CAR DEALER SCAMS.

ch4 - NBC

Scott - what kind of stories?? Tell us!!

my BIL was a victim of bait and switch...he lives in AZ and went to buy a 4x4 pickup...they made a deal with him...but he didn't think to check to make sure it said 4x4...they gave him a 4x2!!!!


he went back the next day to the owner of the mega dealerships in the area...and they guy was fired on the spot...and BIL got his 4x4

wow...we just bought a car from a dealer like that...but we went with some help...

We had a friends and family number which guaranteed our price 1% below Invoice (not MSRP...but what the company sold the car to the dealer for)

but we kept quiet about it and negotiated on the trade in...when we were happy with what they offered us...we told them about the #...and if you could have seen the look on the guys face!!!!

then that whole interest thing came into play...they wouldn't give us the rate we wanted so we said we would pay cash...we got into the finance office and they had the paperwork all set for financing...trying to fool us into financing?? (they didn't even ask us if we wanted to put more money down!!) we made them rewrite it so that we could pay cash


this is the kicker....a few days later they tell us our friends and family number isn't valid and we have to come in and give them the rest of the money!!! we checked the number...they called back (getting mean and rude) the number wasn't valid...but we got the number from a friend who top manager at the Chrystler Proving Grounds (where they test the cars)!!! We told him they said it wasn't valid and he called and torn them a new @sshole... we were never bothered by them again...but I complete all those surveys and they do not reflect well...i am also writing them a letter for a formal apology (since they couldn't rip us off...this was the only thing I could think of)

DH is not in the same class!

The two dealers I worked at would pull some scams on customers....One dealer would bang the customer out for the highest finance charge that they could get from them....All of these buyers were credit risks, meaning they had bad credit or no credit.

Im not talking 9% or 10%, I am talking 16% to 24%.

The other dealer I worked for would charge customers for things they didnt receive. We had one F&I guy that used to charge customers $1500 extra for a teflon coating. He told them that it lasted the lifetime of the car, and you never had to wax the finish again. Sounds good right? It would of if the teflon was actually applied to the car.

All we did was wash them, and sometimes wax them...and send them out.

The other thing he did was charge people for different grades of window tint. He said there was the plain tint....and then after another few grades of tint there was the platinum tint. Meaning if the window shattered the tint would hold the glass in tact.

All the tints costed the dealer $75 to be put on. They used to charge $250 plus. The platinum tint was around $1300.

I didnt work in the sales department, I worked in the detailing department. I was an assistant manager at one dealer...and believe me...even in the back of the dealer there was alot of scamming going on.

Even if it wasnt scamming of money....there were alot of tricks of the trade with detailing of the used cars, and prepping of the new cars, that I just didnt believe in doing.....and I couldnt believe that some people did it.

A few examples would be filling in paint chips on cars with magic marker....especially worked on black cars...and the paint would stay for the time the customer picked up the car...and would last until it rained or the customer washed the car.

The second thing is that on used cars....The detailer used to paint the carpeting with carpeting paint...If the stains wouldnt come out. This doesnt sound like a bad idea.....right? The paint doesnt last that long, and the stain will eventually come out....especially if it is made by an oil based product...or some sort of fruit punch.