After choosing the make of car itself, the selection of the dealer is the most important single decision in the whole car buying process. This is a distasteful subject for many car buyers who have negative feelings toward car dealers in general. It would take more room than this web site can spare to discuss why people have these feelings--many of which are, at least in part, justified. Isn't that why we've seen so many car buying services on the Internet? But that's another topic that will be addressed separately. Should you still desire to buy your automobile the old-fashioned way, here's a few things you can do to keep the hassle to a minimum.

Surf the Web
Since you're here, I assume that you already know what that means. That is a step in the right direction. Ignorance is only bliss for the salesman. There is a mammoth amount of information on the Internet. Whether it's car reviews, specifications, dealers, manufacturers, buying services, or even information about car care after your purchase, it can be found. Usually, a trip to your nearest search engine(s) will put you in touch. Don't be shy about using this medium. When you surf the web and absorb the information you need, you are in control. Some salesman have told us that customers often come in knowing more about he vehicles than they. The more you know, the less likely you are to be taken advantage of.

First, decide what make of car to buy.
By the time you get ready to approach a dealer as a serious buyer, you should have decided what make of car you want to buy. According to J.D. Power & Associates, an average of four hours is spent browing on the Internet for that particular car. You may have decided to buy the same make of car you already have, perhaps from the same salesman and dealer you dealt with the last time. Certainly, if you have found a salesman and dealership that gives good service and sells a make of car that you like, you may have every reason to want to give them your patronage again. In fact, a solid relationship with a dealer is probably worth as much as any other single factor in making a purchase. So, if you have a reliable dealer already, it might be worth buying from him again, even if the brand he sells is not your first choice. If not, read on.

Consider more than just price.
When choosing a new car dealer you should consider price, of course. Every buyer wants to get a good deal, but there are other factors that are important in a new car purchase. Unfortunately, most buyers are unwilling (or unable) to see beyond the initial purchase price. Many dealers, especially in the larger urban areas, realize this and structure their entire customer approach around the initial cost, low monthly payments and so on.

If you are like most people, however, you are going to have to live with your car for several years. You should to buy a car that suits your needs. Allowing yourself to be talked into a "great deal" on a car that does not serve your requirements or is much more car than you really need is not a good deal for you. In addition, you should look for a dealer who can be relied upon to be there with convenient, expert service after the sale. Take into account all of the following:

• Price (Does it have all the accessories you need, not want? Is it a fair price?)
• Service (Does it include the warranties, agreements, and friendliness that you expect?)
• Location (Is the service dept. open on weeknights, weekends? Is it near work and home?)
  

Personal recommendations can help.
A friend may have recommended a certain dealer or salesman to you. By all means, check out if they are selling a make that interests you. Recommendations can also be solicited.

If you have decided to buy a Ford, say, ask friends or acquaintances who drive Fords where they bought their cars and if they would do so again from the same dealers. People usually like to talk about their cars (especially men), so don't worry about seeming impertinent or nosy. The candid comments of an actual customer can tell you more about a particular dealer than any amount of observation as a new car prospect. Car dealerships quite often will offer incentives if customers refer their friends and associates.

Follow the ads.
If you are considering a dealer, or dealers, you do not know, check the local newspaper, radio and television, and online advertisements. You can tell a lot about the dealer by the way he advertises. Are the ads the spectacular, hard-sell kind? Do they claim that the dealer is "number one" or the region's "volume" leader? You may get a good price from such a dealer, but the smaller, lower-key dealers probably offer a better chance to establish a good, long-term customer relationship.

A dealer is known by the salesmen he keeps.
An excellent way to judge a dealer is by evaluating his sales staff. The high presure, high volume dealers often go through salesmen almost as fast as they go through customers. Ask the salesman how long he has worked for that particular dealership. The salesman can be an important ally inside the company if something goes wrong with your car. If he (or she) is a professional, has been there for a number of years, and expects to be around when you are ready to buy your next new car, he will use his expertise and influence to help you make an appropriate choice and then see to it that you are pleased after the sale.

Comparison shop.
If possible, check at least two dealers in your area selling the same make of car. Even in smaller communities, you may not have very far to travel to find two or three dealers in different towns that have the same make--or, at least different makes selling related models. If you have settled on the Pontiac 6000, for example, you could widen your dealer choices by shopping other GM dealers in your area who sell similar GM A-Body lines, such as the Chevrolet Celebrity, the Olds Cutlass Cierra and the Buick Century.

Even if you have bought your cars from the same dealer all your life, get prices from a second dealer. Your life-long dealer may be taking your business for granted. You'll never know whether you are getting the best price, service, etc., unless you shop around.

Some dealers don't like people doing this. Tough petunias. It is your money! That means you are calling the shots! They wouldn't make a major purchase without comparison shopping. Why should they expect you to? A dealer that refuses to commit in writing to a price probably should be avoided. At the same time, you should stress to the salesman that you are interested in more than just price (you are, aren't you?).

Use the salesman's experience.
Many people have such distrust of car dealers and car salesmen that they find it hard to understand that the salesman can be their best ally in making a satisfying new car purchase. As noted above, there are genuine professionals in the trade and it is well worth seeking them out.

Still, you can't expect the salesman to be honest and up-front with you if you are not honest and up-front with him. For every story car buyers have about sleazy salesmen , salesmen have ten of their own about sleazy customers. In fact, many car buyers take the approach that the salesman is a crook, so trying to jerk him around is just part of the game. Experienced salesmen spot these sorts of customers a mile off. Remember, you buy a new car every two or three years--at most--while they see people just like you twenty times a day. They're the pros; you're not. You can't fool them. So, why not try being honest with them?

