How a Car Buyer's Gameplan Saves You Thousands | Thornebriar

Why do you need a Car Buyer's Gameplan, and how does it change the way you buy a car? There are two key reasons:

On the second point: when you ask a salesperson, manager or dealer "How much for this one?", they say something like, "Well, if this one is the right one for you, don't worry, we'll make you a great deal." Then they ask if you're married or single and how many kids you have.

Let me translate. The question is not how much the car or truck costs, but how much they can get you to pay for the vehicle, financing and aftermarket products, and how little they can offer you for your trade.

What's missing is an advocate

The next logical question is: how do I protect myself from being priced and overcharged? If you bought a $50,000 house (the average price of a new vehicle in 2026), you'd have two advocates. When it comes to car buying, all you get is "good luck, buyer beware!"

Nothing online is free

Never forget that he who pays is the customer. Now consider all the free information car buyers chase online, except nothing is free. TrueCar is not true because they are paid by dealers. CarGurus are not gurus because they are paid by dealers.

You provide your name, phone number and email for the free info, then they turn around and sell your information as a sales lead to multiple dealerships. And I think we can all agree that no one aspires to be a sales lead.

How a Car Buyer's Gameplan transforms your car buying

It details exactly how our team of auto industry veterans have always bought their cars and trucks. Most importantly, we advocate exclusively for you, the car buyer. We don't take money from manufacturers, dealers, lenders or insurance companies.

Instead, we charge you a nominal fee for a proven strategy and step-by-step process for shopping, negotiating and buying or leasing a new or used vehicle. This includes the critical tools that empower you to buy the way the pros do:

• Offer / deal calculators
• Email negotiating templates
• Transaction checklists

The #1 rule of car buying: negotiate remotely

Here's how the Gameplan process works:

1. Use a simple AI method to find the right vehicle more efficiently.
2. Use our email negotiating templates so the dealer recognizes you're a serious buyer, you're ready to buy, and you've included everything they need to confirm your eligibility for all available new car incentives.
3. Email 4–5 dealers requesting their best Out the Door (OTD) price and compare the offers.
4. Review each detailed offer with your Gameplan offer/deal calculators.
5. Use your Transaction Checklist to verify every number before you arrive at the dealership to sign and drive.

Why this matters: the monthly payment trap

If you walk into a dealership thinking you're well prepared, it's not a fair fight. How do dealers continually overcharge so many customers? They get you to focus on your most important transaction number. 95% of the time it's the monthly payment, and that is check and checkmate.

Now they can manipulate the deal: lower the value of your trade, raise your interest rate and extend the loan term, plus add dealer fees for documentation, digital transactions/submissions and more that can quickly add $2,000 or more. Then they walk back in to congratulate you: they got your payment to your number.

While you wait for the finance office, they have you sit in your new car and show you how to set the radio presets and connect your phone. When you finally make it to the finance office, you're asked to speed-sign digital docs they'll email you "later." By the time you look at them a few days later and notice the fees, the higher rate and term, and the lower trade value, you have little to no leverage because you signed the deal.

This is why you must negotiate remotely to reduce the buy-now pressure and control the process. Insist they send you a detailed offer with all fees, charges, loan terms and interest rates for you to review. This is where your Gameplan offer/deal calculators become invaluable. The example below shows how quickly you can save thousands by negotiating remotely. Like any other DIY project, you succeed by using the right tools.

Keep reading

Whether you choose our Gameplan or not, invest a few minutes to read our blogs, particularly the ones on hidden fees, sales tax and signing digital docs.

• Car Buying Guide Checklist & Deal Calculator
• The Hidden Markup: How Auto Dealers Pad Their Profits
• Everything Car Dealers Don't Want You to Know
• Car Buying FAQs: Answers to Key Questions

Team Thornebriar