Buying a new car can be an absolutely horrendous process if you go to the wrong dealer. They’ll try to put you through what’s known in the industry as “the grind,” pressure you, go in the back and “discuss it with the manager,” and use just about every under-handed negotiation tactic known to man. They’ll tell you that someone else is interested in the car and that if you don’t buy it now it’ll be gone, they’ll tell you that it’s the last one on the lot and all sorts of other lies and half-truths to try to get you pay more than you have to. Just don’t play their game, here’s how to get out of the grind.

A company called CarMax, based out of Richmond, Virginia, did a study to find out what people enjoyed about the car buying process and what they absolutely hated about the car buying process. “The grind” was the biggest thing they found that consumers hated, so they built their business model around providing high quality products at a set price and providing very good customer service, the exact opposite of how most dealers currently operate.

Consumers have responded to CarMax’s different way of doing business in a big way. The company now makes $600 billion each year, is adding locations all over the country and is currently in 19 different states. When purchasing a vehicle from CarMax, you can go to their website, pick out the exact make, model and features you want, and they’ll tell you a price, and that’s what you’ll pay. It’s as simple as that! CarMax will give consumers a better price than what they will be able to get on their own 90% of the time. One might think that this new and very successful model for selling vehicles might spread to other dealers hoping to capture the same market, but thus far that has not been the case.

You’ll almost always get a great price with CarMax, but you will likely not want to finance your vehicle through CarMax. Your local credit union or insurance company will almost certainly be able to provide you a better interest rate than CarMax or any dealer for that matter. Also, always have the car checked out by a certified mechanic before agreeing to buy the vehicle.