If you find a genuine professional salesman at a dealership, and treat him with respect, he will return the favor. He knows he is not going to make a sale everytime a prospect walks through the door. In fact, surveys suggest that only one in three "buyers" that enter a new car showroom are actually going to buy a new car. He knows, also, that some people come back two or three times before they buy. The professional salesman is secure enough to play the percentages. The sleazeball salesmen are the ones who refuse to talk turkey unless you are willing to sign your life over that very day, that very minute.

When you are talking seriously with a professional salesman about the car and equipment you want, allow him to make suggestions about alternative models and options. What he suggests may be good advice. He can also be of help with the ins and outs of financing.

Like all professionals (doctors, lawyers, etc.) the professional car salesman can be of enormous value to a well-informed consumer. Remember, he is the expert. Consider carefully the alternatives he presents, but do not permit yourself to be influenced into buying something you don't want, may never use, or cannot afford.

Location is important.
Go to a dealer near where you live or work. If you work downtown in a large city, it might be convenient to drop your car off there for servicing. On the other hand, a downtown dealership these days may mean a cramped and expensive location. Crowded quarters mean a limited service area. An expensive location means the money has to be recouped in higher prices for the cars sold and the services offered. Suburban, small town or country dealers have lower cost locations, and so may be able to sell at lower prices. On the other hand, the suburban locations may not be convenient for service work. You need to weigh all of these factors in making your choice.

Though it is preferable, it is by no means necessary to have your car serviced by the same dealer from whom you bought it. The problem is that dealers do not make money on warranty work. For this reason, they don't like doing such work for people who did not buy their cars from them. The manufacturers say the dealers have to honor all warranty claims on their make, no matter where the car was bought, but there is nothing in that agreement that forces a dealer to give non-customers priority. In other words, you can take you car to another dealer for warranty work, but your car will be worked on last, after that dealer's customers have been cared for. In addition, many warranty jobs are judgment calls. You want the dealer to have an personal interest in going to bat for you with the manufacturer. In short, it is to your advantage to buy your car from the dealer you want to service that car. This brings us to the next subject:

Rate the service department.
A good service department may be a decisive factor in picking a dealer. So, by all means check out the service department. Is it well furnished with the latest diagnostic and repair equipment needed for today's high-tech cars? Is it large and spacious? Does it look like a good work environment? A dirty, cramped, poorly lit service department is not going to attract and retain good mechanics.

Check out the employee's restroom in the service department. This is not as bizarre a piece of advice as it may sound. Dealers often spend large amounts of money dressing up their showrooms, but may care little about their own employees--the very people upon whom you are going to depend for expert attention after the sale.

We once walked into an employee's restroom in a large, metropolitan dealer for one of the Big Three and saw a disaster area you would expect to find only in the Third World. You wouldn't work in that kind of place, would you? Neither would top-flight mechanics, in all probability. Good mechanics are in desperately short supply these days. They can pick and choose. If they don't like a particular dealer, they can have a job across town just for the asking. So, the work environment in the service department may tell you as much as anything about the quality of the service available in a dealership.

Brand new dealers: pro and con.
What about going to a brand new dealer to buy a car, a dealer that has only recently opened for business? This can entail both advantages and disadvantages. A new dealer is likely to be particularly anxious to do business, maybe even when he is operating out of a temporary office while his new quarters are under construction. He does not yet have an established clientelle (the lifeblood of any dealer) and will probably be willing to give you extra incentive to buy from him.

Of course, until a dealer has established a reputation, no one knows what kind of dealer he will be--possibly not even the dealer himself, to some extent. He has had to hire a complete new sales and service staff. Some of them may not have much experience.

It presents a risk for the buyer, but starting a dealership for a major manufacturer is so staggeringly expensive these days (millions of dollars up-front for an urban facility) that only the strongest prospects can get major brand franchises. That means new dealers for major brands have been stringently pre-qualified by the manufacturer and are probably going to be pretty reliable.

What about "sales blitz" events?
Sometimes a group of dealers in a given area, or several representing one manufacturer, will put on a sales blitz. They will gather much of their new car stock together and have a special sale in a huge tent or rented arena.

The purpose of these events is to sell as many cars as quickly as possible. The dealers will be ready and anxious to deal from their available inventory with time pressure against them and possibly specific sales quotas to meet.

The key to getting a good deal on the car you need at one of the sales blitz events is to know what you want to buy before you attend. It is not hospitable territory for someone just trying to get a feel for the market.

How about buying services?
In many states and on the Internet, there are so-called buying services. These are privately run organizations--sometimes associated with credit unions, sometimes open to the general public--that offer special group rates on new cars. The way a buying service works is simple:

The buying service arranges with various dealers in a certain region to offer special rates to buying service members, typically $50-100 over invoice. A credit union usually does not charge for this service but, for a private party, the cost of joining the buying service can be $300-500, which can go a long way toward negating any price advantage such the service offers. Of course, buying services arrange similar deals or discounts on a wide range of goods, not just cars, so if you use it extensively, it can work out over the long haul.

Another problem with buying services is that they typically only arrange deals with one dealer handling a particular make in a given region. In fact, that is how the buying service lures the dealer into participating; it promises to send all its members wanting that make of car to that dealer. The trouble is that the buying service will cover a wide area and the dealers affiliated with it will be similarly wide-spread. So, the car you want may only be available through the service at a dealer 30 or 40 miles away, making after-the-sale service a real problem.

A buying service can work if you can go through your credit union (and avoid the high initial membership fee) and if the dealer handling your desired make is reasonably convenient. Otherwise, such a service is probably more trouble than it is worth.

Summary.
Choosing the dealer is an extremely important (and often over-looked) part of buying a new car. Consider all aspects of the purchase as it relates to the dealer: price, service and location. Make a good decision and it will pay rich dividends.