Dealer Fraud

1. Test Drives: NEVER talk about price until you test-drive the vehicle. Test-drive multiple vehicles at multiple dealers and make them compete for your business. You will never know if you like it until you take a test drive. Let the dealer know you are still shopping around.

2. Financing: NEVER tell the dealer about your pre-arranged financing; you want the dealer to think you are paying cash. If you have gone online and applied for a car loan, you are a cash buyer in their mind. This will get you a good price and will not allow the dealer to manipulate you into thinking you are getting a good deal.

3. Set the Value: Offer the dealer a set price you are willing to pay with everything included (taxes, fees, registration etc.) For example, in case you are interested in a Ford Explorer for $17,000.00 you should say “I will write you a check right now for $15,500.00 but that includes everything. Do we have a deal?” Do not give them an option. Always be willing to walk away!

4. Do Not Delay Too Long: NEVER stay in any dealership more than 30 minutes waiting for a price. A test drive should take 10 minutes. Give them a price after your test drive and let them know they have very short time to give you an answer. If you do not get an answer, leave and tell them they can call you if they want to sell you a vehicle today.

5. Read before You Sign: ALWAYS read your purchase order. Make sure you understand everything you are committing to and what your responsibilities are in this transaction. There are many “tricks of the trade” dealers will try to use. So be aware!

Everybody is at a disadvantage when going to a dealership and negotiating for a car. Staying in control of the process is the key during all kind of negotiations. Remember that you are the one making the purchase, the dealership is there to serve you - it should never be the other way around.

Online lending has become very popular with consumers because they can apply for a car loan before ever stepping foot in the dealership. This helps to put them in control of both the car buying process and over the financing portion of the sale as well which historically has been the largest profit piece of the car sale for the dealer. With your financing already taken care of, you have accomplished half of the negotiation battle already. Here are a few simple things to remember:

1. Research: Do your research before you shop It is essential to examine the trade-in’s value and the price of the model you want before you get to a dealership.

2. Make an Assignation: Make an assignation with an Internet sales person before going to a dealership. In general you will get a better price and less sales pressure. The internet sales person is more like a fleet person and is used to dealing with a savvier buyer.

3. Hold Your Personal Information: If you have gone online and taken care of your financing before going to the dealership, do not give the dealer your approval amount, desired payment, interest rate and most importantly, your social security number. If you already have financing lined up, a dealer does not need this for any reason.

4. Trade-Ins: If you have a Trade-in, do not disclose this information until after you have negotiated the price of the vehicle you are buying. Get the new car price in writing and then negotiate on the trade. These are two detached transactions are on one piece of paper.

Step1

Avoid car trade-in scams wherever the dealer states he will pay off your current lease or loan, no matter how much you owe. Remember that a lease or a loan is a financial contract, and there is no trick to eliminating one when buying a new car. While this supposed “deal” will only end with you making even higher payments on your new car, it is better to wait until your car is paid for, or your lease has expired.

Step 2

Look out for car dealers who expediently forget to pay off your trade-in after the deal is complete. Many new car buyers are shaken as soon as they receive notices for a collection agency a few months down the road as the dealer never handled the transaction as promised. Yet again, there is methods to avoid this trade-in scam by ensuring that you get all pay-off documentation in writing, or simply wait until you vehicle is paid off before you trade it in for a new car.

Step 3

Have your trade-in examined by an independent mechanic in order to avoid car dealers who report “all sorts of problems” with the vehicle. By offering independent and recent documentation, you can successfully rebut a dealership mechanic who claims your brake pads are almost gone, or that your engine may need a complete overhaul before it can be resold.

Step 4

Acquire a copy your current credit report to avoid trade-in scams where the dealer tells you that you are ineligible for lower interest rates due to questionable credit scores. This type of scam is rather ordinary, but it is easily discouraged once you produce a real credit report. Keep in mind, a car salesman should not know more about your credit score and financial history than you do.

Odometer fraud is the illegal process of rolling back the vehicle’s odometers in order to make it appear that vehicles have lower mileage than they actually do. Odometer fraud occurs when the vehicle seller fallaciously represents the actual mileage of a vehicle to the buyer.

Odometer tampering is not only illegal, but expensive. As the buyer thinks the car has fewer miles, he/she pays more for the car, more in insurance and repairs. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration guesstimates - odometer fraud costs buyers about $10 billion every year.

Here are steps to avoid odometer fraud.

1.    Compare the present mileage with the odometer statement the seller received when he/she bought the car.

2.    Check the tires. The original tires of the car should last for about 60,000 miles, so new tires on a car with low mileage should alert you to take a closer look.

