After the test drive, how do I start the negotiations?

I have relatives in the dealer ownership business...twelve and counting, and they will not take you seriously or give you a bottom line price just for the asking. You need to have check in hand, ready to buy now to get the best deal.

That certainly hasn’t been my experience. When I bought my highlander I had every intention of shopping 2-3 dealers. First dealer I went to…I told him I’m just looking right now. After I test drove it…the salesman said let me get my manager. Now I had already done my due diligence and knew what the vehicle cost them and what a fair market price would be. The manager gave me a price that was about $200 more then I wanted to pay. I said - Take another $800 off and you have a deal…They took another $500 off and gave me the winter floor mats. I took the deal. Based on what I know other paid for the HL…I got a pretty good deal.

They really don’t want you to leave without a new car, but we found it very helpful last time to tell them we were checking out other models. It took some of the heat off. We handled the actual negotiations by e-mail after visiting several dealers.

Often one of the first questions they ask is what other cars you’re considering. I don’t like giving sales people more info than they need, so won’t tell them my thoughts on their competitors, but I will tell them I’m checking out other cars and what class of car I’ve been looking at. Telling them I’m looking at compact hatchback economy cars shows I have a good idea what I want, so don’t waste my time trying to sell me a luxury SUV. We made it clear when we were conducting our e-mail negotiations that we were also talking with a dealer about another car. I suspect that hurried things along.

Best not to test drive and buy on same day. To easy to catch the new car fever. Test drive decide what youl
need and negotiate deal another time.

Apparently the OP does not need anymore advice as in his thread ( Sales gone bad ) he has proven he knows how to walk and is willing to stick to his guns.

Read Mark McDonald’s “Car Salesman Confidential” series of articles on Motor Trend’s website. Very informative and entertaining.