I picked up this car buying guide hoping to get some insider tips on negotiating with dealers, but honestly, it fell short of my expectations.

The book promises to help you save money and avoid dealer tricks, but most of the advice felt like common sense stuff you could find with a quick Google search. Nothing groundbreaking or particularly strategic.

I was especially disappointed by the negotiation section - it basically just said 'be confident' without giving any real tactics or scripts to use. When I tried applying their vague advice at a dealership last week, the salesperson ran circles around me.

The section on timing your purchase was somewhat useful, confirming that end-of-month and end-of-year are generally good times to buy. But again, this is information that's widely available elsewhere.

What really frustrated me was how repetitive it got - the same basic points kept getting rephrased to fill pages. Felt more like padding than practical guidance.

If you're completely new to car buying and want a very basic primer, maybe it's worth a skim. But for anyone who's bought a car before or done minimal research online, this probably won't add much value to your knowledge.