Don't Get Taken Every Time: The Ultimate Guide to Buying or Leasing a Car, in the Showroom or on the Internet
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Now completely rewritten and back in a handy trade paperback edition Through six editions, this invaluable tool by ?Public Enemy 1 of the car dealers? (The Washington Post) has remained the definitive guide on buying or leasing a new or used vehicle. Completely updated, Don?t Get Taken Every Time takes readers inside the world of the auto business itself. It exposes hundreds of tricks some dealers use to separate unwary customers from their money. Sutton alerts people to dealer scams on the Internet, tampering with credit ratings, and more. From negotiating to financing, the step-by-step techniques offered here make any car shopper a savvy purchaser. Read more
Publisher : Penguin Books
Publication date : July 31, 2007
Edition : Revised
Language : English
Print length : 496 pages
ISBN-10 : 0143038885
ISBN-13 : 87
Item Weight : 14.3 ounces
Reading age : 18 years and up
Dimensions : 5.48 x 1.08 x 8.18 inches
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Top Amazon Reviews
If you are thinking of buying a brand new or used car, I would whole-heatedly recommend this book to you. Auto industry are notorious for instituting various system, process, and tricks to dip into consumers' pocket books as much as possible. And this book not only tells you everything you need to know about these things, but also come up with recommendations to cope with them. I spent about 30 hours reading this book twice and taking detailed notes on the second reading-through and thought this was one of the activities that can generate the highest possible ROI. Forget about CDs which you earn 1% interest rate. Forget about bonds which you earn 1% to 7% rate in the current environment, and forget about stocks which you may earn a decent double-digit return. I bought this book for $4.27 in total and 30 hours of invested time, and besides the knowledge and confidence in dealing with car salepeople, I have saved at least $1k from a very recent purchase of new car. Considering that I paid cash (no dealership financing), did not buy any extended warranty or worthless dealer-offered options, or traded in my used car, this is pretty good amount already. For those who are considering to do a combination of all 3, or all of them, you could easily be worth couple thousand dollars less had this read this book and implemented its tips. For those of you who have busy lives, here is a primer for you: - Forget about corporate rhetorics that they are here to provide an excellent product at reasonable price with excellent customer service; That is certainly one of the biggest BS in mankind civilization and you would have no one to blame but yourself if you fall for that; In the same context here, auto dealership is here to maximize profit as much as any other corporation in the world - Ever wondered why owners of car dealerships are multi-millions and top salespeople and managers easily earn north of $100K+ every year? You guessed it right. Because the world is never in short supply of gullible people who get ripped off in a car buying process. Every time they set their foot on a dealership, their net worth (if any) is couple thousand dollars less than it should be. Multiply this by 8 to 10 times in the average life time, plus compounded interest rate of return those money could have earned, we are talking about the size of your 401K at official retirement age - The 3 biggest profit centers for auto dealers are used-car trade-ins, worthless or close to worthless warranties and dealer-added options, and dealer financing; So if can avoid 2 or more of them by doing your homework beforehand, you are already ahead of the pack. - The best way to figure out the wholesale value of your car before you trade it in is to shop between 2 to 3 dealers and the highest offered price becomes your true wholesale value; Knowing this number gives you a precise idea of how much your old vehicle is worth during the negotiation process - Extended warranties and dealer-added options are generally useless and adds fat profits to dealership's Income Statement; Research manufacturer's website and know beforehand which additional options you want and how much they cost will go a long way. General suggestion here is to forgo anything dealer offers to you (and take the 'This-option-will-only-cost-you-one-coke-a day' as a big joke because that comes out to couple thousand dollars over the lifetime of your loan - Always shop around on interest rate before you set your foot on dealer lot. Get a quote from your credit union and another quote from your personal bank, and compare them with what the dealer offers can save you a lot of money; Besides comparing interest rate, make sure the terms (months of financing) are the same and financing costs are comparable. Don't fall for it just because dealer offers lower interest rate than your credit union, analyze the total costs - Last piece of advice is never to trust a car salesperson even if he/she seems like a nice person on the surface. As a matter of fact, the more trust-worthy and likable the person is, the more careful you should be because dealers love to hire such people; Be on your alert all the time until the contract has been signed and the car driven off the lot. Otherwise, take control of the car buying process and scrutinize salesperson's statement and final sales contract as much as you can. Remember, there is an inherent conflict of interest between yourself and car salespeople in the sense that they are here to extract as much money as they can from you for their own job security and fat commission checks. Whether you are become their friend or not matters not a tiny little bit!
