I've found it best to do all of my negotiations, with several dealers, via email before ever setting foot in the dealership. That way, you have all the proposed numbers in writing. And patience is key. You need to be prepared to walk away for a couple weeks and wait for them to send an email like, "hey, we're trying to meet some end of month number and have a better deal now, are you still in the market?" If you're ever in a hurry to buy a new car, you lose.

 

For people who needs a new car ASAP, it's true that hurrying the purchase is not the best idea but you can cut so much more time by dealing with all the dealership you can find in your area at the same time. They'll be forced to compete all at the same time.

 

Bingo - the Internet is our biggest friend now when buying or leasing a vehicle. We even negotiated our trade allowance this time in advance. We were at the dealer maybe an hour - and a good portion of that was the familiarization of the car - pretty painless experience.