dealer gimmicks

1. guaranteed financing or 100% credit approval: there is probably not a gimmick that will frustrate you more than this one. if you have enough money down and you really don't care what kind of vehicle you drive then the dealer can probably get you approved. for example, it is not hard to get someone approved if they put down $3000 on a $5000 vehicle. if you fall for this gimmick expect to waste a lot of your time and you better bring a lot of money down and have very low standards for your next vehicle!
2. we will pay you $1,000 if we cant get you approved!: this will not only upset you but probably cause you to go postal! you walk in thinking there is no way you could be turned down and guess what you probably won't. but again, if you have $3,000 down and you really don't care what kind of vehicle you drive the dealer can offer you a $5,000 vehicle. then the dealer feels he has satisfied his offer to you. if you fall for this gimmick expect to put more money down than the dealer paid for the vehicle and expect to get a "bucket" for your next ride!
3. we pay you $3,000 for any trade: this is actually one of the most successful gimmicks dealers play on you. they make you feel you are getting thousands more for your trade. but all the dealer is doing is building in the over allowance on your trade into the price of his car. here is how it works. if your car is worth $1,000 but the dealer offers you $3,000, all he is doing is adding the $2,000 over allowance into the price of the vehicle he is selling you. think it is not true? it is real simple to find out the truth. just ask the dealer if he would pay you the $3,000 if you didn't buy a vehicle from him. if your vehicle is really worth $3,000 to the dealer they would have no problem giving you that amount for it! if you fall for this gimmick expect to pay a lot more for the vehicle you are buying than those people who bought the same car but did not trade a vehicle.
4. if we make a deal, we will pay off your trade no matter what you owe!: this is a very clever tactic to get you in the door but it is an insult to your intelligence. every dealer is required by federal law to payoff off your car if they trade your car- otherwise they cannot get title to it and resell it. but here is the catch! the dealer has to "make a deal" with you. this means they have to find a lender who will allow you to roll over the negative equity of your trade into your new car loan. if you fall for this gimmick expect to be very disappointed and waste a lot of time. the truth is if you have a lot of negative equity in your trade you will either have to put down a lot of money to get out of it or keep it a while longer and pay down on the note.
5. $69 acquisition sale: here the dealer is leading you to believe that you only have to pay $69 to take over another person's payment. but the real truth is that you are not taking over someone's payment but rather buying the vehicle from the dealer with the dealer's profit margin built in. if you fall for this gimmick expect when you show up to put a lot more than $69 down. at a minimum the dealer will ask for $69 plus your tax, title, and tags- all which can add up to well over $1,000. depending on your credit they will ask for even more!
6. $88 down & $88 a month!: this gimmick has destroyed the credit of so many consumers. dealers lead you to believe you can buy as much as a $20,000 vehicle with just $88 a month and $88 down. but do the math. if you financed the vehicle for 60 months at $88 a month the cost of the vehicle with interest and tax, tag, and tile would be less than $5,400. so what's the catch? it is simply wrong! if you qualify the dealer will offer you payments of $88 a month for the first 3-6 months and then your payments can jump to $500- $600 a month. but you don't find out until after you bought the vehicle. oh, and the $88 down? expect to pay $88 plus taxes, title, and tags which can add up to well over $1,000. if you fall for this gimmick you better have lots of savings to make those high payments in a few months. otherwise your credit will be destroyed!
7. no payments for a year: now this is simply wrong! even if the dealer could offer you this program why in world would you want to buy a depreciating asset like a car and not make payments for an entire year? think how much you are upside down in vehicle you have bought in the past where you have been making payments from day one. if you don't make payment for an entire year on a vehicle you will need to hit the texas lottery twice to have enough money to get out of this vehicle. it truly amazes us that dealers can look you in the eye and tell you this is a good deal without cracking up laughing! if you fall for this gimmick you better love this car a lot because you will be raising this vehicle like a child!
8. a ridiculous low price: this is one of the oldest but still most common tactics dealers will pull on you. they typically advertise a very low price and then when you arrive, the vehicle doesn't exist or doesn't look anything like the vehicle that was advertised. some dealers will offer you the price and then add back in $500-$900 in so called "destination charges". while some dealers do pay destination costs on used vehicles it is typically around $200-$300. if you fall for this "banana in the tail pipe" expect to pay a lot more for the vehicle when you show up at the dealership and good luck finding the advertised vehicle! in the rare case that the dealer does offer you a low price for a used vehicle make sure you get it checked out by your own mechanic and have the dealer show you the amount of work he did to the vehicle before he offered it for sale. if they can't provide this for you then stay away. you can also request a vehicle history report that shows if the vehicle has had any severe damage or other problems.
9. the famous "slasher sale": now if this gimmick doesn't give the perfect stereotype of a car dealer we don't know what does! this is a gimmick where a fast talking car salesman writes a price on the window and then proceeds to keep "slashing it" leading you to believe the dealer is discounting thousands of dollars off the price. but here is the reality of this game. not only does the car salesman act like a total idiot he inflates the price of the vehicle thousands of dollars above the original asking price and then begins to mark it back down to the original asking price. but if you are not careful you could actually pay more than the original asking price if the dealer does not slash the price enough. if you fall for this gimmick expect to be disappointed if you're looking for a cheap price or a good deal!
10. pay only $12995 for a $30,000 vehicle!:now you are smarter than this. but you are probably curious as to how they could offer this low price so you decide to show up. here is the catch! this is a lease. all the dealer does is take the total sum of the lease payments and advertise you can buy the vehicle for this amount. so if the lease payment is $400 a month for 36 months then the total sum of payments is $14,400. if you put down $1,405 plus another $1,500-$2,000 for security deposit, tax, tags, and license fees then you drive the vehicle for 3 years for $12,995 but you are certainly not "buying" the vehicle for $12,995. oh, and if you have some credit problems you will more than likely not qualify for a lease! so if you are so desperate you fall for this offer, i hope it is because you have nothing better to do with your saturday afternoons and expect to be extremely disappointed.