I did most of my negotiating via email, after spending a lot of time on Car Edge. Many dealers will make an offer that seems great, but add on crap like "anti theft" (etching the VIN on some of the glass!), "paint protection" etc, etc. Short version of negotiation, know what the car is selling for within, say, 100 miles, how long it's been sitting around and, most important, hammer out the fact that you want the Out the Door price before discussing trade-in, financing etc.Buying cars is way different than it used to be. Last two cars I bought, sight unseen, over the phone, with a credit card. I had negotiated several cars with dealers via email prior to that. Most blew smoke up my ass, one guy got incredibly pissed, but I found out exactly how much to offer that way. The second car was in Florida and they bought my plane ticket to go down to get it.
After 3 weeks and lots of email, I ended up driving 80 miles to Mishawaka and getting a high-demand Kia Stinger GT2 for $9,000 below MSRP OTD.