A Story About A Slimebag Car Dealer!

Once you buy a car you can't return it to the dealer. You have to live with your purchase no matter how bad you may have screwed up. Well, shouldn't that work both ways?

Here's a car dealer who wants the customer to pay for repairs to the trade AFTER the car deal was over and the customer was already driving the new vehicle.

I received the following email from Krista:

"Hi Tony,

"Thank you for the great website! I just bought a car last Friday with a trade-in. When I made the deal, the dealer took the car for the afternoon to check it over. I had told him it needed some work (in particular, it needed new wheel bearings) When I returned he said their were some items wrong with it and I said I figured and that was that.

"On Monday, I picked up my new car, ownership and was done with it all. I had heard that onTuesday of this week the dealer had sold the trade at auction and it was now out of his hands. I figured the story was now over until today when I got a call from my dealer who said that the people who had bought it at auction now wanted to return it to HIM because there was too much that needed to be done with it.

"The dealer says that I now have to pay for the repairs for the car. How can this be?? Am I to be held responsible even after HE checked it out before taking the car? I would appreciate any help you may have because I am not sure what to do now (and he keeps CALLING me!).

"Thanks in advance Tony!"

Krista H.

Here's my response to Krista:

"Hi Krista,

"That's crazy! This is a new one on me. Once you trade a car and all the paper work is signed and money and cars have changed hands the deal is done. Unless . . . you signed something saying you would be responsible for the trade if he can't sell it or something like that, although I've never heard of anything like that. Check over all your paper work including the fine print.

"In the meantime tell this slimebag dealer that he looked at the car, he appraised it and he took it in on trade. That's the same as him buying the car from you. Tell him if he gives you any more crap about it you are going to file complaints with the Better Business Bureau and your state's Attorney General's office, and that you will get a lawyer and sue him if he doesn't stop harassing you.

"If he won't leave you alone you may very well have to follow through on your threats.

"If I had to guess about what is going on I would say somebody at the dealership made a bad call on the appraisal of your trade, and his or her superior is putting the pressure on to get more money out of you. Somebody's commission is probably on the line!

"In any case tell them the deal is done. Ask them if you thought you paid too much for the car you bought would they give you some money back on the deal? Fat chance of that. It works both ways!

"Do yourself a favor in the future and don't ever do business with these jerks again, and tell everyone you know to steer clear of them. They obviously can't be trusted to stand behind the car deals they make.

"Good luck,"

Tony Iorio
http://www.insidercarsecrets.com

Arizona Attorney General Goes After Car Dealers for Misleading Ads!

During the past 15 months, three Tucson-area car dealers have agreed to pay the state more than $275,000 after the Attorney General's Office filed lawsuits and claimed the car dealers' ads misled consumers, reports the Arizona Daily Star and as written in DealersEdge.com.

Dealers run into problems, an Attorney General's spokesman said, when customers can draw one conclusion from the big type and a different conclusion from the small type.

For example, in September 2004, the Attorney General sued a Toyota dealership claiming that newspaper and television ads promised 50 percent off the MSRP, on every new Toyota in stock. In the newspaper ad, the deal was followed by an asterisk, and said in small type, "See dealer for details."

According to the Attorney General, the 50 percent discount on the car was available only after the buyer first leased the new car for six years. Under the deal, a Toyota Avalon with MSRP of $29,942 would have cost the customer $30,331, the Attorney General's Office said. That's 1 percent more than MSRP, not 50 percent off. In January 2005, the Toyota dealer agreed to pay $152,000 to the Attorney General's consumer protection division.

In November 2005, the Attorney General sued another dealership claiming that, in multiple advertisements, the dealer offered free items that were not free!

According to the lawsuit, one deal offered customers a four-day vacation to San Francisco, a satellite dish and a refrigerator with each auto purchase. But the dealership added the cost of the items to the sticker price of the car, the lawsuit said.

In November 2005, the dealer agreed to pay $50,000 to settle the suit. For its part, a spokesman for the dealership said that the ads never claimed the store was giving away a free vacation, satellite dish and refrigerator with a car purchase. Those items were listed on the sticker, he said, and consumers were given the option of buying some, none or all!

And in December 2005, the Attorney General sued a Tucson Ford dealer claiming that a newspaper ad misleadingly promised 50 percent off MSRP. According to the lawsuit, the 50-percent-off sale involved just two trucks, both of which were sold by 8:30 a.m. on the first day.
The dealer agreed to pay $75,000 to settle the claims.

The moral of these stories is simple: don't believe anything you read in a car dealer's ad. These ads are designed for one thing , and one thing only - to get you in the door so their sales team can manipulate you through their "Car Selling System" into buying a vehicle.

Don't Be Intimidated Into Financing Your Car Through the Car Dealer!

I've been getting quite a few emails from my website visitors lately indicating that while shopping for a vehicle the car dealers are insisting that they fill out a credit application even when they tell the dealer that they are arranging their own financing or paying cash.

In some cases the car dealers have shown little interest in selling them a car if they don't finance the vehicle through the car dealer's Finance Office. All I can say is that these dealers have apparently lost focus of their primary business function - that is to sell cars!

It is true that car dealers make a lot of money arranging the financing on the cars they sell, but to refuse to sell a car to someone who is paying cash or arranging their own financing is the most idiotic car dealership practice I've ever heard of!

If you encounter such a situation when shopping for a car simply oblige the dealer and take your business elsewhere. Let him scratch his empty head wondering what happened!

When you inform a dealer that you are paying cash or arranging your own financing the Finance Manager will certainly attempt to convert you to their financing, but only a fool will let a car deal slip through their fingers if they can't get their own way.

Remember, when you are shopping for a car you are in control of the whole process. The dealer can't make you do anything you don't want to do. All you have to do if you are being pressured too much is get up and leave. There are plenty of car dealers out there who will appreciate your business. There is no need for you to put up with the high pressure tactics some dealers use to intimidate you into buying and financing through them.

I promise you that if you let the car dealer arrange your financing it will definitely cost you. They make a lot of money arranging the financing and selling you an array of related products from extended warranties to credit life and disability insurance. Where do you think their profits on these things come from anyway? You're paying them right in your car payments!

You can arrange your own financing, purchase an extended warranty and all the rest of it without their help and you will save thousands of dollars in the bargain.

Just read the tips on my website at www.InsiderCarSecrets.com to learn how to save on a car deal, financing and all the other stuff that goes along with it.