Book Review and Giveaway: Inside the Minds of Car Dealers

Recently my son purchased a car off of craigs list. He was fairly lucky and found an awesome car at an awesome price. My daughter on the other hand has had her ups and downs with cars and salesmen and trying to find a great deal. When I was contacted about reviewing the book Inside the Minds of Car Dealers: How to Buy Your Next Car without Fear Ray Lopez is a 30+ year veteran car salesman turned consumer advocate and author of Inside the Minds of Car Dealers: How to Buy Your Next Car without Fear. In 2011, Ray Lopez launched a consumer awareness campaign to teach savings tactics, and confident car buying practices for the new economy. He shares his knowledge on an open, real-time Q&A consumer forum via a blog and Facebook community page to further help consumers overcome the car buying hurdles they face today. Please visit www.raythesalesguy.com for more information

I was lucky enough to have a few questions answered by Ray in this post I will share with you the information that I received.

When “Ray the Sales Guy” (Ray Lopez) was asked how he thoughts “Online Dating and Car Buying – Beware Before You Test Drive!”

Many individuals shy away from buying a car online and the reason being that they are not sure what the car will be like. The truth is that it may be a bit better to shop for a car online than to see it in person. Just like some individuals prefer to date on line so that they can get to know the person they are thinking about dating shopping for a car online offers the buyer an opportunity to look over all the potential car models as well as dates on their own time frame in their own private place. There is no salesman pressure to go for a test drive (a trial date of sorts ) Shopping online never places the buyer in an uncomfortable to check out the standard equipment of the vehicle (the persons's bio) and options (hobbies and interests) The online shopper is allowed to shop safely in a secure place without pressure for a commitment to buy (go on a date) One important thing for the online shopper to remember is to never fill out a credit app online! That supplies too much personal information that could get into the wrong hands A credit form should only be filled out at the dealers when you are sure you want to buy the car.

Ray also shared why he recommends shopping online for cars and researching information on the Internet before buying a car in person?


There is no high pressure salesman in your face when you shop online. You have the luxury of spending as much time as you want, uninterrupted, to research many different brands and models at once. And the added bonus of this, of course, is it saves a lot of your time ... and gas. Two things that are important to us as a family saving time and money that we spend on gas. (my opinion)

Ray cautions that shopping online can lead to a false sense of security. The reason is that to get the best deal of any transaction it takes real negotiating and maintaining control. Shopping online should only be the first part of the event it allows the buyer to research the car online but leaves the knowledge of car price, dealer cost and dealer mark-up information out. The knowledge the buyer thinks they have of the actual price of the car becomes a tool for the salesman rather than the buyer. The mistake of thinking that you know how much the vehicle is before you shop in real life is something that could end up costing the buyer hundreds or possibly even thousands of dollars more than they would have paid.

We asked Ray where the best places to search for the best information are. He suggested the manufacturers' websites will share model information on the vehicles you're interested in. It should also share a list of dealers in 100 miles of you. The website edmunds.com is a great place to find incentive information available. Your local Sunday newspaper is also a great source of information The dealership ads are not the best source to look at though but check out the classified section and look for want ads car salesman wanted These ads offer key words and phrases to look for  If the dealer you located a car at has an ad with those red flags in it, cross it off your list immediately! That is a dealer that applies heavy, unrelenting pressure to everyone who walks onto their lot. Never buy from a dealer that still thinks it's 1950 and every customer is a sucker.

As a final note Ray offered a few tips before hitting the virtual or real world car lots (1) if you have your heart and mind set on a certain car then it is not the correct time for you to be shopping. Just like we have been told not to go shopping when we are hungry the worst time to shop for a car is when we are set on a certain style and model of a car. Our emotions are running high and salesman can smell this like a shark smells blood. NO car is an absolute must-have. No matter how awesome you think it is. Be patient and wait until you can shop with a clear head. It will save you a lot.


Now here's some good news for you my readers here at Annies Home. One of you will be able to get the same book that I received that shares many great tips that you may need, know someone who may need or can help you build up the knowledge to share when needed.
To enter this giveaway share with me a time that you could use knowledge you will find in this book

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Giveaway starts now and ends May 6, 2011 Open to U.S. entries only sorry Good Luck Email must be in comment or on blog profile or entries will not count

Thank you to Ray for allowing us to review the very useful book and sponsoring this giveaway