3.    Look for things that indicate the mileage of the car. Oil change prompt stickers, warranty cards and service receipts will typically have the mileage noted.

4.    Have a trustworthy mechanic inspect the car thoroughly. The mechanic should look for the problems with the emissions system. These areas will show signs of high mileage. In addition ask the mechanic to see whether the odometer cover has been removed.

5.    Be especially attentive when buying certain models: Popular models for rolling back miles include sport utility vehicles, Chevy Luminas, Ford Tauruses and Chrysler minivans.

6.    Be wary of retired, low-mileage fleet vehicles. Unfair buyers usually clean the cars up, put on a new brake pedal cover, roll back the odometer and resell it for a tidy profit. Cars like this are usually driven more than 30,000 miles a year.

Feel free to call an experienced car dealer fraud lawyer Hovanes Margarian for valuable advice and help.

Find out how old the car is

The car may look great, but if it is not a new one, it may not be worth purchasing.

Ask for the service records

Having on your hands the service records, you will to see how often the oil has been changed, tires balanced and rotated, as well as any leaks or other repairs that might have befallen to your beloved vehicle.

Take the car to your mechanic

In case it is obvious that you are serious about buying that car, auto dealers never mind if you take the vehicle to your mechanic for a quick engine check.

Open the hood yourself

Check whether the cables are in good shape, there are no leaks, the spark plugs are new and functional, and that the oil is clean. These are good signs that the dealership has already prepped the car for sale.

Take the car for a test drive

While driving the car out on an open road, try to press the gas pedal to the floor to see if it chokes or lurches at full throttle. In case it does, take the car back to the dealer to look at it to ensure there’s nothing seriously wrong with the car.

Check the brakes

While driving the car; first, check to ensure no one is behind you, and then take the car to a high rate of speed before popping the brakes. This will help you determine their condition and how well the car handles when hitting the brakes quickly.

Older cars have great qualities, and can be great, reliable transportation for a reasonable price. Take the extra time to ensure that your new “gently used” vehicle is not a lemon, and you will be able to enjoy it for years to come.

If all else fails try turning to an experienced car dealer fraud attorney for valuable advice and help.

Car financing is a common incident; yet it does not mean that you can take it carelessly. You need to be aware of the different financing choices that exist. A little investigation may help you to obtain a superior financing deal.
Be wary of someone who tries to convince you that financing a car is a better deal than paying cash for it. It is not excluded that the premiums could possibly be reasonable, collectively by taking out a loan and paying interest, you will be paying much more for the vehicle than you would if you were to pay cash for it. The only method that financing could be less expensive than paying cash is if you can put the cash to work for you and earn more on that money than the interest that you would have to pay for the loan.
Some car dealers will try to prove to you that financing is cheaper. In reality, they might offer you some software program that misrepresents the “benefits” of financing versus paying cash for a vehicle. The programmed cost evaluation that they present to you comes out to “demonstrate” that you can save money by financing at one interest rate and investing the cash not spent in a certificate of deposit (CD) at a financial institution at a lower rate. The only real way you could end up ahead in this situation would be by borrowing at a lower interest rate and investing the money at a higher interest rate. It is improbable that you will be able to find such an arrangement.
Auto financing is something more serious than you take it. Be sure you are not being taken advantage of. Search for loans by yourself. Ask your bank or credit union. Check internet sites. Ask the automobile dealership. Assess rates and terms from several loan companies.
If you have any further concerns on this topic, feel free to contact car dealer fraud attorney Hovanes Margarian.

Used-car buying is a great business wrought with scams. Used-car sellers need to be informed of possible car scams. Here are some of the most common ones:
•    Certified Check Scams - This scam is often done on sellers of used cars over the Internet. A buyer informs that he/she wants to buy the car and pay with a cashier’s check. When it comes to the last minute, the buyer brings some reasons that he/she needs to write the check for more money and have the seller wire him/her the difference. Then the check appears a fake one, and this fact can be discovered long after the seller has wired the money. Furthermore, the seller is responsible for covering the money for the fake check. In order to avoid check scams you can call the issuing bank before you accept the check and wait for the check to clear before you transfer the car into the buyer’s name.
•    Bogus Escrow Services - Online car sellers regularly use escrow services to collect and verify payment from a buyer. The money is held by the service until all parties are pleased with the sale. Assure you check out an escrow service, as there have been some cases of  escrow fraud.
•    False Auctions - According to the Federal Trade Commission, the most common frequently Internet fraud occurs on auction sites. Research the buying history in details and never ship the vehicle before the money has been received.
One of the best ways to avoid most auto scams is not to transfer ownership of your car until you have the cash in your hand. You either get cash from the buyer or wait for the cashier’s check to clear. Never take personal checks and allow buyers to pay the car off over time. To avoid car scams follow these few precautions and your car-selling experience will go smoothly.

