What do you do when you are buying a new car? Do you drive over to a car dealership and start looking around? Do you talk to a salesperson at the lot? Those are amateur moves, according to one car-buying expert.

A car-buying expert named Bill, who goes by the handle @billythecarkid on TikTok, recently explained why you should not visit a car dealership until you’ve spoken to them on the phone and agreed to a price.

“Stop going to the dealership until you’ve called and negotiated the entire deal over the phone!” he shouts at the beginning of his TikTok video, emphasizing how important he believes this is.

“Here it is, 2026, and a lot of you still don’t know that you don’t go to the dealership to do anything,” he continued. “You do everything over the phone. If you go to the dealership, you are not going to get a great deal. You’re gonna get the worst deal you could have gotten.

“You have absolutely no leverage at the dealership to negotiate or call any of the shots. You’re at their mercy!

“So, number one tip, guys. Call the dealership before you go to the dealership and find out what the total out-the-door price is. Now I don’t just mean that they tell you what the total comes to. You get a breakdown in writing. A screenshot of it to your email or a text message showing you the entire breakdown. All the fees they plan on charging you, your taxes, any discounts, your trade, everything is in the number. That way, you can see what you will be paying.

‘If any dealership isn’t willing to send this to you, it’s because they have something up their sleeve’

“Now, if you don’t get pricing over the phone, and you go to the dealership, and they have a bunch of fees that you don’t agree with, and you don’t think should be on there, they’re not going to negotiate because you’re at the dealership. And they know 99.9% of the time, most people will b— a little, then just say ‘fine, whatever,’ and take the extra fees, and sign the paper.

“But if you’re at home, you have the opportunity to tell them to kick rocks, or try and negotiate. Once you find a good dealership over the phone and you have a price that you’re okay with, then you get it financed. You STILL don’t go to the dealership. You get everything done before you go.

“When you agree on a number with a dealership over the phone, lock that price in by financing that number. That way, you already know the interest rate, the payment, everything is negotiated. And when you go to the dealership, now you can truly test drive, check the vehicle out, make sure you love it, make sure everything’s perfect. When you come back from the test drive, just [sign] the final papers. You can make your life a lot easier, and you can make yourself a hell of a car deal if you do things this way.”

His car-buying tips work, according to several people who have tried them

“I did this and I was able to get my 2026 civic sport for 25,800 out the door,” one person wrote in the comments to Bill’s TikTok video.

Another viewer loudly wrote in all caps that no one will negotiate a car sale on the phone. They were quickly shot down by another person who claimed, “I bought my last three cars via text message.” Another person added, “It happens all of the time and if the dealership does not negotiate over the phone go to a different location.”

“So ask for a total out the door price and ask them to send you a screen shot of the cost break down?” someone else asked.

Bill replied, “Exactly, and if you agree on the price, that’s when you would finance it, still sitting in your living room. You don’t have to go to the dealership to do a credit app, you can do it right on their website. This will lock in the price negotiated and also keeps them from trying to play with the rate. If they call you with some crazy rate, you can just tell them you’re going to get your own rate and bring them a check. Makes them tell the truth real quick.”