Dealer Fraud

In order to determine what you should pay for a car, it is recommended that you search for car pricing on the internet.  Car buying sites on the internet often show a car’s invoice price, and what it should cost you should you decide to add various options/packages to the car.

Finding out a car’s value puts you in a stronger negotiating position should you decide to negotiate the purchase of a car.  Visiting a car buying site such as Edmunds.com can give you the information necessary to gain that advantage during the negotiation process.

1.  You should purchase your new car during the Winter holiday season because not many people are looking to buy a new car at this time, and it forces salesmen to increase their sales strategies.  Salesmen are more willing to come down to your offer price to close the deal.

2.    If you are not able to purchase your vehicle during the Winter holiday season, you may also get a good deal on a vehicle from July to October.  During this time, dealerships are trying to get rid of their inventory to make way for new models, so use this to your advantage.

3.    Online car purchasing is becoming a great way to purchase a new car — just wait for good online incentives and rebates and be sure to shop around.  Presenting a dealership with a printout of deals available online may provide you with significant leverage when working with a dealership.

4.    When trying to negotiate with a dealership, make sure you have a copy of your credit score with you, as it can lower your interest rate on any loan you may try to secure.

5.    Don’t be quick to fall for a common dealership scam where you are told that your financing fell through and that you have to paying more money on your loan.  Again, have a copy of your credit score with you to alleviate any chance of being scammed.

A Forced Warranty Scam occurs when a finance manager tells you that you are not eligible for a loan from the bank unless you pay an extra amount of money for an extended warranty.

You can avoid a scam such as this by asking the finance manager to put in writing the fact that you “have” to pay for the extended warranty in order to get the loan.  Also, you may want to tell the finance manager that you want to check with the State’s Attorney General’s office to verify that such a request is lawful.  If you respond in either of these ways, it is likely that the finance manager will drop the extended warranty “requirement” in a heartbeat.

The “Dealer Preparation Scam”, another common practice that our office considers a scam, is yet another way dealers try to make money off of you.  Under this scam, a dealer will tell you that you have to pay an extra $500 to cover the labor costs of the dealership’s 5-point inspection.

The dealership’s 5-point inspection covers the dealership’s costs in removing the plastic from the seats, vacuuming the car, and making sure all the fuses and fluids are working properly when you purchase a vehicle.  When new cars are delivered to a dealership, the cost of delivery and the preparation of the vehicle for its sale is already included in the purchase price.  So, why should you have to pay for these costs twice?

This scam can be avoided by simply asking the dealership to include a $500 credit with the purchase price so you can make sure you do not have to pay any extraneous fees out of your pocket.  If the dealership refuses, the choice is yours – if you think it’s fine to buy the car, then go ahead and do so.  Otherwise, try working with another dealership and see if they are willing to remove the dealer’s preparation costs and/or provide you with a $500 credit.”

When you”re going in for your next car purchase keep your eyes peeled for the following scams.

1. The VIN# Window Etching Scam - Some dealers will charge you $300-$900 for window VIN# etching and tell you that you have to pay the money to get the loan because the bank insists on it. Don”t go for it.

Some dealers might tell you that the etching is free but will add on the etch money to your monthly payments to make up for it. The best way to avoid this scam is to force the dealer to put it in writing if they say that the etching is free or simply etch the car yourself.

Remember a lender doesn’t order that you purchase any extras on a car. All the lender cares about is that you can make your regular payments on time.

2. The Financing Scam - You trade in your old car in and the finance manager signs you up at the agreed interest rate and gives you the car. After a week or two passes and he/she calls saying that you didn’t qualify for the interest rates that they gave you when the deal was made.

Every new purchase in the contract has a clause  that usually states that the deal is “subject to loan approval.” This gives the finance manager an opportunity to get more money out of you. All that this clause means in the contract is that the deal is not finished yet even if you already have possession of the car and have signed the contract.

