I don't mind the rep getting a decent commission but the dealerships need to go to a fixed pricepoint and stop all the nonsense with VIN etching, dealer preparation fees, destination fees, and whatnot. They will knock down the base price of the car but get all their profit back in other sneaky ways.
Also, I've learned to never trade in your old car when you are looking for a new car. I end up selling my car separately at CarMax (where you get a fair price) and then I can use the cash to go towards my downpayment on the new one.
Last time I bought a new car, I drove my wife's fairly new car (not my older car) to the dealership. Sure enough, as I was inside, the dealership had people checking out the car I drove in with. They were already scoping it out for trade-in value!
I did not dissuade them from believing that was the car I might trade in. So I was able to negotiate a decent price as they were counting on getting a sweet deal on my trade in. At the end of the transaction, I told them, by the way, I changed my mind on the trade in as I decided to hang on to it. So sorry.
It's sad we even have to play those kind of games when buying a car.
Also, good advice is to avoid the "finance" guy at the end of the transaction. Even if you are financing or purchasing the car on your own, the sales rep will try to get you in there for the hard sell on things like extended warranties, gap insurance, bundled oil change packages, anti-theft devices, etc. All of these are high margin transactions for the dealership, which means that innocent seeming "finance" guy is the most well-paid person in the whole show, besides the owner.
“the sales rep will try to get you in there for the hard sell on things like extended warranties...”
And the True Coat. Don’t forget the True Coat.
How do you avoid the finance guy when you literally have to deal with him when you’re not paying cash