying a gallon of milk. Sure, I shop around to see where the gallon of milk is cheapest and buy it from there, but I don't try to haggle with anybody over the price. The haggling and mind games is what really bugs me.

The games with the payment amount is something that really bothers me. Extend a payment plan out to 6 or 7 years, and I am sure that a lot of cars will be affordable to a lot of people at sticker; however, they are getting the shaft. I had one client trade in her 2 year old Lexus RX330 on a new Lexus RX330 because she wanted tan instead of gray and she wanted GPS in it, and it didn't cost her anything more (her perception, not mine). All she had to do was trade in her old Lexus and give the dealership $12,000, and her monthly payment remained the same for another 6 years instead of the remaining 4 years she had on her old Lexus. I just couldn't beleive that she was telling me she wasn't paying anything more for this new Lexus. Not related to this topic, but this same client hasn't saved a dime for retirement yet and she is 37. Utterly unbelievable.