Dealer Fraud

Often car dealers tell consumers that their trade-in vehicle is worth less than it really is and a lot less than customers think it is. What’s even worse sometimes they fail to inform the customer that the car has a so called “negative equity“.
Negative equity is the term most car dealers use to explain why your car wasn’t worth what you owed on it when you wanted to trade it in.
“Upside down” or “in the bucket” are similar terms that car dealers use to trick car buyers in order to literally steal the trade-in vehicle. This happens when the dealer takes the car as trade-in but later adds the payoff amount to the price of the car that the customer is buying.

Avoid this scam: Know for sure the price of your trade-in and the amount of your loan payoff before going to the dealership. You may check trade-in values online. Look in newspapers to see what dealers are selling your kind of trade-in vehicle for. Remember, the more you are informed, the harder it will be for the dealer to scam you. Also, be careful for each step of the process.

Every time a new feature is added to cars it seems like a scam appears for car dealers to take advantage of and make more profit. A good example of this is airbags. I can’t wait to see what the scammers dream up for in-dash GPS systems! In fact there are a number of car scams to talk about in the present and there are always car repair and towing scams to worry about.

It is obvious that getting our cars repaired is often very costly. However it is even worse to be scammed in the process op repair. If you want to avoid car repair scams the best way is to know the common tricks scammers use. There is a long list of car scams and it is growing larger every day.

Be cautious if you are shopping for a vehicle and you find one that looks great but is priced far below the going rate. There is no need to sell the vehicle so cheap if it is in good. There are certainly valid reasons for a person to sell a car below the going rate but this is something that should raise red flags and lead you to try and find the reason from the person selling the car. If you are given a particularly weak answer you should start wondering what’s wrong with the vehicle. Check the vehicle for the following:

• Musty smell or too much air freshener
• Gravel or sand in the interior and especially under the dashboard
• Priced lower than fair value
• Electrical problems
• Vehicle History Reports may indicate if the car suffered previous water damage
• Car is from New Orleans

When you intend to purchase a used car it is always a good idea to have it inspected by an independent mechanic. Remember, these inexpensive pre-purchase inspections are inexpensive and can save you a tremendous amount in the long run.
Always get a car history report to be informed about the current condition of the vehicle. Make sure you get as much information about the vehicle you intend to buy before purchasing a used car.

You have probably seen submerged cars on television and wondered what happened to them after the flood.
In fact, most of these cars end up on street corners and used car lots with For Sale signs on them. However, flood damaged vehicles should be considered total losses and should never to be driven again. For some dishonest car dealers these cars are another good opportunity to make profit at your expense.
According to some sources such as CARFAX (Virginia firm that does background checks on used vehicles) an estimated 75,000 vehicles were ruined by floods and declared totaled by insurance companies after Hurricane Floyd struck Florida in 1999. Hurricane Katrina in the New Orleans is said to have flooded up to a half million cars. People living in this state expect to see flood damaged cars for sale so the cars are shipped to other areas where consumers are less likely to suspect that the car they are buying was submerged in water.
Knowing that these flood cars are out there is one thing but how can you tell which ones they are after they’ve been spiffed up and detailed? Luckily there are some things to look for when buying a used car that can identify which ones were underwater.

Today, more and more dealerships “pack” a contract with add-ons such as service contracts, warranties, options and accessories that you did not ask for. Some of the most common add-ons are “protection packages” and rust-proofing. Remember, that this is simply another way for the dealer to make profit and scam you.

How to avoid this dealer fraud:
• Never sign the contract until you read it carefully and make sure there are no items you did not authorize.
• If the dealer told you there are you were told you something was included for “free”, check to see that the item is in the contract and that you were not charged for it.
• If there is anything included in the contact that you don’t want, simply tell the salesman that you will not pay for it. Put a line through the item in the contract and reduce the Total Sale Price by that amount.

Sales Meetings at Dealership
This is usually a morning prep rally when the management talks to the sales staff and informs them what vehicle has the cash bonus to the salesman who sells it first, and other promos.

