When I bought my last car, I actually had it both ways: slimy car salesman and nice guy who made it all go smoothly.
After looking around, I was ultimately interested in 2 different cars from different dealers. For car one, the salesman kept hedging of a price. The price that I knew I could get according to my research wasn't even close to the price he quoted. He was actually quite pleasant to deal with, but I just had a feeling that the dealership wanted to keep prices high.
At a different dealer for the same car, the salesman wouldn't even give me a price for the car until they saw my trade-in. I walked out of that place immediately.
For the car that I ultimately bought, I walked into the sales office with my wife and two kids. He immediately setup a test drive (including our car seats). When we got back, we quickly went through the options we'd need and the price of the car. It was all very transparent, and with the manufacturer incentives (end of the model year) it was a pretty reasonable price (well below invoice), and I was very happy with it. I actually liked the first car better, but was very happy with the one I ended up with.
Because of how that guy treated us, I'd go back to him to by multiple cars in the future. So really, it goes back to the balance between maximizing short-term profits over long term profits. The sleazier the dealerships will try to maximize short term sales at the expense of long term sales. The better ones try to build customer relationships so that they aren't just selling you one car. They are trying to also sell you your next car.
After looking around, I was ultimately interested in 2 different cars from different dealers. For car one, the salesman kept hedging of a price. The price that I knew I could get according to my research wasn't even close to the price he quoted. He was actually quite pleasant to deal with, but I just had a feeling that the dealership wanted to keep prices high.
At a different dealer for the same car, the salesman wouldn't even give me a price for the car until they saw my trade-in. I walked out of that place immediately.
For the car that I ultimately bought, I walked into the sales office with my wife and two kids. He immediately setup a test drive (including our car seats). When we got back, we quickly went through the options we'd need and the price of the car. It was all very transparent, and with the manufacturer incentives (end of the model year) it was a pretty reasonable price (well below invoice), and I was very happy with it. I actually liked the first car better, but was very happy with the one I ended up with.
Because of how that guy treated us, I'd go back to him to by multiple cars in the future. So really, it goes back to the balance between maximizing short-term profits over long term profits. The sleazier the dealerships will try to maximize short term sales at the expense of long term sales. The better ones try to build customer relationships so that they aren't just selling you one car. They are trying to also sell you your next car.