Car Dealer Scams What To Look For
Dealership scams out there
Are you thinking of buying a car but hesitant to approach your
local car dealer because you are not sure about the processes of
buying a car as well as wary of possible dealership scams? Do
you feel that your knowledge about cars and getting great deals
is not good enough and you want to learn more about this matter?
Then reading these tips will enhance your understanding about
dealership scams.
The car dealer and his trade
To have a proper understanding of car dealership scams, you must
first have an idea of the car dealers themselves and how they go
about their trade selling cars. First of all, the car dealer
will not give you a price quotation as much as he possibly can.
This is because the tendency of the buyer would be to go to
another dealer and the other one will probably offer a lower
price thus, the first dealer loses the buyer to the second
dealer. To increase their chances of getting you to buy their
car, they will try to make you commit to them before they give
you the final selling price. On your part, you can do two
things: maneuver the dealer into telling you the price quotation
or negotiate the terms of the deal with them. If you decided to
negotiate with the dealer then be always on the lookout for the
following tricks:
Low balling
This is one of the tricks most commonly done by dealers. They
will try to convince the buyer that they can provide the lowest
possible price for the car thereby prompting the buyer to start
negotiations with the dealer. The salesman will probably tell
you that you can get the car that you want for a lesser amount
but when you are about to enter negotiations, it turns out that
you were not promised a lower price after all. It is just an
empty promise.
Best price matching
When you tell the dealer that you will try to look around and
check other car dealerships, the salesman will ask you to
comeback when you get the best possible price and he will offer
to match it. By this time, you will probably be too tired and
sick of looking around. Chances are that you will take their
offer.
Trade in scam
When you have already bought the car, the salesman will try to
contact you before your new car is delivered and tell you that
the initial pricing of the car was $500 lower and would like to
collect the balance from you. If you fall for this, he will get
an extra $500 at your expense.
Spraying
What the dealer will do is to pursue you relentlessly until you
give up and buy the car. On the other hand, if you decided to
buy from another dealer, he will call you and tell you that he
could have given you a lower price thus making you upset. To
avoid this, you should not hand out your contact number. Some
even give wrong contact numbers just to evade very irritating
car dealers.
Puppy dog trick
The dealer will allow you to take the car for an overnight or
for a whole day, his aim is for you to fall for the car and buy
it.
Immediate sale
The dealer will give you a very attractive price but he will
also make you believe that this deal can only be made until the
end of the day. This will cause you to think too much and in the
end, make the mistake of buying the car without checking what
other car dealers have to offer.
Extra accessories
The dealer will offer to give you extras like: car mats, window
tinting, and other accessories. This aims to stop you from
asking for a lower price because of the perceived "extras" that
you will be receiving from the dealer. It will slow down the
price negotiations and divert your attention away from the
price.
All of us want the best deal available and we abhor the notion
that someone will take advantage of us through modis operandi
like car dealership scams. So before going to the local car
dealer, you better have a good idea of what he will be talking
about. As they say, only a fool will go to battle unprepared and
with no weapons. Your weapon will be knowledge, always remember
that.