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Reviewed in the United States on December 26, 2013 by Anonymous please
Remar Sutton with coy charm, and an acid pen, takes you on a SERIOUS ride into the mysterious world in which most consumer people know little (or even worse think they know a lot). Buying a car. I bought this book while researching for my first new car, and while I found numerous tricks before through some websites, this book had everything and more. Dealer tricks, tips, how to finance, understanding the lingo, and knowing most importantly what YOU need. The book is written in a very logical style, and goes through a hypothetical situation of the ultimate care salesmen nicknamed 'Killer Monsoon'. With Killer in tow, Suton creates a world that is massively informative and entertaining to the reader. You are followed through the day as Killer rips off, people and moves like a shark with stealth pray all the while, you the reader learn how to beat his (and the dealerships) secrets. This how to manual is hardly boring, always fascinating, and enjoyable (yet frightning) to read. I bought this book with the intention of reading it for a 2 week vacation period, but started reading it before I left and COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN! I finished it in about 4 days. And that's the joy of this book, besides its massive amount of information it is never dull or confusing to read, but majorly entertaining as Remar creates every scenario you may face when shopping for a new/used vehicle. I can't wait to use the knowledge in this book to my advantage I've never been so excited about what I know and what others don't about the whole dealership experience. Suddenly terms as 'water' at a dealership, and 'in the bucket' will keep you empowered. DO NOT BUY A CAR WITHOUT READING THIS BOOK FIRST!!!!! GET IT NOW!!!
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Reviewed in the United States on May 13, 2002 by selffate
I'd read this book the first time many years ago and found it to be not only packed with great information, but a very fun read which is not what I had expected from a car buying book. My sister told me she was in the market for a used car and was shopping exclusively at car dealerships which instantly threw up a red flag in my mind. My first response was to very strongly recommend to her that she buy this book and read it before she stepped onto any dealership lot. She decided she didn't want to spend the money on the book and instead bought a 99 cent book on car buying that she found here on Amazon. I was horrified that she'd not be willing to spend a few dollars on a book that could save her hundreds so I went ahead and bought this book hoping that I'd be able to convince her to read it since I knew that it is so full of good information. After a couple days my sister informed me that her 99 cent book was about worthless and she was wishing she'd bought this book instead. I happily informed her that I had bought the ebook version and she was welcome to borrow my tablet and read it so she'd be prepared when she went shopping. She read the portions of the book that pertained to her situation and said she not only thought it was very good information but would be buying a paperback copy of it for her son so someday when he goes car shopping he doesn't get taken advantage of. I went with my sister and I'm happy to say that following the steps the author recommends she was able to negotiate like a pro and saved hundreds of dollars on her car and drove off the lot knowing she'd gotten the best deal possible on what very well could have been the best car deal on a dealership sold used car within 200 miles. The reason I only rated this book 4 stars instead of 5 stars is because I have doubts about how accurate the authors information is on how dealers nowadays pull sneaky and unethical tricks on buyers on the internet (like when you visit a car website they install software on your computer to track your every move on the internet so they can use that information against you, I think it's possible, I just don't know that I'm ready to believe it's happening). That being said though I had to laugh at one dealership and although I was making a joke about it I couldn't help wondering if Remar Sutton may not have been quite as paranoid as I'd thought while I was reading his book. As we were pulling into the 2nd lot she shopped at I jokingly mentioned to my sister that if Remar is right that at that moment there was a high powered camera zooming in on her plates and they were checking to see what information they had accumulated on her since she'd visited their website to see if they had any cars she was interested in. I'm old and forgetful so I can't remember the first thing the salesman did make me chuckle and point out to my sister that see Remar is right they couldn't have known that unless they were tracking you on the internet after you visited their website. The second thing that I raised a red flag for me was at one point when the salesman asked for her contact information in case they needed to contact her in the future he asked for her name, address and phone number to type into his computer. She stated her name and started to say her address and he cut her off and told her her address and phone number and asked if that information was still correct. It made me chuckle and make a joke about it to my sister that see another example that maybe old Remar isn't as crazy as we'd thougt, but behind the joking was a certain amount of true wondering about this coincidence since it was the 2nd fishy thing that the salesman had come up with since we'd driven onto this lot. It makes me wonder if maybe Remar may not be as crazy on this subject as I'd originally thought. I can't say this experience convinced me he is