“Today is your lucky day.”
You can hear the phrase just about everywhere, including from a blackjack dealer who has just sucked the last ten dollars out of your wallet. When it comes to hearing the phrase at a car dealership, you might want to consider moving on to the next dealership.
Automotive sales reps have always come under scrutiny for using shady sales techniques. However, a vast majority of automotive sales reps conduct business with honesty and integrity. Unfortunately, there are car sales reps out there that continue to lie just to make a few extra dollars.
When you walk into a car dealership, you should be aware of five lies automotive that sales reps use to close a deal.
Referencing a Carfax Report
Carfax does a great job of educating car buyers about the condition of motor vehicles. The problem is Carfax receives records from insurance claims filed after a car accident. When a car sales rep says, “The car is clean because Carfax says so,” you should remind the sales rep that some car owners take damaged vehicles to a local mechanic that they know to avoid an insurance claim.
Claiming Your Trade-in is Worth a Lot of Money
An auto sales rep without a customer is like a boxer without a sparring partner. The sales rep does not have the opportunity to apply sales skills, which means the sales rep will do just about anything to get car buyers to come into the dealership. One common method is to tell a potential car buyer that the dealership can get a lot of cash for the car buyer’s trade-in. This is a blatant lie because the sales rep is telling you how much the car is worth without getting a look at the vehicle.
You can brush this lie aside by saying you do not have a car to trade in, even if you do have a vehicle to trade. You see, lying can be a two-way street.
“You Have Bad Credit”
As one of the worst scams run by a car dealership, the finance manager might claim your credit score is several hundred points lower than it reads on the credit report you recently acquired. The reason for the big lie is to add several points
to your interest rate. A higher interest rate generates more revenue for the car dealer. If you fall for this lie, you can expect to pay thousands of dollars more for a motor vehicle over the term of the auto loan.
This lie is another reason to get car financing from an outside lender before you step into a car dealer’s showroom.
Price is Final
Virtually everything is up for negotiation, with a car representing one of the most popular consumer goods to haggle over. If an auto sales rep says the price is final for a car that you like, the sales rep is telling you a tall tale. An effective strategy is to start walking towards the front door. If the sales rep takes back the non-negotiable statement, then you know the sales rep lied and you should continue on your way.
Bait and Switch
Old school bait and switch is still part of the sales tactics used by some auto dealerships, albeit in a more subtle form. You see an ad that lists an attractive price for a vehicle, only to discover the price is much higher when you visit the car dealership. Another bait and switch tactic involves claiming a vehicle is ready to see when in fact the sales rep plans to steer you towards a more expensive automobile.
If you encounter a bait and switch scheme, do your own bait and switch by claiming you are interested in a certain car, but instead, you end up visiting another car dealer to conduct business.
Take Action Against Sales Rep Lies
Some lies from a sales rep are not meant to scam you out of money. However, the majority of lies, such as a sales rep claiming that he cannot match the price of a competitor, are simply blatant lies to extract more money out of your wallet.
If a sales rep lied to you in an attempt to scam you out of money, you should contact a California auto fraud attorney to determine the best course of action. Another remedy to combat the lies from a car sales rep is to contact the California Department of Consumer Affairs to file a complaint.