You can also get a consultation from a Car Dealer Fraud Attorney.

Car scams do “chase” car buyers. Every year the number of car dealer fraud victims increases rapidly. The main concern is that newer and newer car selling scams are designed every day which are mainly based on older “classic “scams. Here are some of the most common auto dealer scams.

• It is a common scam when a dealer claims that you are not eligible for competitive financing rate with your credit score. This is only true if you miss your payments or pay them with delay. Some dealers may try to convince you that the only option you have is to accept the financing and terms suggested by them.

To avoid this auto dealer scam, keep a good track of your payments. Try calling the credit bureaus for your credit report.

• A car dealer may also misrepresent the real price of the car. Try to find out beforehand what is the real price of the car before entering the negotiations phase.

• Another car dealer scam is designed by providing a low payment per month. Naïve car buyers may fall for this, but informed ones know that this means that either the down payment is a huge amount of money or the term is for the first few months only.

To skip this scene calculate how much you want to pay per month and present your own terms to the dealer.

• The dealers may convince you to buy luxurious cars even before you are over with paying loans for your current car. They might insist that the remaining payments of your current car will add to the new one.  Think twice before agreeing since the consequence may be that you will have to pay even more than the current payments you are making.

This is not the full list of scams; there are other car dealer tricks as well and unfortunately listing all of them is nearly impossible. The only surefire advice is staying alert all the time and reading all the paperwork.

If you have any further concerns on this topic, feel free to contact dealer fraud attorney Hovanes Margarian.

When shopping for a car, one needs some knowledge and advice in order not to become a car dealer fraud victim. Here are some tips for avoiding auto dealer fraud.

1. Learn the art of negotiating the vehicle’s price. Research for the vehicle’s standard price. Find out what is the average cost of its extra features. Enter a car dealership with your own financing options. Know exactly how much you can afford for the car you are interested in. Never buy a car from the first car dealership you enter, shop around for the best possible deal and don’t forget to negotiate the MSRP price (car manufacturer’s suggested retail price) as well.

2. Find out what exact add-ons you need to avoid wasting money on add-ons that you do not need. Remember that the more add on features you buy, the more profit the dealer will make, that’s why car dealers will try every method to make you buy this or that add-on.

3. Never drive the car off before getting the final loan approval. Do not sign any contract that in anyway permits the car dealer to modify the car buying terms.

4. Financing through a car dealer is oftentimes more expensive and tends to have a higher interest rate than financing through the bank.  Do not let the car dealer know your credit report until the price is finally negotiated.

5. Read the fine print before signing any contract. Do not sign a ‘dispute resolution’ contract since if you do sign, you cannot file an auto fraud claim if need be in the future.

Meet with an attorney who is experienced in auto fraud cases if you think you are the victim of auto dealer fraud. An auto dealer fraud attorney will explain to you your rights and options, including your right of filing a lawsuit and will represent you in court to ensure you receive the appropriate compensation.

“Bait and switch” is a form of car dealer fraud in which the customers are lured by a vehicle advertized at an unprofitably low price. This is done to attract the unwary customers toward buying a higher-priced vehicle. When the buyer arrives, he/she is told that unfortunately the advertised car is not available at that time or at the stated price, but there is a substitute very similar to the one which was advertized at a higher prize.

“Bait and switch” is illegal and a lawsuit can be filed against the dealership. However, such lawsuits require a great deal of time and documentation for a successful resolution.

Here are some tips to avoid “bait and switch” scam:

•    Always read the fine print even if a magnifying glass is needed. It will likely reveal that only one such car is available or that the car lacks the options you are looking for.

•    Ask the salesperson if you can use their telephone to call your car lawyer and make sure you get the car at the advertised price.

•    Conduct some research on car models and prices before the car buying process to avoid bait and switch. This will enable you to know the average market price of the car you are interested in.

•    Do auto shopping with an informed friend or relative to lessen the chance of buying a car that you did not intended to buy.

•    Get a report from Kelly Blue Book on what the vehicle they are advertising is really worth before you visit the car dealer to ensure they aren’t ripping you off.

If you suspect that you have been the victim of “bait and switch”, contact a car attorney for further consultation and help.