So besides my usual "miser" like tendencies, I have been lucky to score a good deal on my last auto purchase (over 15 years ago).

And no, this new car isn't even for me (I'm still driving around in my 1994 Honda Civic EX Coupe), it's for my wife, LOL.  Anyway, chalk this up to a little research and knowing the right people.

We went shopping for cars for a few months and ended up with a great new Mini Cooper (it's actually on order now, but you can see how sweet it's gonna look).

The bottom line here is definitely consult some online shopping tips on buying new cars.  I used the information I learned online to get about $800 off MSRP (on a Mini, that's great).  I also found out I had a friend who's dad ran a local Mini dealership, so that saved us another $500.  Lastly, before I signed on the dotted line, I asked if that was their final price (pitting one dealership being lower priced than theirs - which may or may not have been true)...add on another $200 in savings!!!

All tolled, about $1500 below MSRP.  I think we did well :)
G

**Update - I found this Yahoo! article on Car Buying Mistakes to be really helpful--I hope you will, too!

Also, if you are going to Customize and Order a Mini, be patient...we ordered ours on 12-22-09 and we don't expect to actually "own" it till some time in March 2010 :(