A practice called “spot delivery” sometimes pulls new or used car buyers back into the dealership to pay higher interest rates and bigger down payments.
When a dealer or finance manager tells you the warranty or other backend products are required to get the loan approved for the car. This is false. If you don’t want the warranty, it is your right to decline it.
This scam can happen when a dealer conveniently forgets to pay off your trade within the time allotted with your previous lienholder. This leaves you ultimately responsible for the remaining balance.
There’s no such thing as guaranteed approval, but many dealerships will use this type of advertising scam to get buyers on the lot that have less than perfect credit.
When you are purchasing a car and don’t have quite enough money for a down payment, be very cautious about the dealer’s offer of a deferred down payment.
Dealers may include a variety of excessive fees such as a dealer prep fee to increase the profit margin made on the sale of a new or used car. Learn how to recognize these fees and what to do about them.
Take the guesswork out of trading your car.
The dealer runs your credit and then tells you that you don’t qualify for the best interest rate but he can still get you decent financing. You sign at a higher interest rate than you really qualify for.
When the dealer increases your monthly auto loan payment to include back-end products such as an extended warranty without your knowledge.
A vehicle straw purchase is when someone who qualifies for an auto loan finances a vehicle for someone else who wouldn’t qualify. When a dealer leads you to have someone to buy the car for you is when it becomes a scam.
One of the deceitful tactics widely practiced by devious car dealers is a dealer add-on, which aims at maximizing their profit. These dealer add-ons are bloated well above their actual cost.
When customers don’t qualify on their own for financing, dealerships often suggest that they get a friend or family member to co-sign. The cosigner ends up being the primary buyer and it all goes downhill from there.
There are not many dealerships out there that actually have an in-house FLEET department. So what happens if you call and ask for the FLEET manager and they say, “Let me transfer you?”
Most car buyers don’t think much about the true value of their trade-in. Dealer’s know they can make an easy couple hundred (or thousand) dollars by not telling you what your trade is actually worth.
Most dealers will attempt to sell you useless but high priced add-ons such as fabric protection, loaner cars for life, maintenance packages, undercoating, etc. How to recognize and avoid this very common dealer scam.
When negotiating car payments and the salesperson shows you a payment plan that is much less than the last payments presented, it’s time to regroup. If a deal on a car seems too good to be true, it probably is.
Very similar to the guaranteed approval scam. This very common dealer advertising tactic is used to drive people with bad credit to the dealership so they can cherry pick the individuals that can actually finance a vehicle.
One of the oldest tricks in the book. This sneaky dealer scam is commonly used in advertising and over the phone to get you to come into the dealership. Learn how to recognize it and avoid it altogether.
Zero percent car financing isn’t a scam, but qualifying for it can be very difficult. If you do qualify for 0%, you will normally only be able to finance the vehicle for a very short term.
Mail flyers from car dealers that say you’ve won cash or prizes are bogus ploys to get you to come to the business. Once in the dealership to collect your prize the salesman will do whatever it takes to get you to buy a vehicle.
A few of the different types of dealer event sales are the Super Saturday Sale, Credit Union Sale, Push, Pull & Drag Sale, $29 Acquisition Sale, Recent Bankruptcy Sale, Give Away Sale — and the list could go on. Here’s how they work.
Buying a certified pre-owned vehicle or CPO is not a sure thing. Many times bad vehicles slip through the inspection process and become “certified” with underlying issues.
It is not illegal to buy, sell, or drive a salvage title vehicle, but it is illegal to sell a salvage title vehicle if its title does not say it is a salvage title vehicle. Learn how to recognize and avoid buying a rebuilt title vehicle.