Meet and Greet the Customer
Usually car dealers are required to pounce on the customer the minute he steps foot on the dealership lot. This is generally done by using businesslike polite language and introductions.
Be wary as this is just one of the common dealer tricks. Remember that the main goal of the car dealer is to sell you a vehicle for the most profit they can get out of you. Salespersons are paid on commission … the higher the price they get you to pay, the more money they make.

It is legal for car dealers to offer loan periods extending out six or seven years. After all, many cars last longer than they used to, and longer loan terms mean your monthly payments are lower than they otherwise would be.
However, there’s still a danger for car buyers. These loans usually take forever to pay off. Most car buyers are likely to continually owe more on their car than it’s worth. The reason for this is because your car is depreciating faster than you’re paying it off. In case you’re considering a long loan period, the best option for you is probably to consider a less expensive car, which will be better suited to your budget.
Today, some dealers will offer that you purchase a car for very low monthly payments, but with a balloon (inflated or much larger) payment at the end of the loan period. In a few cases, this can be a legitimate way to finance a car. For instance, you may just have graduated and can realistically assume that your income will rise by the time the balloon payment comes due.
However be wary and make sure you know what you’re doing.
You can easily avoid all of these dealer tricks and car fraud by educating yourself. There are many dealers are good and honest, but there are always some that you need to be more careful of. Always know what you want to buy and know your alternatives to dealer financing. Then, be careful of the dealer selling you things you don’t want.

Recently a motor vehicle salesperson explained to me that there are 11 main steps that most car dealers use to get the most profit out of car sales that they can get in a deal.
One of these scams is the dealer prep. For new cars, this means doing what the factory requires but watch out they don’t try to charge you for “dealer prep”. This fee is already paid by the factory. If the dealer charges you for this he simply gets double the money.
For used cars, this scam means anything from putting sawdust in the transmission to “clocking” the odometer and altering it to reflect a more desirable lower number that makes the vehicle worth more.

Tip: If you intend to buy a used car, always take the car to an independent mechanic and have it inspected. In case the car dealer won’t let you do this, there’s probably a reason so be careful. If you are buying a new car, watch out for all the extra charges the dealer will try to tack on to the deal. Remember, that they are all negotiable.

Fraudulent practices in the used car department increase as new car sales are slowing down. Car dealers today use dealer fraud just to keep the money flowing.

According to some predictions by the end of the year the US automakers will drop to less than a 50% share of the market in US new car and truck sales. It should be mentioned that sales figures are dropping not only for the Big Three but for virtually all makes. That’s why consumers should be more careful now if they decide to visit a local car dealer and purchase a used car.

One of the newest dealer scams include the tire care package that some dealers are packing into your monthly payment, sometimes without the buyer even knowing it. The tire care package is really not much more than just a scam when the consumer pays the car dealer for tires that he might (or might not) need in the future.

Negative equity scam complaints are also increasing. This happens when the dealer informs that your trade in vehicle is not worth what you owe on it “but don’t worry, we’ll pay off your trade in anyway”. What they don’t tell you is that they are jacking up the price of the car they’re selling you too.

Another common dealer fraud is the Gap Insurance when the dealer sells you a high priced guarantee. Generally the dealer promises that if your car is stolen or wrecked and your own insurance won’t pay it off, then they’ll put money toward the payoff too.

Sometimes car sales contracts include a charge for what car dealers call a “documentary fee.” Be aware as this is a dealer scam designed on the purpose to make extra profit. Actually, doing the documents is part of the dealer’s responsibilities and they do it in every case so there’s not really any extra work involved.
Car dealers in some states, like Ohio, are allowed to charge the documentary fee if they are arranging your financing, but there’s nothing that requires it and there’s nothing that says it has to be the maximum amount that even those laws allow under some specific circumstances.
Try to shop at the dealership that don’t charge this fee and avoid wasting your money and becoming a victim of dealer fraud.