Again, keep in mind that car buying should never be a hasty process. It's the second biggest purchase you'll ever make, next to your house. You don't have to fall in love with the first car you see in the car showroom.

You might think that the car dealer trusts you implicitly with the new car and by letting you take the car home overnight or to work for a day, the sales person is trying to get you to ‘fall in love with the car’. Not very underhanded, perhaps, but considering the dealer will initiate this in some cases by asking for a trade-in assessment, you need to recognise that it’s definitely a trick. A trade in assessment should take no more than about 10 minutes. A half hour at most.

Car Dealer Tactic #7
A dealer may give you a ‘special deal’ on cheap finance on the pretext that he has reached the ‘limit’ as to what he can do with the price. He will tell you ‘the normal rate is a%’ and then say, ‘...but you can have it for b%’ (slightly less). Unless you are aware of current interest rates, you can easily pay too high a rate. To avoid getting easily conned, compare with the dealers price and your bank. You will find a good rate of interest if you do some initial research.

Car Dealer Tactic #8
A small increase in the repayments quotes will equal a large increase in the total amount you will pay for your new car. Dealers use this to great advantage in order to divert focus from the total price paid.

If you are not vigilant, your dealer may offer you less than market value for your trade in. The idea here is to conceal the profit from the customer by lowering the allowance for the trade in. If it succeeds--and it usually does--the dealer can offer you an unrealistically low price for the new car.

Nowadays, the surefire way to buy a good new or used car without falling prey to car dealer tactics is to go online at the comfort of your own home. With thousands of classified ads out there, you are sure to find good comparisons of car prices, and models, and other car-buying tips. If the car dealer senses you're a pretty well-informed customer, then he or she is less likely to try a trick on you.