The reputation of many car dealerships and car salesmen is not one that many people would be proud of having and you will see why this is the case after I share with you these dirty car dealer tricks. These are not what I would call car dealer scams; they are better described as tricks of car dealers and car salesman tricks. You may be familiar with some of these tricks of car dealers and car salesmen either because you have experienced some of these car sales tricks during the car buying process or perhaps you heard about them.
In my years of selling cars I have either seen or used these car salesman tricks to make a deal or at least help it along. These car dealer tricks are very common and actually encouraged in more dealerships than you may realize. I am not saying that every customer will experience every one of these car dealer sales tricks when buying new cars or used cars or that you will be tricked by all car salesmen, but it is very common throughout the car business to be subjected to one or several of these car dealer sales tricks.
Car Dealer Tricks to Help Car Salesmen Sell Cars
1. Holding the Trade Keys: I am sure many of you have heard of these car dealer tricks. 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 effect holding you hostage so they can try to sell you a car without you getting up and leaving. This is just one of many car dealer tactics and one almost everyone has had this experience. If you demand your keys back you shouldn’t have any problem getting them back, most dealers understand that an upset customer is not very likely to buy a car.
2. Pulling the Keys: Pulling the keys is a trick car dealers use to help move negotiations forward. Another salesman will come to where the salesman and customer are negotiating and ask for the keys to the car they are negotiating to buy. The customer will either say they are buying the car or they will be quite and become more agreeable during negotiations. The car salesman that came to get the keys does not have a customer, they just say they do so the buyer will get off the wall and make a deal. The salesman will take the car and park it behind the building or somewhere and stay out of sight until the deal is made. Pretty sneaky car salesman trick, but it can work if the buyer is serious about that specific car.
3. Take it Away Closing Technique: This car salesman trick is used when the car buyer is stuck at a certain monthly payment and the car salesman can not get the customer to come up to where they can make a deal. The car salesman will leave the desk and get a lesser value car or a used car that the customer doesn’t really want and then tell the car buyer that they can buy that car for the payment they want. Then they tell the car buyer that if they raise their car payment limit xx number of dollars a month they can get the car they really want. Then they ask them “would you rather save a few dollars a month and get the car you don’t want or spend a few more dollars each month and get the car your really want. All of these car dealer tricks doesn’t always work, but it does more times than it doesn’t.
4. Dealer Installed Accessories: It’s common among car dealer tricks to install accessories on a new car that is a popular model. Because it is a popular model many customers will want that model and color, but when they want to buy that car the buyer must also pay for the accessories that are already added and 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 usually marked up very high and can add quite a nice additional profit for the car dealer and a nice commission for the car salesman.
5. Make Them Wait: This car salesman trick is not something to be proud of, but there are times when a salesman gets a customer that is negotiating extremely hard to get a great deal and the salesman will tell him he will be right back. The customer is assuming that he is going to talk to the sales manager to try and get the OK to make the sale when in fact the salesman is just taking a break. They might go to the back or the other side of the building and have a cup of coffee and a smoke. I have seen car salesmen leave customers sit there for half an hour while they take a break. These style of car dealer tricks may be used because they either don’t believe that they are not going to make the sale or if they do they will make very little money. So they make them wait and work at their pace not the customers.
Deceptive Car Dealer Tricks
6. Advertised Special Car: Car dealer tricks in advertising has been around for many years. One of the most common car dealer advertising tricks is to advertise a car at a special price that is practically unbelievable. The car will be a stripped down model with a standard transmission, maybe no radio or air conditioning and crank windows. The car that nobody wants after they see it, but the idea is to advertise the car at such a low price that customers will come into the dealership. Car dealers use this trick because a certain percentage of the customers that came to look at the low priced car will buy the higher priced car. The odds are in the favor of the dealer. One of the car dealer tricks will will be used as long as it continues to bring customers to the dealer and sell cars.
7. 0% Financing Tease: Often used car dealer tricks to get customers excited so they will drive 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 fine print displays all the restrictions and stipulations that exclude most car buyers.
Car dealer tricks that show 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, with $10,000.00 down, maximum amount financed $9000.00 or less, on selected vehicles only or something very similar or even more restrictive. 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 restrictions are so strict that so few people can or want to qualify. Then they work their salesman skills and sell some cars because people have been talked into buying or their don’t realize that they are paying a regular interest rate based on their credit score.
8. Incomplete Price Quote: Car buyers that are doing their homework call around to several dealers for price quotes on a specific car. The sales person that they talk to gives them a verbal quote that leaves out freight or destination. Then when the car buyer gets to the car dealership because it was the best price the car salesman will add on the destination or freight charge and try to charge you a dealer prep fee. This can be anywhere from $500.00 up to almost a $1000.00.
Plus they ask for a copy of the quote and the car buyer says they got a verbal quote. The dealership says that they can’t sell the car for that price without a written quote. These type of car dealer tricks are very rampant on some brands more than others and especially in metropolitan areas. Either way the car dealer is is tacking on more money to the purchase price. This car salesman trick and dealer trick gets them in the door and allows the dealer to sell a certain percentage of these buyers. Some will walk out, but some are so tired of shopping and dealing with car salesmen that they end up buying a car and paying more than they should so car dealers keep using this trick to sell cars.
9. That Car is in Stock: Car dealer tricks involving the customer calling several dealers trying to find a car that has the options and color that they are looking to purchase. They talk to someone that tells them that they do have the car in stock. So the car buyer goes to the dealership and asks for the person they talked to on the phone, but is told that they went to lunch or left for the day. (the trick is that they gave a name that the car dealer staff knows is fictitious because they lied about the car being in stock) The car salesman that greeted them takes over and tells them that that car was just sold but they have several others that are very close. Like the price quote given above a certain percentage of these car buyers will buy a car rather than run around and being lied to by and tricked by car dealers (and the car salesmen and car dealer know that).
10. Low Monthly Payment: These are also car dealer tricks to get car buyers into their showroom. They will advertise a very low monthly payment on a popular 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, plus title, plus license, plus 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.
This was only ten of the dirty car dealer tricks and scams by car salesmen that are used everyday to sell cars. Yes, there are more sneaky tricks that car dealers and sales people use everyday. When you know of the tricks that car dealers use to a sell you a car you can protect yourself. Consider these tips for buying a new car or used car that can help you save your hard earned money. Follow the steps to buying a car to avoid car dealer tricks and have a stress free car buying experience.