Hey all, yes I procrastinate.
I have to do a term paper on “Negotiation” for a management course and i’m looking for some inspirational matter on how I can apply it to car buying / selling, scams, etc.
Here are the specific guidelines for the topic in itself:
a. What makes a world-class negotiator?
b. When do you walk away?
c. When do you stay and talk?
d. How to get your money’s worth?
e. Plus other relevant factors related to negotiating
f. How does negotiating apply to your career?
My plan is to burn up a solid 7 pages just talking about cars.
Links to articles and other reference material helps (leave your full name or just make one up if you want your comments on the work cited page).
(a) What makes a world class negotiator? One who does NOT PROCRASTINATE, does his home work and deals from strength.
(b) You walk away when whoever is making an offer that does not meet your aims; I just hung up on a travel promoter who offered me 6 free days in Cancun, but would not cover the air fare to get there. In many cultures you always walk away; when you get called back the seller plans to meet you at least halfway.
©You stay and talk if the seller appears to be or become more flexible. If he HAS to sell but is playing tough, continue. Again, do your homework, ask the seller WHY he is selling . You will likely get lies, but you will be able to read between the lines.
(d) You get your money’s worth by KNOWING THE MARKET! And then by getting to know the product (car) and the condition it is in, reflecting what it is really worth. Again procrastination will get you a lousy deal.
(e)Know the seller; do background checks on him/her, if possible. Getting invited into their house will reveal many things to you.
(f) Negotiating is a part of daily life and applies to nearly all phases of your career from getting to attend a course, getting a better computer, anything.
From all the questions you ask I have to asume you are not Jewish; those kids grow up with the ability to negotiate just about everything.
IN ALL CASES, GOOD NEGOTIATORS DO THEIR HOMEWORK AND DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!!!
P.S. If the deal sounds too good to be true, it almost always is. Unless the seller does not know wat he/she is selling is really worth. I once bought a nearly new golf bag with 14 clubs! for $25 at a garage sale. The lady selling it was clearing out her big house and garage before moving into a condo.
Use this sites “search” feature and see if you can pull up some of the many posts with tips on car purchasing and negotiation.
BIG LOL on your post Docnick. There is nothing for me to add. If the OP had a professor such as you, there would not have been a need for him to post at all. ha ha ha 
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To Jeffmw05:
May as well throw yourself on the mercy of the university court. It’s your only hope at this late stage in the game, OR tell your prof. that your dog ate it <----Not so good as the "mercy game"
Any 10 page term paper that you could possibly assemble in less than 24 hours will look exactly like “a 10 page term paper that was assembled in less than 24 hours”.
I don’t think 24 hrs is even cutting it that close. BIG THANKS to doc, that’s a good start for me.
I had an old poli sci professor who thought the whole used car process was just about the most interesting thing in the world because of the competing modern and traditional conventions involved.
You have on the one hand, a semblance of a quantifiable value in the various blue books-- if these were accurate and people used them, the whole process of used car buying could be a simple transaction.
However, for one, used cars have many unquantifiable qualities (“desirability”, etc.) and others which are simply not knowable (reliability, how well maintained, etc.), and so these guides will never be accurate enough. Personally, I decide worth based on sort of a weighted average in my head of private party sale prices, discarding the higher and lower figures. I feel this has yielded good ballpark figures for what a car will actually sell for (much better than any of the books!).
What complicates things enormously is the traditional institution of haggling, which is as old as commerce itself. Basically, in olden times before modern economic methods of determining “worth”, the back and forth of haggling was an absolute necessity to make sure neither party felt cheated. (Not that you need any distractions at this point, but see for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n3LL338aGA )
So while I feel the practice of listing a used car thousands of dollars over any likely sale price has something to do with optimists hoping some sucker will come along, I really think that a lot of people still believe (consciously or not) in the old haggling game. I can’t count how many times friends of mine who got so-so deals on a used car are excited because they talked them down from their astronomical asking price or that they threw something in for free.
Personally, I have no patience for this game. When I buy a car, I get a ballpark figure for what they’re actually going for, and I will only look at cars that are priced around that ballpark. Maybe I’m missing out on some good cars, but there’s a lot of cars out there-- in this country anyways used cars have always been a buyer’s market, since the buyer can always walk away, but the seller has to sell what he has. When I sell I price it at what I would buy it for and my used car transaction have been quick and pleasant-- ironically it seems like having a higher asking price brings more low-balling tire-kickers.
At any rate, good luck with your paper (10 pages isn’t that much double spaced!). I was also going to mention that though maybe some others will post links more useful than mine that you could use, there’s really not a good way to cite a web forum or just some schmo from the internet in a serious paper.
Greasy Jack; you seem to have developed a good recipe for cutting through the “grease”.
I too determine what a certain vehicle should sell for, using wholesale perices and adjusting for condition. Armed with photocopies of these I talk to the seller after inspecting the car to see if it is even worth considering.
I once visited a lady in an expensive part of town who had a 4 year old compact car for sale. The car sat unwashed in the driveaway of the nice house which she had managed to turn into a pigsty. Pity the poor neghbors! I excused myself saying this was not really the car I was looking for and left.
Our advice to the Indian student in Houston was to look for a low mileage car usually owned by a senior and determine if it was well maintained. Then make a wholesale offer.
A good poker player can instinctively do well several of the items that you posted.
A good negotiator knows how to be likable to minimize reluctance to cave in to his/her demands. When we buy a new car I like to deal with a likable person. He/she will still try to take all of your money but at least the bargaining process is more pleasant.
Walk away if you think that you can do better elsewhere or have bargained for a while and are not sure that the price is right. Walk away if you don’t like the salesperson. I like to stay with a salesperson rather than have it always in mind that I can just get up and walk away or my attitude will corrupt my thinking.
To get your money’s worth, along with other research shop at least two dealers to know what is reasonable to pay.
Buy from a large volume dealer. They did not get that way from turning down sales.
Negotiating takes time, give it some patience.
A salesperson can separate the nose pickers from the serious buyers very quickly so be serious about buying until you either do it or walk.
Go shopping around and practice negotiating. You will not improve your skills with one car buy.
Allow the dealer to make some money so they can be there for warranty work and for when you need another car.
Negotiating did not apply much to my career as where I worked, we dealt in scientific facts, established documented rules and documented work assignments that left little open to interpretation and therefore negotiation.
There is a thread on this site called “Secret Tricks of Car Salesmen” but it is difficult to find with the search engine. Here is one on new car buy negotiating. http://community.cartalk.com/posts/list/2126356.page