Just deal with the online side of them. Our last 3 cars i bought were that way.

Find something you want optioned the way you want, send them an email with the VIN, say, "This is the exact build i want, these are the MUST have features and these are the ones i don't care about.

I'm not interested in anything else that isn't on this list.

My bank will give me the following finance terms, i'm happy to go through you if you are in the same ballpark (dealers make some nice coin off the financing). I am ready to buy today\next week\next month (whatever you want). Looking at a few places, here is what I believe to be a fair offer. I have a trade, here is its mileage, VIN, and condition, I expect to get X for it based on Y, and i will not be interested in doing business with you if you tell me that is possible, only to come back with different numbers unless something substantial is found during inspection.

Please respond with your best and final offer, and the VIN of the vehicle you have in mind, I'm not interested in back and forth or anything that differs substantially from what i wrote above.

Take that, clean up the language a bit, plug in your numbers, and then copy and paste it in an email to every dealership that is under an hour drive away.

I think i spent a grand total of like 3 hours, including signing papers, when i bought our last car.

Just be honest in what you want, reasonable in your expectations, and ready to move on stuff. Its silly to spend days and back and forth over a couple hundred bucks on a trade in price or getting "the best" price you can. If the dealer knows you aren't going to eat up their time, and they will make a quick buck on the transaction, they are happy to have your business and move on to the next guy.

The more of their time you eat, the less likely you are to get a good price, because now they have to recoup that time they could have spent on other customers.

Repeat the process once or twice and then your dealership knows you are a quick and easy customer, and it only gets easier.