paid cash for my Volvo V50...3300.00 from an Arab guy that works out of his house in Dearborn.Took about an hour( that included trying out his cooking he was doing for dinner) . It was a rebuild. I put 3 grand into mechanical upgrades and custom work after i got it, I do my own work....that was 45k miles ago ..I love this car.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVzzp8O_0xs

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sometimes

I bought a car three months ago and it was a humiliating experience. The dealer actually laughed at my offer and told me to leave. I did. I went back a day later and bought the car.

As some other posters have mentioned, the best way to buy a car these days is to e-mail every dealership in your area and get a quote. Some of the dealerships have a "price quote" features on their website or something similar. Compare those prices and pick the lowest one. Then negotiate everything over email. I tried to get a lower price based on the online quote - don't do that. Comparing dealerships to one another gives you a sense of how low they can go. I used Kelly Bluebook to confirm that the price was fair.

I financed for an extremely low rate (my credit is pretty good). It didn't change the price in any way.

After settling on the price via e-mail, I walked in and drove out with the car under an hour.