High Pressure Sales

I “helped” a friend buy a car recently, and I was really impressed with how well they handled the whole process. I don’t do well in that setting in part because I have a hard time believing the stereotypes about car salesmen. So I found this investigative report on selling cars at Edmunds really interesting. They sent a writer in to work at two different car lots, one high-pressure and one of the “no haggle” style. The difference is shocking, even if things aren’t as low-pressure as they pretend at the no haggle places. Don’t miss the sidebar photos either – they’re a fun counterpoint to the story. He does comment on the impact of the internet either by selling directly on the web or by having well educated consumers change the process because they can’t lie about invoice or trade-in value. [via Eatonweb]