Common Dealership Scams

Dealership scams out there

Are you thinking of buying a car but hesitant to approach your local car dealer because you are not sure about the processes of buying a car as well as wary of possible dealership scams? Do you feel that your knowledge about cars and getting great deals is not good enough and you want to learn more about this matter? Then reading these tips will enhance your understanding about dealership scams.

The car dealer and his trade

To have a proper understanding of car dealership scams, you must first have an idea of the car dealers themselves and how they go about their trade selling cars. First of all, the car dealer will not give you a price quotation as much as he possibly can. This is because the tendency of the buyer would be to go to another dealer and the other one will probably offer a lower price thus, the first dealer loses the buyer to the second dealer. To increase their chances of getting you to buy their car, they will try to make you commit to them before they give you the final selling price. On your part, you can do two things: maneuver the dealer into telling you the price quotation or negotiate the terms of the deal with them. If you decided to negotiate with the dealer then be always on the lookout for the following tricks:

Low balling

This is one of the tricks most commonly done by dealers. They will try to convince the buyer that they can provide the lowest possible price for the car thereby prompting the buyer to start negotiations with the dealer. The salesman will probably tell you that you can get the car that you want for a lesser amount but when you are about to enter negotiations, it turns out that you were not promised a lower price after all. It is just an empty promise.

Best price matching

When you tell the dealer that you will try to look around and check other car dealerships, the salesman will ask you to comeback when you get the best possible price and he will offer to match it. By this time, you will probably be too tired and sick of looking around. Chances are that you will take their offer.

Trade in scam

When you have already bought the car, the salesman will try to contact you before your new car is delivered and tell you that the initial pricing of the car was $500 lower and would like to collect the balance from you. If you fall for this, he will get an extra $500 at your expense.

Spraying

What the dealer will do is to pursue you relentlessly until you give up and buy the car. On the other hand, if you decided to buy from another dealer, he will call you and tell you that he could have given you a lower price thus making you upset. To avoid this, you should not hand out your contact number. Some even give wrong contact numbers just to evade very irritating car dealers.

Puppy dog trick

The dealer will allow you to take the car for an overnight or for a whole day, his aim is for you to fall for the car and buy it.

Immediate sale

The dealer will give you a very attractive price but he will also make you believe that this deal can only be made until the end of the day. This will cause you to think too much and in the end, make the mistake of buying the car without checking what other car dealers have to offer.

Extra accessories

The dealer will offer to give you extras like: car mats, window tinting, and other accessories. This aims to stop you from asking for a lower price because of the perceived "extras" that you will be receiving from the dealer. It will slow down the price negotiations and divert your attention away from the price.


All of us want the best deal available and we abhor the notion that someone will take advantage of us through modis operandi like car dealership scams. So before going to the local car dealer, you better have a good idea of what he will be talking about. As they say, only a fool will go to battle unprepared and with no weapons. Your weapon will be knowledge, always remember that.