Deceptive Car Buying Tactics

In this video (or you can read below), I am going to share deceptive car buying tactics so you can save your money and be part of the solution.

When most people think about car buying, they think about the excitement of getting a new (or new-to-you) car. However, what many people don’t and shouldn’t have to think of are deceptive tactics used in the car buying process.

Dealers will often use these tactics to get you to spend more money than you need to. In this blog post, I’ll will share my recent experience when I went to a dealership.

In addition, you’ll learn what to be aware of before you buy so you can keep more of your hard-earned money. Furthermore, I will also share what you can do to be part of the solution

My Experience

Honestly, I am not excited to go shopping for a vehicle. For me it’s something to get from point A to point B and pay it off as quickly as possible because it’s depreciating. So when there are deceptive or unfair practices and just makes me more irritated.

There is nothing more frustrating to me than spending more than I have to on a vehicle.

This past weekend I visited a dealership and we were discussing vehicles, prices and my budget. Because everything in our lives have changed so drastically since the pandemic and inflation is changing the way we are making purchases,

Buy new or used?

I decided to entertain the idea of a new vehicle.

It was going to be less expensive to buy a new vehicle than it would be to purchase a 2-year old vehicle. I decided to explore this a little further.

Then the Zinger came!

Then, the salesman brought to my attention that if I purchased a new car, I would have to purchase rustproofing for $999.

This frustrated me to no end! Then it made me wonder why??? I came to my own conclusion that they wanted the sticker price to be lower and then would require me to purchase something I couldn’t choose.

Unbelievable!!!

How do I protect others?

So, being a financial coach, I decided to go to the ftc.gov website and see where I could submit a complaint. Right on their home page, a big headline that states “FTC Targets Unfair Car-Selling Practices”

According the article, in 2020, the agency issued a staff report that highlights some of the challenges people face while buying a vehicle. The proposed rule seeks to address these issues and bring forth law enforcement actions.

Some dealerships are:

• Advertising a great deal, then say the car isn’t available when you get to the dealership and instead try to sell you a different vehicle at a different (higher) price.
• Advertising prices that do not include various fees and charges which they only reveal when you arrive at the dealership.
• Trying to cram add-on charges by hiding them in the lengthy contract or through other deceptive means to increase your cost.

The FTC has received more than 100,000 complaints in each of the past several years on this topic.

To share your experience, scroll down to the end of the article. There is a link to “Share your experiences to help the FTC address deceptive car pricing and sales”. I clicked on “Leave a comment” and left my comment.

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