This is pretty much the car that I bought: http://www.marinadelreytoyota.com/vehicle/specs/toyota/corol...

One of the first dealers I visited in person told me the sticker price of $18,050, and I didn't think much of it since I thought they would easily lower it. At the desk, they quoted the sticker price and wouldn't budge until we walked out and were already halfway down the driveway, then whispered a price of $16,800.

Second in-person dealer, my dad called a friend and asked for a dealer recommendation. He went up to him and talked about all their mutual contacts and asked for his best price and was quoted $16,400 and that he couldn't go lower than that.

I sent a counter offer to one of my Carwoo dealers and got my car for $16,200. I also got a $1,000 college graduate rebate (which I would've gotten at other dealers too).

To skip all that running around and haggling, I would feel more at ease sitting at my computer and clicking "Accept deal" and paying the $49 for the service.

Edit: Before using Carwoo, I tried to get a quote from a local dealer through their website. I guess I skipped some fine print because they ended up leaving me voicemails and emails for the next 2 months.

At the end of the day, if you try to do it yourself, you'll spend a lot more time (especially if you drive to a few dealerships).

Plus, if you do it yourself, you'd have to give your email address and/or phone number to a bunch of car dealers. And, don't take my word for it, take stjarnljuset's in the post above this, if you give a dealer your contact info, you'll be getting spammed for quite a while.

Nearly everyone gives better support through twitter than email, simply because email is a private medium. If you ask a question on twitter, not only do they have the same incentive to solve your problem as you do through email, they have the additional incentive to not look bad in front of the rest of the freaking world.