Avoid Negotiating With Car Salesman By Purchasing Aftermarket Dash Kits And Accessories

I recently bought a 2006 Honda Accord LX and I love it. It’s a great car; 244 hp, 26.1 mpg, climate control. The Accord is a lot of car for the money. I consider myself a car guy and I hated car shopping. I thought the process would be fun; test driving cars, searching for accessories, finding the perfect car. It was hell. I detested dealing with deceitful salesmen. It’s like they force you to play their game; bargaining back and forth until one of you gives in. Also, the closest Honda dealership to me was horrible. I ended up having to drive an extra 45 minutes to visit another dealership. The first salesman tried to rip me off by inflating the prices of accessories, so I refused to give them my business.

When I went to the first dealership and I should have known right away that it wasn’t a kosher operation. As I walked into the building, I overheard a girl and her mother arguing with a salesman about the car they recently purchased. I don’t know exactly what happened, but from what I heard, the girl bought a certified pre-owned Civic and when she tried to insure it, the insurance company told her that the car had been in an accident; a fact that the dealership failed to mention. Before I could catch the rest of the conversation, a salesman approached me and directed me to his desk, conveniently located across the showroom. As we sat down, he started bombarding me with questions and before I know it, I was sitting in an Accord, cruising down the highway. It drove great, better than the Toyota Camry and Nissan Sentra. His tactic worked. He got me in the car and I fell in love with it. I knew I wanted it, so I should just buy it, right? Wrong. He wouldn’t tell me how much the car was. First we had to talk about different models, what options I wanted, and which colors they could get. After I expressed my heart’s desires, he went to “talk” to his manager. What? Why wasn’t I just dealing with the manager then? Anyway, he first came back with a ridiculously high price. “I’m sorry, that’s way out of my price range,” I said and started to get up to leave, but he wouldn’t let me. He kept asking me how much I wanted to spend. But when I told him, he would say, “Let me see what I can do,” and never matched what I wanted to spend. It turned out that every option I wanted would be cleverly embedded into a few extra dollars in my monthly payment, which would then turn into hundreds of dollars over time. I eventually got fed up with their sale’s approach, stood up and left; with them chasing after me. The following weekend I went to another dealership and found a much better experience. They asked if I wanted help, but left me alone when I told them I just wanted to walk around. They then sat down and showed me my options and the exact breakdown of every option I wanted. They were honest and that is why they got my business.


I guess honesty is the best policy. Be careful when dealerships try to add in extra charges for accessories like Dash kits. You can always just buy Dash covers or other accessories after you purchase the car—and usually at a better price. This way you can avoid getting ripped off from creative pricing schemes.- Tim Saunier