15 Secrets to Buying a Used Car

13. Shop At the End of the Month

Car salesmen are all paid by commission. This means that the amount they earn in a given month is directly related to how many sales they’ve made, and there are usually bonuses and rewards for meeting various quotas.

This affects you because a salesman is much more motivated to close sales toward the end of the month when he’s still a little short of his quota. You can take advantage of that eagerness to get a better deal. After all, anything is better than nothing when the salesman is one sale away from hitting a quota. You’ll be able to negotiate a better price if the salesman is desperate to close the deal.

To an extent, this logic will also work for private sellers. Most of us have bills that are due at the beginning of the month, and someone will be very motivated to sell his car if he knows the bills in your hand could pay his rent in a few days.