He can get it for you wholesale; well, if not wholesale, at least these brokers can get you autos for below retail.

"This is a true story," says Stephen Wilber, a car broker who is about to relate one of a million car-buying horror stories he's heard over the years from his customers.

One day a guy walks onto a car lot in the San Fernando Valley to buy a car, and he is quoted a price that he likes. But when the car buyer goes into the office to sign the papers, suddenly the price is higher.

The car buyer then calls the manager, who again quotes the low price in a conversation on the lot. But then, again, in the office the price is higher.

"After four or five hours of this, the guy says he doesn't want to do business," Wilber relates. The car dealer takes his revenge by "throwing the keys of his trade-in on the roof" of the dealership, Wilber relates.

He is owner and president of the Woodland Hills-based L.A. Car Connection. He makes his living by charging car buyers $180 and up to find them the car they want and help them buy it at a lower cost than what they would have paid if they shopped themselves.

In exchange for a fee, Wilber can get a car buyer hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars off what they would have paid if they bought the car themselves, he says. And the car buyer doesn't have to deal with "pushy, aggressive" car salesmen and saleswomen, he says.

The Department of Motor Vehicles doesn't keep statistics on how many car brokers are out there, since brokers carry the same license as car dealers, says Bill Madison, spokesman for the DMV.

But Ivan Blum, owner of Leasing Consultants, Discount Auto Brokers in Woodland Hills, estimates there are probably about 200 car brokers in L.A. County.

That estimate includes "the independent who works in his living room with a computer and a fax machine," he says. There are probably only 50 brokers who have DMV licenses, says Blum, who provides bank financing for about 32 of them.

Blum and other brokers recommend that car buyers deal only with brokers with licenses because, in order to get a license, the broker must put up a $10,000 bond. Unlicensed "brokers" can scam unknowing car buyers, stealing their money or even the car they think they're buying, Blum says.

"If you get a car (through a broker) and you find out that car is not registered in your name, the broker has a $10,000 bond," he says. "That bond protects you."

Blum says many people buy cars from him not only to save money, but to save time. "I've been told I am the equivalent of 18 hours of aggressive haggling" on the car lot, Blum says.

Stephen Del Zio, owner of California Auto Buyers in Redondo Beach, says he wants his clients to go to a dealership before they come to see him.

The reason: "There's no way you can write a $10,000 check and feel good about it unless you've already been asked to write a $15,000 check," Del Zio says.

Brokers operate through established relationships they have with auto dealerships where they have agreements to get certain cars for certain amounts over invoice, which is the price the dealer pays the manufacturer for the car.

"Sometimes dealers want to move cars," Wilber says. "There are dealer incentives. It's my job to find out who will give you the incentive."

Del Zio says he has a network of about 500 auto dealerships around California and on average can save a car-buyer about $1,200. Del Zio says he charges a flat rate of $125 to find your car. For that $125, the buyer gets research, including a final price on three automobiles from which the customer chooses.

Blum, who provides auto leasing deals as well as auto buying deals, says he charges an average of $180.

Wilber charges $180 for finding a car which sells for $30,000 or less and charges more for luxury vehicles, he said. The largest commission Wilber ever received was $3,000 for finding a customer a $100,000 Mercedes 500 SL, he says.

Even after paying the $3,000 fee, "I still saved him $10,000 off the best possible price he got," Wilber says.

The brokers interviewed say car buyers ought to shop around before finding a broker.

Some, like Del Zio and Wilber, occasionally get a commission from the auto dealer on top of the fee from the car buyer. Both Del Zio and Wilber say that, despite the fee, they still save customers hundreds or thousands off what they would have paid if they ventured into a car dealership alone.

Blum says he doesn't get a fee from the dealer, noting he feels that would be a conflict of interest.

Brokers say getting the best price is important to their business, because most of their customers come to them from referrals. Del Zio says about 70 percent of his business is from referrals from past customers.

Wilber also reports that word-of-mouth brings him most of his business.

Going to a car broker is not the only way for the prospective car buyer to get a deal. Many banks and credit unions offer special car-buying programs for their customers.

For instance, at Home Savings of America, savings and loan customers with balances of more than $10,000 are given the names of fleet managers of certain auto dealerships, says Mary Trigg, spokeswoman for the Irwindale-based institution.

The car buyer can sometimes save money by going through the fleet manager, who deals in bulk, than through a salesman, who works for a commission, Trigg says.

Another option for a car buyer is to go through the Price Club, said Deborah Davis, spokeswoman for the San Diego-based Price Co., which owns the chain of discount Price Club stores. The Price Club can get its members cars for $100 to $1,000 over invoice, Davis says.

The Price Club has an arrangement with one dealership for every major make of car in three geographic areas of Los Angeles County. Under the agreement, Price Club members get a name at the dealership and that person will show the car-buyer the invoice and the negotiated price over invoice, Davis says.

On the down side, the Price Club deal may not include "every car that's available," Davis says. But on the upside, the car deal is included in the annual Price Club membership fee of $25 a year, she says.

"We feel people will do better going through the Price Club than through a broker," Davis says. But she adds that she can't say definitively if a car buyer would do better than going through a broker or going alone.

The car-buying business "is a highly negotiable industry," she says.

Blum says one deal he often can't beat is the advertised special a dealership has on a given weekend.

And Wilber says he often loses customers because they feel they can get a better deal on their own. Many people who are sold a car from a dealership come off the lot boasting that they got the car at $100 over invoice, he says. "Everyone wants to believe it," Wilber says.