3. The Credit Score Scam - This is desperation in action. This is when the finance manager declares you that your credit score is lower than it really is so that they can get you for higher interest rates. This scam is pulled on everyone; good or bad credit. This scam is easy to avoid. Just get your own copy of your credit report from Equifax.com, and bring it with you.

It”s pretty hard to lie to you about your credit score if you have your own copy of it. If your paper and theirs doesn’t say the same thing, you might want to shop elsewhere because that dealership is sleazy. Don’t hesitate to inform them it too because it’ll be nice to watch them try to back out of that one.

There is something emotional about cars: they represent our taste and style, our economic status and our character. Some women claim that a car is a man’s extension of his reproductive organ. One the other hand (the good hand) there are women out there that might express their exhibitionism and extravagance by choosing to drive a red flashy car for the whole world to notice them. Both sexes would agree they sometimes feel they “fall in love” with a certain car model.

There are people who get very existed from a small scratch on the cars lower side, as if it were their own skin. The beauty of the car, its aerodynamics shape, the gadgets inside, the seats the feel of it all play a major part in our decision making.

In our modern life it’s almost impossible to function without one and it’s expensive to acquire, to finance and to maintain.

Buying a new car is a lot of fun, the new car has its unique smell no doubt about it, the very fact you can afford to own a brand new car is a great feeling.

When is the best time to buy a new car?

There are two “best times” to buy a car. The end of December is a good time for car buyers to buy a new car. Another good time to buy a car is July to October as new car dealers sell off cars at low prices to clear space for new car models. Secret factory to dealer incentives can be 1000-6000 in addition to new car consumer rebates!

It is good  to buy a brand new car from the show roombut while considering depreciation rate this simply means that about thirty to fifty percent of the cars value is gone and this explains why you would want to buy a used or repossessed car. Not only used car dealers can offer discounted pricesof used cars, today repossessed car auctions are offering even better deals considering the fact that repossessed cars are sold not necessarily to make profits but to cover the losses undergone by banks for example from people who are unable to pay their bank loans.

Before visiting a car auction, which is organized by government or banks it’s important to be aware of the latest retail prices of the cars you want to buy so that you can be sure not to miss out on any good deals available since you will find a huge selection of luxury cars some in near new conditions and in all models. As these vehicles are liabilities the longer the banks or government authorities hold these vehicles in their possession the more money they loose in terms of car value and maintenance cost which explain the reason why there is serious need to dispose off this cars quickly and this is where the good deals come into place for the buyers.

At these repossessed car auctions that are going at unbelievable low prices, some going for twenty to fifty percent off the original car value, it is quite easy to find seized cars. This is therefore a worth exploiting market where the buyer gets more value that what they pay for baring in mind that most of this cars are sold with their warranty still on.

When you are looking to buy a car with bad or poor credit it doesn’t leave buyers with lots of options. Their only choice in order to find a lender for their new car purchase is through a car dealer loan.

Car dealership loan deals are not as bad as a lot of people may think. However, it is certainly true that they may hide a lot of surprises so if you are in fact planning to use a Car Credit Loan you should be extra vigilant.

The first thing that you need to watch out for is if the interest rate happens to be fixed. By fixed I mean that it’s clearly stated in your contract and that all of it is written in a way that it wouldn’t allow the car dealership to change it at a later date. lots of car dealerships want to approve the loan application of your car, have you sign the documents, and hand you over the car. After that later on they just give you a phone call and state that in fact you do not qualify for the loan because you have poor credit (which is something you already knew to begin with) and that you must pay higher interest rates in order to keep the car. If you fall into this situation you should try to either find a loan from another lender or report the scam and fight back.

To make you look for a cosigner for your loan convincing you that this is the absolutely only way that you can get financing since you have a terrible credit history is another extremely popular scam done by car dealers. It won’t be difficult to convince you at all. Later on you will find out that your name is not included in the loan documents and that the loan is in the name of the cosigner only even though you are paying it . Not only is this illegal but may  also lead to serious penalties but it’s not helping your poor credit at all. If a dealerhship offers this you must absolutely refuse this.

