Dear Tony,

I stumbled across your Website the other day by coincidence and I really take offense to your website and how you think (I put the emphasis on think) car salesman and Dealers are.

I am a salesman and I have never ripped off, pressured, promised something, or stuck someone. I look at each person who comes on our lot as someone with a need just as someone shopping for a TV or a Washer and Dryer or a Refrigerator.

It's websites like this that give the car business a really bad name. It looks like you were in the car business at one time but It either didn't work out for you or you worked for a dishonest dealer.

When I sit down with a customer I lay it all out for them. They know what they are getting for their trade, how much the new car costs and the payment . . . no secrets! Just so you know no one is getting rich selling new cars today. The vehicle companies have cut the price of these cars to the bone and as for "BIG COMMISSIONS" lining our pockets, we get paid on average $100 flat fee on new cars no matter what the MSRP is or what I sell it at.

As for used cars I show every customer the KBB or NADA retail price on all of my used cars and I don't and I won't sell anything that I wouldn't drive myself. The auto industry is the ONLY industry that the public can find out the COST of the product. I dare you to go into your local Sears and ask them to see the INVOICE on that Kenmore washer and dryer combo . . . THEY WOULD LAUGH AT YOU!!

I know there are Dealers that are out there that prey on people and for that I am ashamed, but MOST dealers that are in business are reputable or they won't survive in this competitive climate. I am an honest person that treats people with dignity and respect and TRY to help them and I work for a dealer that believes in that same philosophy.

I have customers that come back to me to buy and also send me people to buy cars from me, surely it's not because they like the way that I rip them off. I don't know why you need to post "insider Jargon" on your website. It just causes people to hate us more and make our jobs tougher. We are all here just to make an honest living. Profit is not a dirty word.

Michael R.

My Response to This Email:

Hi Michael,

Listen Michael, if you are indeed the honest salesman that you say you are and you work for an honest car dealer then I tip my hat to you! If you would have taken some time and really read through some of my website you would have noticed that in many places I tell my readers that there are indeed good and honest sales people in the business, and that they should do business with them.

However, don't be so naive or deluded into thinking that as you put it: "It's websites like this that give the car business a really bad name." What planet do you live on anyway?

First of all, there are no other websites like mine. Yes there are some who pretend to be, but most of these people have never even worked in the business. My website contains over 400 pages of information that is the absolute truth. There is no bull or twisting of the facts or theory on my website. Only the real truth.

Believe me Michael, the car business had it's bad reputation long before my website ever came into being, and it's their own doing!

You sound like you've lived a pretty sheltered life in the car business. Apparently you have no clue about what really goes on in many dealerships across the country.

I've spent 37 years in the car business at all levels of sales, financing and management, working in dealerships in Florida, Missouri and Ohio, and it's the same story everywhere I go. Yes there are dealerships like yours, but there are many more who could care less about their customers and who will pull every trick in the book to get what they can out of a customer.

Yes, yes I've heard the TV, Washer and Dryer, Furniture Store and Sears scenario so many times that it makes me want to puke!

It's the car business itself that made the system what it is - by the car dealers cutting each other's throats on price! It's been going on for a hundred years, and the system will never change because of greed.

As long as there is something to negotiate, whether it's the price of the car, the trade, the payment or whatever there will be a substantial number of car dealers who will scheme, and trick customers into paying more than they have to.

I never said dealers make "Big Commissions" on new cars. Certainly they do on used cars and there's nothing wrong with that if a customer agrees to the price without being coerced and lied to. My website levels the playing field for the customers. If you're as honest as you say you are you have nothing to worry about.

Wait until you get a few years under your belt and get a good look at what really goes on in other car dealerships before you get all high and mighty about things that you obviously have little knowledge of.

All my very best . . .

Tony Iorio