I was reading through the horror stories of buyers on your site and thought it necessary to throw my 2 cents in. It is so true! I have been to many car dealers, and have only found one who was actually good. Salespeople are so shady.

I originally lived in Colorado, but have since moved to the Los Angeles area. I must say, I had never dealt with a total pit of snakes when I was in Colorado, but when I moved to LA that changed, they are vicious.

They tried EVERYTHING on me. Promises of higher trade values (yeah right), the old "buy-it-today" method, the "take the car with you and come back later," I was twice invited to going to dinner with the sales manager and my sales person (I guess that would fall under the "I want to be your friend" category), and my favorite...at a well known Ford Dealer I was told, after almost ever tactic had failed to make the sale, that there were actually multiple people looking at my car (It was an old Ford Escort that looked like it had been driven off a cliff) and that they may be able to get more for my trade if I were to leave it with them. Now, why would anybody be looking at my crummy car, especially since it was parked on the street away from the sales lot.

I left shortly after that. To take a step back, I knew well in advance what my crummy car would bring in, and how much the vehicle that I wanted (A 2003 Ford Ranger) would be BEFORE I went in. My answer to those dealerships (especially the FORD dealer off the 405 in LA) was to bring my own tactics to counter them. Many of which you have published (They are important to know).

What has worked for me, alongside everything that you have published on your site, includes: visiting various dealerships and having them work against each other, instead of all of them against me to bring a good deal, maintaining control of the deal (staying cool), leaving the second that "something changes" in the deal, intimidation, etc..., getting promises in writing, obtain YOUR OWN financing.

When I purchased my second vehicle, I had very little credit history. The salesperson told me that since I have not built up much credit history, that my interest rate would be 21.99%. I was young and naive (and really wanted the car), so I said alright. Later that week...I was looking over the paperwork. I had seen it before when I signed it, but at the time, I was not going to let it get to me, was how much the interest totaled for the length of the loan was. By the time I had re-read the paperwork, that euphoric feeling had passed. Over $10,000 was how much the amount financed would cost me in interest.

Buyers Remorse to the max at that point. So, after I got done freaking out about what I had done, I checked out RoadLoans (I highly recommend that site). I received a rate of 4.85%. Now that $10,000 shrunk to less than $2,000.

It is sad to know that hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people have been screwed over because they were not prepared before entering the dealership. I applaud your site for offering so much useful advice to prepare consumers on their quest for a vehicle.

S.T.