Car salespeople are known to take advantage of women who walk into their dealerships without a man. This woman used that to her advantage and said messing with them is fun.
Women are often worried about having to do car-related things, like go to the mechanic or buy a car, because of the sexism they face. If they’re not super familiar with vehicles, they know there’s a good chance that the (likely male) worker will try to rip them off.
That’s why many end up bringing along someone of the opposite gender, be it their friend, father, or partner, for major car-related interactions where more money is on the line.
Trinity Wright (@trinityywright) wasn’t worried about this at all because she was trained in car knowledge by her best friend’s dad, who’s a firefighter.
“He literally goes to dealerships for fun to f*ck with these people,” Wright says.
In a viral TikTok, Wright explains that she needed to buy a new car and trade in her old one, but unlike many women, she was excited to use the salespeople’s perceptions of her to her advantage.
Wright went to multiple dealerships to try out her negotiation techniques, and she fully leaned into the bit, donning high heels and all. Her look was like catnip, she says, attracting all of the salespeople who took one look at her and thought she’d be an easy target.
Wright had her own target in mind and would choose to work with the guy with “the biggest chain and the biggest ego” just to crush it slowly but surely.
Wright went back and forth with a few guys at different dealerships, negotiating trade-in offers, being told that the price she wanted was impossible, and ultimately walking away at each dealership.
“Everybody wanted to deal with me because they thought it’d be easy. They lowball me, and then I basically stick it to him and leave, and they wasted their time,” Wright says.
Once she’d done this a few times, she was ready to hit the dealership she actually wanted to deal with.
First, she advises that if you’re ever trading in a car while also buying a new one, keep the trade-in a secret until you’ve got the absolute best deal on the car you want.
This throws a wrench into the whole deal because now they have to honor the price they already gave you, plus give you money for the trade. Usually, when they know you have a trade beforehand, they factor that into the “deal” they’re giving you on the new car. This avoids that.
The dealership initially didn’t want to offer Wright the number she wanted for her trade-in and kept lowballing her—so she walked away. But she knew they’d call, whether in a few days or at the end of the month (when dealerships feel the most pressure to meet sales goals).
She stuck to what she wanted and eventually got a deal that worked for her.
“They were all just exhausted, especially after dealing with me for so long,” Wright says.
Before ending the video, Wright reminds viewers that the purchase doesn’t end there. When you sign the paperwork, a finance person will try to upsell you on warranties and add-ons. She recommends just saying no with a straight face to everything they offer.
“I have so much fun with it. And I think all women should learn to do that. Have fun with it. Know what you’re gonna compromise on. Know what you’re not gonna compromise on,” Wright says.
“Literally bold face lie to them, ’cause they’ll bold face lie to you,” Wright concludes.
@trinityywright Cars 🤝 Women…lets normalize it #cars #womenandcars #tradein #valvoline ♬ original sound – Trinity Wright
The video has garnered more than 1.3 million views and over 1,700 comments as of Wednesday morning.
“A car salesman tried to tell me that there is no difference between hard credit checks and soft checks while buying my first car. I left,” the top comment read, with more than 20,000 likes.
“Lmao I’m a car salesman and telling us after negotiation is SO smart [crying emoji] also buying at the end of the month is how ur gonna get best deals aswell,” a worker shared.
“Going in at 7:30 at night is key!!!! I had a finance dude yelling give her what she wants I want to go home,” a customer wrote.
The Daily Dot reached out to Wright for comment via Instagram direct message.
