Most people are scared of walking into a car dealership to buy a new car. They should be! Car dealers are very skilled negotiators, and the dealership is their home turf. But there are ways to be prepared. The auto industry is one of the many that have been transformed by the information revolution. The world wide web has really equalized the information gap that most dealers have used for decades to make a big profit. Face it, car dealers are basically a commodity. So use that to your advantage to get the best deal!

This post is the first of a 3 part series that really quickly explains how to make sure you are getting a good deal on your car. The first step is very simple and only requires a few minutes at your computer!

Simply search for the brand of car you are interested in and your location. For instance, if you live in Manhattan and are looking for a Toyota Camry, you could do a google search for New York Toyota Dealers. Or maybe you live in Texas and would like a Mustang. Just search for Houston Ford. Pretty simple right?

Once you do those searches, click on the links that come up and copy down the contact information for each dealer. Do a bunch of searches to make sure you’ve found ALL the dealers near you who might have the car you want. We’ll cover how to get ready to contact them next.