You may have heard a lot of stories about car dealerships and how they rip customers off. These stories are not unreal. The dealers are exceptionally tricky and you may even not see the whole picture when you happily leave home on your newly bought shiny car to boast in front of your friends. Unpleasant situations like this happen every day. Not to appear in any of them, read about 5 little known ways car dealers rip you off. If it’s too late, contact our attorneys after you notice the trick.
Bumper Stickers
These are stickers car dealers place next to the manufacturer’s suggested retail price and bump up the price of the vehicle hoping “you won’t notice.” The new price covers services like VIN etching, fabric treatment, etc. Guess what? You don’t even need them, as you will pay much less for these services if you do that on your own!
You need to ask for the “original invoice” minus the “bumper sticker”. If the dealer doesn’t give you the original invoice, forget about the car. The dealer is just ripping off. Head to a dealer that will be fair enough.
Lowballing Your Trade-in
Yes, yes, the dealer will try to lowball your trade-in making you believe that they have found the best value at the Kelley Blue Book.
Be prepared! You need to get NADA values for your car so that you know the true value of your car. Don’t let the dealer decide for you!
Adjusting Your Interest Rate
You may be approved for an 8.9 percent interest rate on your loan but the dealer may adjust that rate by 2 points pocketing the extra cash. You may be amazed but that may amount to several thousands of dollars.
Customer Service
You are right. Something like a 30-minute work should not cost from $300 to as high as $1000. If you see that customer service for processing your financial documents is valued that high, don’t agree to that and negotiate for a better fee.
Extended Service Contracts
The dealer may talk you into signing extended service contracts. It is coverage for some of the repairs of your car extending beyond the factory warranty time. In most cases, you will not even need the repairs or may get the same service cheaper if you don’t get into high dollar worth insurance like extended service contracts.
Talk to Attorney
Here at The Margarian Law Firm, we are dealing with auto dealer fraud cases. Our attorneys are experienced in auto dealer fraud cases and are eager to help you. Call us at (818) 553-1000 if you believe you are a victim.
