Car Dealers' Tricks -- and How to Dodge Them

Buying cars is a tricky business. If you walk into a dealer showroom without doing your research, you could get fleeced. I stopped negotiating directly with dealers a long time ago. Instead, I use an agent to  find the best deal for me, paying him $200 for the service. He arranges to have the car delivered to my house so I don't have to set foot into the dealership, thus avoiding the inevitable pinky-ringed "closer" who pressures buyers into purchasing useless paint-protection sprays and other bogus extras that equate to pure profit for the dealer.

If you prefer negotiating with dealers directly, however, this article in the June issue of Car and Driver offers a number of tips for detecting and avoiding shady dealers' common tricks. For instance, some dealers will try to get you to commit to tell them how much you can afford to pay per month. This is the wrong way to buy a car. Never discuss monthly payments with a dealer. Negotiate the purchase price first, get it in writing, and then talk about financing (you're probably better off getting outside financing anyway -- learn all about at Credit.com's car loans section).

An especially dirty dealer trick is called "check ransoming." This is when a dealer asks you to write a check before a deal has been made to "prove to the manager you are serious." Then the check gets mysteriously "misplaced," putting you in an uncomfortable position that the dealer will use against you to close the deal against your better judgment. First of all, don't give the salesman your check until the contract is completely filled out and ready to go. Second, if you do hand over a check, you are within your legal rights to walk out and cancel it.

Do you have any car dealer "war stories?" Please share them in the comments!

Mark Frauenfelder – Editor-in-chief of MAKE magazine and the founder of the popular Boing Boing weblog, Mark was an editor at Wired from 1993-1998 and is the founding editor of Wired Online.

Comments

[rz]

Mark / editor - fyi, you have a broken link for the Car and Driver article

[Matej]

The correct URL.

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/high_performance/features_classic_cars/car_dealer_tricks_to_watch_for_buyers_info

Or you can click on my name.

[joel]

I think this is what you meant?

http://www.caranddriver.com/reviews/hot_lists/car_shopping/latest_news_reviews/buying_a_car_what_to_know_before_you_go_feature

[Rich]

Mark,

Where would someone find an agent to car shop for them?

Thanks.

[AHinMaine]

I wanna know more about using an "agent" to buy a car...

[kthejoker]

A good buyer's agent:

http://www.acscorp.com/

You tell them the make, model, and year, you list any features you want (color, leather, etc.) and they'll find the car in your general area, show you the dealer's invoice price, and negotiate out the rest and give you a quote.

You can take it or leave it.

I actually just used them to get general quotes and pricing on some different car brands. You'd be surprised the ranges in price for the same model/make/feature set!

[James]

Reminds me of this classic edmunds.com article where a writer went undercover and got hired at a high-pressure dealership.

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/buying/articles/42962/article.html

[Credit.com]

We've updated the link to the Car & Driver article! Thanks guys!

[Sarah]

Earlier this month, I drove about an hour to a dealership to look at a car I had seen on Autotrader. I test drove it, sat down with the saleswoman, filled out paperwork, waited to see the sales manager to finalize the deal... I even had the keys in my pocket. Then the sales manager quotes me a final price that is almost $3000 more than what's on the sticker (which matches their Autotrader listing.) Turns out, their Autotrader listing is an "e-price" (their term) which is contingent upon having FIRST put down $2795. If they had listed the true asking price on Autotrader (as every other dealer I looked at did,) I never would have bothered to go see this car, as it would have been excluded from my search for being over my upper price limit. I walked out.

The next night, I bought the same model car with the same accessories package, one model year older but with 2000 fewer miles, for $3500 less than these weasels' ACTUAL asking price. And it was a better color.

[Griff]

Interesting, I didn't realize there were "agents" that would do such for you. My last car purchase was easy, all the information you need is readily available online. Walking in with financing (don't need to use it, sometimes the dealer has a better deal) and no trade also helps a lot.

Just one question: What's a "Check?" Is that those paper things my parents used in the 20th century? Don't have any, so I guess I'm safe!

[SusanO]

The first (and only) time I bought a brand new car, I actually just phoned around all the Berkeley Nissan dealers and told them exactly what I wanted and asked for their best price. I eventually ended up with a pretty good deal ($6995 for a standard pickup, no extras), but when I got into the dealership they showed me a truck that was several thousand dollars more. Apparently I needed to specify the unique ID# of the pickup I was quote. I just kept saying "I want the one that's $6995" over and over and over (those sales reps are nothing if not persistent) til he led me to my truck.

Even then it wasn't easy - I still had to "wait for the Manager's approval" for about 90 minutes. The rep came in a couple of times to tell me how hard he was pulling for me in there (give me a break), but eventually I got the papers ready to sign. Then at the last moment the guy wrote something on the last page - did you know trucks don't automatically come with a bumper? and I ended up having to pay an additional $400 just for the bumper. Of course, I'm pretty sure it was a ripoff, but I was just exhausted at that point. I'm sure that's part of their strategy.

Never again.

[Steve Taylor]

> I wanna know more about using an "agent" to buy a car...

My wife's union provides this as a service to members, and we used it successfully when buying a second hand car. If you're a member of a union you might want to check that out.

[Mark Frauenfelder]

Hi SusanO -- That's exactly why I won't buy a car directly from a dealer. Those kinds of games they play are disgusting.