If you are trading in a car, it adds quite a bit to the complexity. It adds another level of where they can move numbers around to make it look like you're getting a better deal than you are. It goes from being just about the cost of the car and APR, to also including the amount you are getting for your trade-in. It's very easy for them to lower some portions of the equation while making up for it in other places, and they are well versed in how to do this as they do it every day.
Recently I've had both an extremely bad and an okay experience at car dealerships. In one case, the salesman was so pushy as to repeatedly argue with my as to my decision to not buy a car that day, even when I was up front in my first contact with him saying I was looking that day, not buying, and would be back in a day or two after I'd done my own research on what they presented to me. I left not just angry, but infuriated. A few weeks later I bought a different make of car at a different dealership, and the experience was fairly smooth. Even so, there's a lingering feeling that I may not have paid enough attention and they may have changed the deal slightly on one portion of the deal while I was busy focusing on another part. I have so little trust of that industry at this point that I find it nearly impossible to trust any good experience.
I understand that there shouldn't be an expectation that I will automatically get the best deal just by showing up, but there's so much purposeful obfuscation and complexity in the process that it's hard not to walk away confused and angry (even if it takes a while to settle in).
Recently I've had both an extremely bad and an okay experience at car dealerships. In one case, the salesman was so pushy as to repeatedly argue with my as to my decision to not buy a car that day, even when I was up front in my first contact with him saying I was looking that day, not buying, and would be back in a day or two after I'd done my own research on what they presented to me. I left not just angry, but infuriated. A few weeks later I bought a different make of car at a different dealership, and the experience was fairly smooth. Even so, there's a lingering feeling that I may not have paid enough attention and they may have changed the deal slightly on one portion of the deal while I was busy focusing on another part. I have so little trust of that industry at this point that I find it nearly impossible to trust any good experience.
I understand that there shouldn't be an expectation that I will automatically get the best deal just by showing up, but there's so much purposeful obfuscation and complexity in the process that it's hard not to walk away confused and angry (even if it takes a while to settle in).