I hated the car sales world until I landed at the Porsche dealer where we treated people in a very straight forward manner and did not insult their intelligence or try to rob them. Previously, I had worked at a Honda dealer where I sold a woman a car, (can't remember if it was new or used), when the F&I office got through with her, she was going to be paying something like 13% APR. I think that the going rate was 7 or 8% at the time. The F&I office at a dealer is where they rally make their money, adding interest points onto their "buy rate" from a major bank and selling people worthless extended warranties for ridiculous marked-up prices, worthless paint coatings and other crap.
The F&I guy or gal is usually the biggest scumbag in the dealer, their job is also easy because the customer is so worn down after fighting with the salesman and negotiating a price on the vehicle that they just want to get it over with and go home. Psychologically speaking, they have also already bought the new car or truck and it's easy to sell them products and services to "protect" their new investment, which of course is the opposite of an investment.
Back to the woman buying the car...for some reason, I just could not let them do it this time. She was a large woman as I remember, a black nurse who worked such long hours that her feet were sore. She probably had good credit but like a lot of people, was not a sophisticated buyer when it came to credit purchases and was about to get fleeced for a couple of extra thousand over the life of the loan. I called her and educated her about credit and how dealership F&I offices work and how she could go to her own bank where she has an account and inquire about a car loan. I also told her that no matter what she signed in the F&I office, she could find her own financing and cancel the financing from the dealer.
For sure, I would have gotten fired for doing this if I got caught but IDGAF. I may not be a perfect person but I can't rip off working people. Most of that industry is so shady and it doesn't have to be that way, IMO. I've never understood why people need to lie to sell something. You meet some real characters in a dealership, some very good people and some bad. This goes for customers as well as employees. I found it fun at times and incredibly boring at others.
As for getting the best deal, if I was buying new now, I would try to research what the present market was on the piece I was buying, (not that difficult), and then just play it by ear at the dealer. How can you ever know for sure that you got, "the best deal?" How do you know that someone else would not have sold it for less? I'm all for price shopping, (researching, really), but sometimes there is more to a deal than just bottom line. Sometimes not.
