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!

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.

A recall arises when a manufacturer or a third party comes to a decision that a product has a fault, which is serious enough to cause harm to consumers. It is then barred from distribution awaiting the problem to be fixed and tested.

An official auto recall demands a manufacturer to release an official notice to vehicle owners found to be defective. In case a manufacturer is considered responsible for a serious defect, the NHTSA will announce the auto recall. Usually only a portion of the vehicles produced for the specific year, make, and model will be affected by the defect and recall.

How to Know whether Your Car Has Been Recalled?

There are several of ways to inform the customers that a recall has been issued on a product they own. For vehicles, most manufacturers contact the owners directly as their information is readily on hand. News outlets may also report on the recall, and many times dealerships will send notifications directly to their customers.

What to do?

In case you get a recall notification act promptly and you’ll be able to ensure your safety. As you hear word of a recall for your make and model, you should contact either your dealership or the manufacturer for the quickest solution, and as it’s an official recall, any repairs will be free of charge.

To put it mildly, automakers don’t like to conduct recalls. They are very expensive and don’t exactly do wonders for marketing efforts. Most problems never get to the recall stage; that doesn’t mean they’re not problems; it just means the manufacturer has managed to wriggle out of conducting a full-scale recall.

New cars with incessant  problems may be covered by the Lemon Law.

For further concerns on this topic, feel free to contact dealer fraud attorney Hovanes Margarian.

Car dealers do not sit on their hands, they constantly think of new methods to take advantage of car buyers. Here are the most recent car dealer tricks.

• Spot Delivery: When you choose the car you like, fill out all the paperwork, the car dealer tells you that although your loan hasn’t been “officially” approved yet, you can drive the car home anyway.

Don’t agree!

If you do, the car dealership will call you and say that your loan wasn’t approved at the interest rate you discussed. However, you were approved at a higher rate.

This signifies that you’ll likely pay thousands of dollars more than you expected.

The most awful part is that you probably are stuck, as the loan agreement included a “writ of rescission,” which means that you agreed to pay a higher interest rate if you did not qualify for the loan at the original, agreed-upon rate.

•    Mandatory Arbitration or Conflict Resolution: This trick sounds reasonable at first, but be very careful.
Once all has been agreed to, the sales person asks you to sign a “Dispute Resolution” or “Conflict Resolution” agreement. The sales person tells you it just says that if a problem occurs, you agree to settle through arbitration and not take the car dealer to court.

Though arbitration can surely be a sensible option, the fine print is where the problems lie.
So, ascertain the arbitration agreements before you sign them to make sure they are fair, and show them to your attorney.

Anyhow, ask the auto dealer whether or not they require an arbitration agreement before you look at any cars.
Many auto dealerships need these agreements because they would get sued frequently without them.

If you feel that you are a victim of car dealer tricks, contact a reputable car dealer fraud attorney for help and advice.

1. Advertised Special Car: It is a car dealer trick that has been around for many years, that is to advertise a car at a special price that is almost unbelievable. This can be a stripped down model with a standard transmission, perhaps no radio or air conditioning and crank windows. This is the car nobody wants after they see it, but the plan is to advertise the car at a very low price so that customers will come into the dealership. The aim of this trick is to make the car buyers that came to look at the low priced car buy the higher priced car. The chances are in the favor of the dealer.

2. 0% Financing Tease: Car dealers usually make use of this to trick on car buyers and customers as a means of bringing more customers into their dealership. They will advertise 0% car dealer financing and hide the restrictions in fine print so small that it is hard to read.
This car dealer trick shows that the car dealer has 0% financing on new or used cars in big print and then in a very small paragraph at the bottom of the page that you can hardly read it says: to qualified buyers, with approved credit, for 12 or 24 months. Then the customers come in for 0% dealer financing only to find out that the offer is not good for the car they wanted to buy. The limits are so firm that few people can or want to qualify. Then they work their salesman abilities and sell some cars as people have been talked into buying or they don’t realize that they are paying a regular interest rate based on their credit score.

3. Low Monthly Payment: This is another trick that car dealers use to get car buyers into their showroom. They advertise a low monthly payment on a trendy car that catches the eye of many car buyers. The car buyer heads down to the showroom to get a car with the low monthly payment only to find out that there is huge down payment required, plus tax, title, license, car dealer fess, excellent credit is required and the term is for 84 months (7 years). Again the car buyer is upset but they wanted a new car and a slick car salesman tricks them into buying a car at a monthly payment that is much higher.

If you think you are the victim of auto dealer fraud meet with a highly certified attorney who is experienced in auto fraud cases. An auto dealer fraud attorney will represent your rights in court to ensure you receive the right compensation.

1. Keeping the Trade Keys: The idea is to get the keys to your trade-in so you can’t leave without getting the keys back from the salesman or sales manager. In fact keeping you captive they try to sell you a car without you getting up and leaving (an ordinary car sales trick). In case you demand your keys back, surely, you would not have any problem getting them back. Usually dealers understand upset customer is not very likely to buy a car.

2. Pulling the Keys: The trick of pulling the keys is usually used to help move negotiations forward. While the salesman and customer are negotiating another salesman will come and ask for the keys to the car they are negotiating to buy. The customer will either give consent to buy the car or they will turn out to be more agreeable during negotiations. The salesman will take the car and park it behind the building or somewhere and stay out of sight until the deal is made. Only if the buyer is serious about that specific car it can work.

3. Pre-Installed Accessories: A common car dealer trick to add accessories on a new car that is a popular model. As it is a popular model many customers will be eager to have that model and color, but as soon as they want to buy that car the buyer must also pay for the accessories that are already installed. This dirty car dealer trick can add anywhere from a few hundred dollars up to a thousand or more to purchase price of the car. These accessories are generally marked up very high and can add quite a nice extra profit for the car dealer and a nice commission for the car salesman.

If you think you are the victim of auto dealer fraud meet with a highly certified attorney who is experienced in auto fraud cases. An auto dealer fraud attorney will represent your rights in court to ensure you receive the right compensation.

When dealing with dealers, it is not easy to recall every fact you have examined, but try to keep these  key points in the back of your mind:

•    Dealers have revenue commonly between 10 percent and 20 percent. Typically, this is the difference between the sticker price (the price they want you to pay) and the invoice price (the price they paid for the car).
•    If you do not see exactly what you want on a new car, consider ordering it. This may take time, but at least you’ll be paying for what you want and not paying for extras the salesperson talked you into.
•    If you are sure of what you want and don’t budge, a dealer may suggest letting a car go cheaper if it is “approximately” what you want. Keep in mind also an alternative variant, and when the offer comes you’ll know whether to say yes or no and won’t be confused. This an opportunity to pay less and get something very close to what you wanted.

•    Do not be too embarrassed to walk out. Many dealer tricks are organized to keep you in the showroom.

•    Think over beginning the process by phone — getting some competitive prices is your first step, but there’s no need to be involved in salesman just for that. Don’t accept a refusal to talk over the phone.

•    Get all the dealers you talk with to use the same figure. Use the factory invoice price as a basis. Then each dealer must give you a number you can compare to other dealer prices.

•    At times dealers get extra factory incentives and may be able to sell below factory invoice price.

•    Negotiate for a price, not a monthly payment. First price, then payments.

•    Do not pay for things you don’t have to pay for. Be ready to pay extra for licenses, taxes, registration, and destinations charges, but never for things you do not have to pay for. Be ready to reject fancy extras, they are expensive and you don’t need them.

For further help and information on car scams, try to contact an experienced dealer fraud attorney.