Car buying has certainly changed with all the info available on the internet. KBB and other sites let you know what the new or used car should sell for as well as what your trade in is worth.
Armed with that info, I go in with the knowledge of what I am willing to pay. Including what I am willing to pay for extended warranty on a used car. Just need to understand the dealership will make some money, but cut your best deal. Usually don’t have an issue cutting the deal.
I’ve done well the last few used cars (2 years old off lease) I bought for my wife. One place you can make up some money is the extended warranty. Last two were Honda’s and I was able to get the warranty a little over half the original quote.
I’ve leased my last two trucks, but bought the 2nd one at the end of the lease. Had 3-5k equity in it and decided to just buy it. Equity was probably 4k, just depends on what site you got the your info from. Was a 3 year lease and had 18,500 miles on it. Just made sense to buy it out. Didn’t care to dump 4-5k of a down payment to rent a truck for 3 years, and lease deals were not good at that time on trucks.