Bringing out your inner 'Larry':
Beating a salesman at his own game
By Holden Lewis • Bankrate.com

Consider the case of Larry Vellequette, a skilled negotiator who lives in Toledo, Ohio.

You're probably not nearly as aggressive or opportunistic as Larry is. But Larry knows how to dicker. He knows the science of haggling -- getting the information. And he knows the art of haggling -- effectively using what you know. And he can teach you a thing or two.

When he was 16 or 17, Larry's friends enjoyed going to auto dealerships, pretending that they were rich kids and asking to test-drive sports cars.

Gone fishin' -- for good deals
Larry enjoyed going to car dealerships, too. But he didn't go for joyrides.

"You know what I did? I would go in and 'fish' salesmen," he says. That's his term for honing his haggling skills.

"I would pretend I was going to buy a car, just to practice negotiating with a salesman," he explains. "I would pick a young, energetic salesman and fish him for a while -- 'catch and release' style. We would get close to a deal and I would say, 'No, never mind.'

"That's how I spent my Saturdays."

After Larry graduated from college and got a good-paying job, practice made perfect when he landed a big fish. In an eight-hour negotiating marathon, he persuaded a dealer to sell him a brand-new Jeep Cherokee for the price of a used model with 15,000 miles.

A little fancy paperwork
When he started shopping, Larry knew what his priorities were: He wanted a brand-new Cherokee for the lowest possible price. He found that price by working hard and employing sleight of hand. At one dealer, the haggling stalled at $17,900. At a competitor, he bargained the price down to $17,800. Then he asked if that dealer had any used Cherokees of the same model year.

Sure enough, the dealer did -- a stripped-down Cherokee of the same model year with 15,000 miles on the odometer. He was willing to sell it for $15,800.

Larry said he would buy the vehicle for that price, but that he needed to ask his father to co-sign the loan. That wasn't true, but he was able to get the salesman to write a purchase order that gave the make, model year and price -- but no indication that it was used and had 15,000 miles.

"I drove immediately from that dealership to the other one," Larry says. "And I said, 'This guy just beat your deal by $2,000. What are you going to do about it?'"

Larry pauses, savoring the memory. "Thus began the marathon."

As haggling stretched out over a full workday, Larry turned the tables emotionally: The dealership's sales staff needed him more than he needed the vehicle. Larry could help them (by buying the vehicle) or hurt them (by wasting their entire day).

Risks and rewards
Larry could have assumed that he would have been laughed off the lot by bringing in the purchase order for $15,800. He risked being told to go ahead and accept the other dealership's offer. But he tested the possibility. When the salesman and sales manager reluctantly considered his offer, Larry knew he had set the hook and it was just a matter of reeling them in patiently.

Larry had followed a golden rule of haggling: He had found out what his seller wanted most -- a sale, even if it wasn't very profitable.

Finally, after squeezing the sales manager to let him have a full-size spare tire and a set of custom floormats, they closed the deal.

Winning strategies
What other key tactics did Larry employ? He used the "higher authority" gambit when he said he had to get his father's OK. He used the vise tactic when he returned to the first dealer with the purchase order and asked, "What are you going to do about it?"

And he saved a couple of small concessions (the full-size spare and the floormats) to give away at the last minute to allow the sales manager to feel that he had won. It's a testament to Larry's negotiating skill that he didn't have to give away those concessions.

Larry has no compunction about fibbing to salespeople, especially on a car lot. "Treat them with the same degree of honesty and respect that they treat you with," he advises. "If it's an auto salesman, you have to be prepared to play the game as long and better than they do. If they don't respond, go somewhere else."

Almost a decade after he bought that Cherokee, Larry continues to bait the hook. He has bought other vehicles at that dealership, and he sends friends and relatives there and asks them to mention his name.

The effort pays off, he says: "Every time since, when I've bought something from them, I start with the dealer invoice."

Then he reels in a good price.

-- Updated: Oct. 21, 2002