correct, but I'm certainly more open to the possibility than I was before visiting this lot. I'll conclude with a final piece of trivia that may help someone from getting ripped off. Many years ago I'd either seen on a TV special or read a very good way to verify if a car seller's feeding you a line of B.S. if they try to sell you an older car with extremely low miles on it that was only driven by a little old lady who only drove it to church on Sundays. Well, the car my sister ended up buying turned out to be a 10 year old vehicle with only 30,000 miles on it that the salesman informed her was driven by an 84 year old customer of his that only rarely drove it since her family usually picked her up and drove her when she needed to go someplace and since she really didn't drive it hardly ever decided to get rid of it so it wouldn't just be sitting around taking up space in her garage. I literally laughed at the story when the salesman fed us that story and he wasn't happy with my open skepticism of the "true story" he'd just told us. We went out look at the vehicle and thankfully I remembered the test I'd learned many years before about how to debunk the little old lady and crazy low mileage story. What I did was I reached under the dashboard and felt the gas and brake pedals with my fingers and was surprised to feel that the textured pattern on them was almost like new and not very worn like they would be if they'd been used for many years of normal driving. As I'd learned many years ago if an odometer has been rolled back yep car salesmen will detail a car to make the interior and engine look in great shape, but they never think to replace old and worn gas and brake peddles which would be worn and prove the car had been driven considerably more than that what the odometer indicates. I readily admit that I'm not very good with cars so I told my sister that based on what I'd just checked I was willing to concede that maybe the salesman's story had some truth to it, but that to be sure she should take it to her personal mechanic who she knows from many years of going to him is very honest and knowledgeable to have it inspected by a professional to verify if the salesman's story checked out. Her mechanic did a complete check of the vehicle and informed her that yep as weird as it sounded after checking the car over very carefully he had no doubt that it was in fact a 10 year old car with only 30,000 miles on it. He also pulled up a Carfax on the vehicle (like my sister and the salesman had done but he wasn't aware of that fact) and found nothing in that to contradict the salesman's story. So the bottom line is if your salesman is trying to sell you an old car with crazy low mileage only driven by a little old lady check the gas and brake pedals. If the story's true there should be very little wear on texture on the flat surface of the pedals. If the car with crazy low mileage has pedals with lots of wear on them and the textures worn considerably tell your friendly salesman to shove and walk off the lot and never return there again.
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Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2015 by Just Bob
Format: Paperback
If you've never bought a car at a dealership -- even a used car -- this is the book you should buy and keep FOREVER. Written by a former car salesman and auto dealer, Sutton lays out all of the shady sales tactics used to put you into a car you can't afford and will immediately be "under water" before you drive it off the lot. In easy to use and understand style, Sutton reveals and discusses all of the "classic" ways dealership salesmen (new and used) use to part you form your money. Ever gone to a dealership and had the salesperson ask, "So, how much do you want to spend each month?" If you answered the salesperson with a dollar amount, you just got taken to the cleaners! Sutton describes how to break this cycle of "monetary liberation" -- what to do if you have a trade-in, describes financing options, including how to get the best rate from the dealer (whose getting a monthly payment for every car payment you make if you use dealer financing), how to "price" financing, etc. He discusses leasing vs. buying decisions, too. This book is no longer in print -- too bad, because the same dealership tricks and techniques are still being used today. Today (2021), cars/SUVs/Cross-Overs/Light Trucks are the single largest, most expensive purchase a person can make except for a home. Kelley Blue Book reported August 3, 2020, the estimated average transaction price for a light vehicle in the United States was $38,378 in July 2020. According to the US Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy reported Jan 12, 2021: "Prices for new light trucks, which include pickups, vans, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs), averaged 43% more than new cars in 2019. From 1990 to 1995, cars had a higher average price than light trucks. Likely due to the popularity of SUVs and high-end pickup trucks, the average price of light trucks grew from about $26,000 in 1990 to $38,000 in 2019, while average car prices declined slightly, from about $29,000 in 1990 to $27,000 in 2019. Price data are adjusted for inflation (constant 2019 dollars)." Don't waste your money to enrich a car dealer -- buy this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2021 by JP
Format: Paperback
