FACT: Most members of “Gen Y” would rather purchase their  car online than negotiate with a dealer face-to-face (the exact number is 57%, according to a 2011 Deloitte and Touche study). Is this you? Read on, friend, read on.

Online negotiation is definitely easier to deal with than talking about prices and deals and money in-person. Especially when in-person usually involves one of those small, square offices with white walls and an overabundance of new car smell in the air. But just because you’re negotiating over email doesn’t mean you know all the rules of effective online negotiation. Dealers aren’t your facebook friends, your long-distance boyfriend, or that troll on your favorite forum. You’ve got to talk to them in their own way.

And we’re here to tell you how.

Data from the CarWoo! Marketplace illustrates the three key elements of effective online negotiation.

1)    Effective online car buyers engage with the dealers making offers. 

On average, there are five to ten communications with the dealer of the offer ultimately accepted, and over 18 page views of the accepted offer.

2)    Clear and courteous communications work best. 

Buyers have the best experience when their communications with dealers are explicit, articulate and polite.  With that style of communication, dealers respond in kind.

3)    Counter-offers are reasonable.

Clearly unacceptable counter-offers result in dealer disengagement.  Counter-offers that are reasonable result in acceptance by the dealer and satisfaction on both sides.

Lesson learned? Use the Golden Rule of Car Buying:  If you treat the dealer the way you want to be treated, especially when you are online and anonymous, the result is generally highly satisfying.