If you have difficulties in finding a good loan, it’s pretty obvious that you shouldn’t overstretch yourself. What this mean is to buy a vehicle that is reasonably priced and not to buy into all of the extras like the extended warranties for example. Many Bad Credit Auto Loan will end up trying to trick you by making you believe that you must buy a warranty that will increase your loan just to qualify.

There’s nothing like scams to bring your blood to a boil. The car industry is the one that is hit a lot by scams.

New car dealers scams are a dime a dozen. You will surely find yourself as the next victim of these unscrupulous individuals, in case you are not vigilant enough. What you must know though is that there are several ways for protecting yourself from new car dealer scams and some the best methods to do so are discussed in this article. So if you are planning to buy a car and you want to protect yourself from scams, read on.

You must be aware of the common  these dealers try to fool customers from spending more money than they should on a new car, in order to protect yourself from new car dealers scams. The most common scam is concerned with a new car set monthly payments. The practice of many dealers is seting the monthly payment at the lowest possible cost to make it seem that the customer is getting the best deal. A closer look at the total price though will reveal that the car is overpriced. Do not fall for this scheme. The overall price of the car must always be checked before agreeing on the terms of payment.

Some dealers will also try to scam you by saying that you cannot negotiate or haggle at the prices of the cars. If there is one thing you should know about buying a car is that everything is negotiable. When you are confronted by dealers who claime that prices of the cars are non-negotiable the best thing that you can do is to return to that same dealer during off-peak times which is usually during weekdays. Car dealers, during this time, are more open to negotiating with customers.

You should also stand guard on unnecessary extended warranty deals.  The bottom line is you always have the last say. Be aware of new car dealers scams when buying a new car.

Early Termination

Most leases early termination terms can be very unpleasant for the consumer, particularly if the termination is forced, i.e., the car is totaled in an accident or stolen. Insurance pay-outs, in such cases, often fall far short of the balance due on the lease leaving you holding the bag. Many leasing companies will offer “gap insurance” for only a few dollars a month extra which is a wise investment.

There is a very good reason why it is so expensive to get out of a lease. Consider that your monthly payment is made up of two parts: depreciation and interest. The depreciation payment part is calculated by taking the difference between the cap cost and the residual (the total depreciation over the lease) and dividing it by the number of months.

But we all know that a car undervaluates more rapidly in the earlier years with the biggest hit occurring the day you drive the car off the lot. So when you terminate the lease before you have paid all of the depreciation, you will likely be required to pay the difference between what the car is worth and how much you have paid on the depreciation. This difference is often referred to as the “gap”.

Some lease contracts will stack the deck against you with the terms for early termination. For example, some Nissan Motors leases require the sum of all remaining payments be made before they will release you from the lease. Always read the fine print of the lease contract and understand your exact liabilities for early termination before you sign.

Higher Credit Requirements

Since the expensive car you will be driving for the next 2-5 years belongs to someone else (the leasing company), the owners want to be assured that you will make the payments on time and will not trash their car. The credit worthiness standards, therefore, tend to be higher for leases than conventional loans. In other words, if you have a troubled credit history you may have problems getting approved for a lease.

Insurance Cost

Leasing companies conduce to require higher amounts of insurance coverage than you may normally carry. This could impact your insurance cost considerably. Find out the requirements and then get an estimate from the insurance company before signing on the dotted line.

No Ownership

Mileage Limitations

Almost all leases limit the number of miles per year by imposing fees typically 10 to 15 cents per mile over 15,000 miles per year. If you put a lot of miles on a car, these fees can add up quickly.

Odometer fraud takes place when the owner of a used vehicle or car dealer takes steps to change the true odometer reading on the title and automobile odometer itself.

Dealerships and individuals usually commit this auto fraud for a few different reasons. The main reason, however, for engaging in odometer fraud is so that the vehicle has a more attractive odometer reading and may sell more quickly and get a better price.

If you are a used car buyer, then you should be aware of the existence of odometer fraud and always take necessary precautions to guard against being susceptible to a fraudulent act of this type.