Yeah, not really my cup of tea either. Some will say do everything over the internet, but that is hard if you need to test drive the particular vehicle. You could test drive, then go through the online sales dept however.
Some things I will do to cut through the B.S.
- Only deal with OTD pricing (Out The Door) as you mention and do not waiver. Cuts through all of the take some from here, a bit from there, any financing kick-back, etc, razzmatazz game. Basically the price you would write a check for, and if the old "oop's, we missed this fee" would come up, it's more "oop's, you missed a sale", leave and tell everyone what a bunch of crooks they are.
- Do not allow them to keep you hostage. Set a limit for your time, and head toward the door... They want to keep you there, wearing you down to say uncle. You say you have competition, so use it to the max as you mention.
- I have never used a buying service, but some folks find them great. So many folks hate buying a car it seems a thriving business, and may be a worthwhile benefit.
- Try and leverage freebies, and spiffs for yourself. Could be an option thrown in, free service otherwise not included, etc. ASK, all they can say is no.
- If the vehicle has factory to dealer incentives, those are yours... Use those and continue to really work a deal, not let the dealer crow about so much off, like they are doing you some favor.
- Go on cargurus.com, view the particular vehicle of interest, and see how long it has been on the lot. Gives you some idea of how hard you can really hammer them. Midsize sedan sales in general are SLOWWWWW, so make that work toward your advantage. How slow? I recently test drove a brand new 2017 Madzda6, and upfront it was $8k off of MSRP (not that, that is a great price anyway), with plenty of new 18's on the lot too. It's crazy how once bread and butter that could command near sticker price, have died in such a short time.
Good luck Case, and I hope you find the vehicle you want, and a great price.