When shopping for cars, women don't haggle -- and it's costing them a bundle.

According to a new book, "Women Don't Ask," female car shoppers will pay as much as $1,353 to avoid negotiating the price of a car. And while that's an awful lot of money to part with, it's easy to understand the dread of going toe-to-toe with a car dealer.

"You're negotiating with a seasoned professional whose been trained to get every dime out of you," says Jack Gillis, author of "The Car Book."

That's not exactly a fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And plenty of male car shoppers feel the same way. They dread negotiating enough to want to bypass it altogether.

"Anyone who doesn't like the negotiating process will do whatever it takes to get out of there quickly," Gillis says. "There are plenty of men who go in and who make really bad purchasing decisions and don't negotiate well."

Still, there's got to be a way to land a good deal on a car and avoid an agonizing price negotiation.

And there is: Let car dealers haggle with each other over your business.

"Pit two or three dealers against each other," Gillis says. "That's your best weapon."

E-mail, fax or phone several car dealers in your area. First, tell them exactly what kind of vehicle you're looking for. Next, make it clear that you're contacting several dealers and that you'll buy from the dealer that offers you the best deal.

Then wait for the offers to roll in.

"You're going to get all your good responses in the first 24 or 36 hours," says W. James Bragg, author of "The Car Buyer's and Leaser's Negotiating Bible."

Be sure to direct your offer to a sales manager or fleet manager. You want somebody with the authority to negotiate a deal to read your request.

It's best to make contact on a weekday near the end of the month when car dealers, looking to meet monthly sales quotas, are more likely to cut you a deal on price.

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How many dealers you contact is up to you. But you can expect about half to get back to you with offers. Contact 10 dealers and you're likely to hear from five. Contact 15 dealers and you're likely to hear from seven or eight.

Dealers that are really interested in your business are going to respond to your request in a hurry. You could have a couple of offers to compare within the hour.

Don't be surprised at the range of offers you receive. It's not unusual to find a $1,000 difference between the lowest and highest offers you receive from dealers. And you could save a lot more.

Drive dealers to desperation
How long you extend the negotiation process is up to you. If you want, you can e-mail the lowest dealer offer to other dealers to see if they're willing to beat it to get your business.

"It's not unusual for there to be a couple of dealers who are desperate for the deal and keep coming back with lower bids," Bragg says.

Do you like the idea of dealers competing for your business, but don't have the time or the inclination to contact dealers and sift through offers?

Let somebody else do the heavy lifting and research for you.

All you have to do is complete a quick online form and a dealer in your area will get back to you with a quote on the vehicle you want, typically within 24 hours. These pricing services are free and you're under no obligation to buy.

This package gives you the lowdown on prices and incentives for the car you want plus detailed sales data. It's also chock-full of car-buying advice and even includes sample faxes to send to car dealers.

Drive dealers in a frenzy

Bragg is a big believer in getting dealers to compete for your business.

"Make it a competitive bidding situation," Bragg says. "Use the fax attack and save time, money and aggravation."

Another option for negotiation-averse car shoppers is to sign on for a car-buying service. One of the best is CarBargains, which is part of the Center for the Study of Services, a nonprofit consumer research group in Washington, D.C.

The service is pretty straightforward. You tell CarBargains the make, model and style of the vehicle that you want and they'll get at least five dealers in your area to bid against each other for your business.

Once this happens, CarBargains will send you all dealer bids and contact information, as well as invoice cost information and consumer advice on everything from financing and extended service contracts to the value of your trade-in.

Then it's just a matter of selecting the dealer bid that you want and wrapping up the deal on your own.

"In 30 to 40 percent of cases, they get prices below invoice," Gillis says.

The only downside of the CarBargains buying service is the cost, which is $190. But once you weigh the cost of the service with the money you're likely to save, it's still a pretty good deal.

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You could save hundreds, even thousands of dollars by getting dealers to compete for your new-car business. And with CarBargains doing all the legwork, you can avoid the hassles and headaches of contacting dealers on your own.

"Let someone else do the dirty work in terms of getting the best price," Gillis says. "It's well worth a couple of hundred bucks to have someone else go through the process."

Whatever negotiating help you choose, it's bound to be better than giving up an extra $1,300 to a dealer just because you hate to haggle.