re: Unreasonable Expectations

For my past two trucks, I've spent maybe 15% of my time searching in Louisiana. The rest goes to looking in Texas. I don't like bothering with dealerships here.

For my current truck, I passed up on an identical (every single thing except color) truck in BR on the way to look at one in Houston. Both were in perfect condition. Lowest price after much haggling in BR was $19k. Price without any haggling in Houston was $14k. Got it for $13.5k after 5 minutes of conversation since I drove/flew from New Orleans.

I flew in on Spirit the next day, they picked me up, handed them the cash, and I left the dealership an hour after getting there. Zero sales tactics to deal with from the dealership.

Eta: use cars.com, auto trader, cargurus, and local CL in your search