7 stupid mistakes you make buying a car

1. Read every word of the contract. If you follow this advice, you'll be there all day. Besides, most sales contracts are boilerplate that's regulated by the state's motor vehicle registry. It's not necessary to read all the words in the contract. However, it is absolutely essential to review all the numbers in the contract.

Another variation of this myth is to go to a dealership just before it closes. In actuality, they'll work well past closing time to finalize the deal.

2. Hide the trade-in until you finalize the price of a new car. Then spring it on the salesperson. Do you really think salespeople haven't heard of this strategy before? It doesn't work. The best tactic is to compartmentalize the deal. Know the price of your trade-in by finding its actual worth and get as close to that as possible.

3. Don't reveal that you're leasing until you negotiate the price of the new car. The assumption is that if you tip your hand early, a salesperson will snow you with leasing jargon and inflate the price of the car. One problem with that thinking: These days, lease specials abound, and the savings on these lease specials are better than you would get by just leasing a car based on a low purchase price.

4. Be prepared to walk out. This is good advice for people who insist on shopping in person at a car lot. But it's no longer good advice in the Internet age, mainly because we don't recommend that you ever walk onto a dealership lot cold. Instead, use the Internet department and Price Promise for a hassle-free, low-cost shopping experience.

5. Buy a car on a rainy day. The idea is that due to bad weather, no one will be on the car lot and the dealer will be desperate to move metal. One problem: Many people have heard this advice, which means the dealership is both wet and crowded.

6. Call the sales manager, tell him you're buying a car in an hour and demand his lowest price. The principle of this "game theory" approach is to pit dealerships against each other. Believe me, they are already well aware of the competition. Furthermore, this confrontational style is harder to pull off than you might think. Maybe it sounds fun to put the salesperson on the spot. But try it and see how far you get.

7. Bring a cashier's check for exactly the amount you want to pay and say, "Take it or leave it." We like to imagine how cool and invincible we would feel by doing this. But if you bring a check with a figure you cooked up, where did you come up with this price? Did you correctly add fees and taxes for all the options on a specific vehicle? How do you know the dealership wasn't ready to give you a price lower than the one on your check?

It's better to solicit Internet quotes, negotiate a good deal on an actual car, get a rundown of all the necessary fees and taxes and then bring a cashier's check. It's not a sexy power play, but it works.