This chapter will provide you with techniques that you can use to tilt the negotiations in your favor.

However, this is not a list of counter-tactics you should employ against the dealer’s tactics. It is useless to list customer schemes to counter a dealer's schemes, because it is impossible to trick an experienced professional salesperson or sales manager. Not only will you lose, but you will be unable to achieve your primary goal – getting the best deal. Your goal is not to make enemies. The following techniques are not designed to beat a dealer at his own game - only to strike the best deal.

• Broken record. Of all the techniques a car buyer can utilize, this is one of the most effective and easiest to use. Simply keep repeating yourself incessantly until the dealer gives in. Wear him out. Continue stating your point of view, and add a little explanation to give what you say added authority. This technique is difficult to block, since the buyer can counter anything the dealer says with his own needs and demands.
• Yes, but…. In this method, agree with each of the dealer's statements, but end with a declaration that emphatically re-states your needs. Essentially, you continually turn the conversation back to yourself.
• "You have to do better than that." If you reach a deadlock in your negotiations, keep repeating this phrase. It’s an effective tool, because it forces the salesperson to scramble to rescue the sale. The salesperson may give concessions without realizing it. If the salesperson uses this trick on you by chance, ask him to explain what exactly you must do "to do better." Insist that he be specific.
• "Why won’t you let me buy a car today?" This question will shock the salesperson; it is not something he expects to hear. Salespeople often think that customers need to be pushed into deciding to go through with a purchase. They feel the customer is the only one standing in the way of a sale. When you shift the blame back to the salesperson, however, he will become confused. It will be a frustrating task for the dealership to explain why they won’t allow you to buy a car. Don’t use this technique more than one. It is best used only once as a shocker.
• Delay. If you arrived late in the day or at the end of the month, a dealership's vulnerable days, then delay, delay, delay. Normally salespeople are the ones who delay in order to frustrate customers. But in this case, the longer you keep them, the more they resent being kept after hours, and the more they speed up the process. Keeping them even two hours over their normal twelve-hour shifts tries their patience, especially if you are willing to spend the time and don’t appear to be in a rush. They can’t kick you out of the dealership. They just want to speed up the deal, even if they don’t make as much of a profit as they would in another situation.
• Change of pace. In a typical sale, the salesperson first focuses on you for a commitment to buy the car, and then for a price. Try changing the pace. Reverse the roles; force the salesperson to defend his position. Ask him what it will take for him to make a deal. Salespeople do not handle this that well, because they are shoved into a passive role, and they are stuck defending themselves against a tough customer who knows the game.
• Create tension. Salespeople often generate stress and force the anxious consumer to find solutions to problems that they, at times, create out of thin air. When you sense you are being thrust into this artificial tension, raise the friction level yourself. This may be difficult for some buyers to do, but the only other alternate is to give in to the dealer's demands. Threaten to walk out. Let it be the dealer who lowers the heat, not you.
• Say "no" one more time. When you near the point of agreement, and the sales manager offers to split the difference, don’t make any sudden moves. Don’t grin with relief. Don't wrinkle your brow, anxious about the dealer's next move. No matter how you feel about the agreement, remain neutral and reject his offer one last time to see if the dealer will present any final concessions before you conclude the deal.

These eight tactics will give you more confidence and bargaining power, and ensure your success in the bartering game.