This book it worth its weight in GOLD. I was a first-time car buyer until today when I landed an AMAZING deal on my brand new (6 miles on it) Chevy Equinox. As a female in her mid twenties I KNEW I was a prime target for the salesmen. I read the great reviews on this book and figured I would give it a try- anything was an improvement on knowing nothing, right? So I read the book, and I can't tell you how stunned I was at how accurate it really is! While reading it I kept thinking "Theres just no way they really pull all this crap! That can't be that deceptive!"- I was WRONG. Thanks to this book I was able to identify and AVOID falling into trap after trap that the salesman planted. I learned how to identify simple "IF" statements that allow the salesman to gain control like "If I can find that exact model but in a different color, would you buy it?" and "If we could tell you the car for $25,600 would you buy it?" etc. They sound so innocent but they take valuable bargaining chips away from you like candy from a baby. I also learned the art of getting the MOST out of your negotiation though the simple act of controlling the order you negotiate. Some of the first questions the salesguy asked were if we were planning on trading in our car (lets them get their game plan on how much they can wiggle with the price of the new car) and if we were financing with the dealership (again, helps them angle the deal so its most beneficial to them...AND they get money through financing). The book helped us navigate these car buying quickstand statements- to the trade in we said we weren't sure and to the financing we said we didn't want to discuss financing until after we agreed on a sales price for their car but that we probably would (they'll wiggle more on the price if they think you're financing). All of this knowledge lead us to the purchase of a brand new car at $40 BELOW dealer cost....NOT invoice and NOT MSRP but DEALER COST and a fair price on our trade in (which we know was fair because we shopped it with used car dealers for the wholesale price of the car..like CARMAX). Through some negotiations we were able to get a 0.5% better rate with the dealer than our credit union loan. It was AMAZING how hundreds of dollars could be discounted if we simply asked about them. We asked about their GAP insurance and they said it was $600! We said our credit union offered at $250 (really $300) and TADA suddenly the cost of GAP insurance was $299! I will NEVER buy a car again without re-reading this book over. I've already lent it to a friend. I can't thank the author enough for giving me the tools to stay in control- a young female first-time car buyer came out victorious and UNDER budget :-D
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Reviewed in the United States on March 18, 2012 by EvolvingMom
Format: Paperback
I had bought the first edition of this book back in the 80s or late 70s and it made me aware of a lot of practices that car salesman and the dealerships perform on the customers. I bought the latest edition based on new topics such as leasing which I am doing and what high jinx the dealerships now continue to do with that part of transactions. It’s an eye-opener and I highly recommend it to all car buyers because a lot of of these techniques and games that the car sales people do are still in place and if you know that you can rise above it and focus on getting the deal that you want. Amen
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Reviewed in the United States on January 2, 2026 by jim schiffmacher
Format: Paperback
I checked (an earlier edition of) this book out of the library back in 1986. I dickered for and bought my first vehicle in 1987. There have been six more car buys (only one was a new car, and four of these are still in use in house) since then and I have always 'reacquainted' myself with the book's details before even getting into the 'just looking' research phase. Across all of these purchases, I've saved between $12 and $15 thousand dollars (lowest cost was $5500 and highest was $18,400), when comparing my purchase price to the respective figures listed in KBB and Edmunds and NADA. Don't even talk to me about savings from 'asking price' or MSRP! I've purchased vehicles $500 to $850 below average wholesale and $1850 below dealer cost, too. (None of these have ever had any mechanical or use problems that were traced to be present at purchase, either.) The author covers ALL variations of new versus used, trade-in versus none, cash versus finance. ALL of them. If you read the relevant parts of this book for ONLY your particular combination, I believe you will feel much more comfortable with this 'unpleasant, expensive' process. Don't let you get yourself flustered, or double-talked, or flim-flammed, or overconfident, etc, and then go home vacuumed clean of your hard-earned money. I do NOT like to buy cars. They are a necessary evil to me. So, to minimize the [painful] time I spend in the 'dealer negotiation process' and, especially, to keep as much money in MY pocket as possible, this book and it's information is great. I just return it to the bookshelf, awaiting the next time. Except, I loaned my last book to someone and never got it back. Bought this one to have available to share with my kids, so they can deal as best they can with this process in the next few years; even if they do not want to 'listen to Pa', about it!
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Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2012 by Christopher D'Amico
This is an informative book on the process of buying a car. It is very useful to read before you buy, but it may make you a bit more paranoid that you should be. If you choose carefully a good dealer, they will not try to pull on you ALL the tricks that this book describes but they will try some. I would rate it 5 starts but the fact that the lending is not enabled for the Kindle version keeps me from rating it high. This kindle version was expensive enough (currently is twice the price of the printed book). I should be able to lend it to a friend if I wanted to. I could if this was paper...
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Reviewed in the United States on June 9, 2012 by A