Car Salesman Tricks To Make You Buy A Car... Now!
"How much do you want to pay each month?"
That is typically the first question you're asked when approached by the car salesman or car financing officer on the lot.
Keep in mind that this question has nothing to do with how many years you will be making the monthly payment on the car, or how much the car even costs.
Many first-time car buyers fall for this trick... once. But after this hard-learned lesson, they pay close attention to the price next time they buy a car.
Even more experienced car buyers can be caught in car salesman tricks of the trade. Here's what to watch for...
Unscrupulous Car Salesmen
According to MSNBC, a Dateline undercover investigation revealed how a deal in your favor can actually cost you several thousand dollars.
Offenses revealed through this investigation included:
add-ons that are “stuffed” or hidden under a pile of papers that you sign
car dealer lenders defrauding both the banks and the lenders
car dealer lenders charging higher interest rates than necessary and splitting the difference with the lender
Car Salesman Tricks
Before you even get to the point of financing a car however, there are tricks that a car salesman will use to get you to buy the car today. Here are a few you'll want to be aware of:
The guilt trip: Car salesmen will volunteer information to you that other people normally wouldn’t. They will mention that they have kids in college. They will talk about their kids' need for braces. They will mention an upcoming wedding. They will try to make you feel like you owe it to them to give them the sale.
Misplaced items: Car dealerships will require you turn over your drivers license, the keys to your car, or perhaps the title and registration of your car to determine trade in value. After your test drive, it will take the clerk forever to give your items back to you. This is to give the salesman more time to work on you.
Allowing you to take the car home overnight: Some car dealerships will allow you to take the car home overnight. They want you to fall in love with the car and not want to return it. If you do take home a car overnight, do your best to not get attached to it.
Limited time prices: Car dealers will tell you that a price is valid for today only. Or that other people or looking at it, or something equally ridiculous. If they will offer a great price today, chances are they will offer it again in 30 days. Take your time and get the car you want, not the one they talk you into.
Getting personal to make friends: Have you ever noticed how friendly some car salespeople are? (Should you have a problem with the car after the purchase, they won’t be nearly as friendly.) They want you to feel like they are someone you can trust, or they want you to see them as a friend. This is a tactic to make you put your guard down and trust them to sell you a car.
One way to avoid this type of deception from car salesmen is to buy your car with cash!
Even if you can’t buy your new car in cash, then get financing for it before stepping onto the car lot. This is Rule #1 from The Consumerist.
Related Reading:
Confessions Of A Car Salesman (an 11-part series)
Used-Car Salesman’s Training Manual (25 tricks they use to charge you more)
Psychological Sales Tricks Of A Car Salesman (the tricks they use at each stage of the game)
Listen to Bud Light's Real Men of Genius "Mr. Used Car Lot Auto Salesman":
sounds like timmy didn't make too much money selling cars, which is normal. but if you work for the right people the job can be very rewarding. not all dealers are crooks, just like how not all lawyers are crooks. your generalizations are totally over the top
I was in the car sales business for about 6 month's after being laid off from a 14 year career. I live in east TN, I love cars and people, so I thought this might be a good fit. At frist it was really cool because the dealer really was an honest guy and demanded the same of his sales staff. Then the majority owner, from Fl. sold him out and brought in another guy from FL., and being a salesman was no longer fun. They held training classes every morning to teach us "how to wear the customer out" to get them to buy a car. They brought in a "special sales team" for "special weekend Grand Sales" and claimed to reduce prices when actually they had raised the prices or just let these "special teams" have free run on the prices. The owners wouldn't listen to the veteran salesman and ignored the statistics that reflected a loss in repeat customers, and within four month's had lost over 50% of it's business. Yes some of the loss could be blamed on the current economy events, but more so on the dealers "proven way" of doing business the old fashioned way I referred to as "hook'em and crook'em".
My advise to any car buyer if you want to avoid the scams is this: 1) don't believe the flyers/invitations you get in the mail about winning prices just to come in even if your not in the market to buy. This a scam to "hook you", get you in the store and scam personal info out of you to "per-qualify" you to see what you can afford. Then they are going to "wear you out" with phone calls. 2.) If you want a new car and not pay an extra arm and leg over the msrp and taxes, order it from the factory and have it delivered to a dealer you already know and trust. And have your loan already set up through your bank to avoid paying extra interest the dealers add-on, because that is how they make points with banks to get more loans for their future customers. 3:) If your buying a used car be prepared with a copy of the NADA (www.nada.com) and/or Kelly Blue Book (www.kbb.com) price list from the retail option. And if your trading, use the same two sources and trade-in value so you know what to expect and not be shocked. If you can sell your car yourself, you might make out a little better but not always. If you buy without a trade, you can usually get the new-used car for a better price than if your are trading. 4:) BE VERY CARFUL OF ALL THE EXTRAS THE FINANCE DEPT WILL TRY AND SELL YOU TOO. This guy/gal is trying to make extra bonus money for his own pocket if you let him add extended warranties. There are companies out there now that you can get extra mechanical insurance for your vehicles. I highly recommend the GAP insurance on any new car because of depreciation rates. If your car gets destroyed in a wreck, GAP covers the pay-off that insurance does not.
I hope this helps future buyers, and pisses off the dishonest dealers.