Oh,
Those Dealer Ads!
Ok, pick up any Sunday edition of
a major newspaper and turn to the automotive section. You know,
the one with the obligatory fluff car review or two, and pages
and pages of those bold and vivid backgrounds, shouting text
and, of course, low prices.
On these pages you'll find that
half a dozen dealers will not be "Knowingly Undersold", ten more
offer the "Guaranteed Lowest Prices", and another four or five
will "Beat Your Best Deal". Whew! Being an intelligent and
pro-active person like yourself, you start to plan your shopping
strategy: who to visit, where to go first, where to go last, who
to follow up with -- you know, that grand plan that will get you
in that new Expedition for $200 month with no money down. After
all, if all these ads are telling you the truth (aren't they?)
you can simply go from dealer to dealer with successively lower
offers until you get an unbelievable bargain! Actually, if you
look at this logically, you can keep this up endlessly until YOU
GET THE CAR FREE!
Wait! There are even more amazing
facts to be found on these pages. It seems as though four
dealers are having "The Biggest Automotive Sales Event in
History!". They are all near your home, and they just happen to
be having these historic sales events right when YOU'RE LOOKING
FOR A CAR! How fortunate can you get? But you'd better hurry,
'cause they're for "THIS WEEK ONLY!" Apparently next week the
prices are going to go through the roof!
But now you're wondering how you
can narrow your search a bit. You can't possibly visit sixteen
dealerships in the next few days. You've got it! You'll only
visit the nine dealers that have been awarded the #1 position
for customer satisfaction from the ABC Car Company, or the JD
Shameless research group. Have you ever seen such a responsive
group of retailers? These guys must treat all their customers
like gold! You can't lose!
All right, we admit it, we've
been slightly sarcastic here. There are plenty of dealers that
are pretty straight shooters. But you've got to admit, some of
those ads stretch the bounds of credulity to the limit. And the
fact remains that if you don't read and interpret all the fine
print, some of them are downright misleading -- to your
detriment.
We've selected five (in no
particular order) commonly used ploys to get you in the
showroom. These are based on actual ads -- we’re not making this
up!
The Incredibly
Low Monthly Payment
There are few hard and fast rules that you should follow when
leasing or buying a new or used vehicle. One of them is to NEVER
FOCUS ON THE MONTHLY PAYMENT! This should not be the determining
factor when selecting a vehicle. Dealers can get very creative
in providing you with whatever monthly payment you want. Two
common examples: Zero money down. Nada, zip. No security
deposit, no taxes, no acquisition fee absolutely nothing. And
all at a too good to be true low monthly payment. You know what?
Read the fine print. You'll see one of two things: A very long
lease or payment term. We've seen up to 84 months, as in 7
years. On a purchase that's a lot of interest, on a lease not
only are you paying the interest, you'll end up paying for
expensive service and repairs on somebody else's car. You may
also see this extremely dangerous disclosure: Lease end value
based on anticipated market value. Additional charges may apply
at lease end. Never sign a lease deal under those terms. You'll
regret it.
$2000 Minimum
Trade Allowance
We've all seen them. Push it, pull it or tow it -- we'll give
you exorbitant amounts of cash for your junk. C'mon people, use
your common sense. Why would they give you all that money for a
$200 car that doesn't run? Because they'll make up for it on the
purchase price of the vehicle they're selling you. You're better
off going in and saying "Just give me the the $2000 off and I
won't bring a junk car in here that will cost you money to
dispose of." We'd be really surprised if they don't go for it.
Bait and Switch
Yeah, we know the FTC says it's illegal. But we can't help but
wonder why that low price only applies to stock# 4318. Well,
that’s a super low, loss-leader price. Technically, the dealer
does have it in stock at the time the ad is run, so he’s
covered. Inevitably, by the time you get there it's either sold
(probably to his sister), or you'll be convinced by the
salesperson that you don't really want that model anyway. You're
a big, important person and you deserve all the bells and
whistles. And a much higher price....
The #1 Ranked
Dealer in Customer Satisfaction
Have you ever noticed when you go to fill out the paperwork on
your recently purchased vehicle, the salesman or the finance guy
will ask you to sign a blank questionnaire about your sales
experience? You'll probably hear, "Oh, you don't want to spend
time on this. The manufacturer wants you to fill it out but it's
a pain in the neck. Just sign here and I'll take care of it."
And the dealership will score pretty damn well if we had to bet
on it. And it's not unheard of for these things to be, shall we
say, created?
The Really Low
Sales Price
Increasingly common is the portrayal of a vehicle's selling
price less a down payment or trade-in allowance as the actual
sales price. You'll see: 1997 Honda Accord LX, A/C, AT, PW, PDL,
Cassette, Only $11,500. There may be several, or even dozens of
vehicles listed in the same manner. Check the fine print.
Checking the bottom of the ad for tiny print you'll see "All
prices reflect a $2000 down payment or trade allowance." So
really, you need to add $2000 to every price listed in the ad to
see how much they are really asking for their vehicles.
Misleading? Absolutely. Dishonest? Not quite. And it gets a lot
of people in the showroom, which is what all these ads are
supposed to do.
We really don't mean to paint
such a bleak picture of dealers. But who can resist poking a
little fun at them? Hopefully, we have provided you with some
knowledge that will make you a smarter shopper, more aware of
what really goes on, and less susceptible to those amazingly
creative dealer ads. Good luck -- you'll need it! |
