Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Dealer's Tricks - bait & switch, etc.
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I park them under tall Palm trees and pray fora hurricane
Seriously, we're stuck with them. Although, IMHO, you shouldnt HAVE leftovers. Once supply is strong on, say, 2002s... Every 2001 that I have is going to get given away.
Come Christmastime, I'll have them in the paper for invoice, less any rebates/incentives less another $500 or so...
By that time the car is hemmhoraging me money and HAS to go.
Bill
Anyway, the screamer ad worked for me. Got me in to the dealership. It did not get me switched as I already had an alternative deal set up. I just could not believe that it was $6500 under MSRP with no funny packages or accessories. This was also $3800 under the Suburban I had ordered which had only $700 more features. It was just a deal I did not want to pass up.
They did try to slip in a $250 Title and license documentation fee, but we took care of that.
The young man on the lot was fine to work with as soon as I let him know that this vehicle was "just what I wanted for my wife." That stops the switch dead in its tracks and no one loses face.
The road over to financing was humorous. I told them that I could pay cash but was willing to see what they would do on financing. I told the finance woman what interest rate I could get at the local credit union and she was able to match it. I signed a few papers to apply for the loan, but she did not leave me a copy of everything. I wrote down the payments and came home to check. I thought that the payment seemed a little high because it was what the payment was going to be for "special ordered" Suburban. It ended up that she was using simple interest and it could not be prepaid. I called back and cancelled the financing and told her that they would get the remainder of the money this week.
Weak switch attempt
High documentation fee
Simple interest, no prepayment financing
Now, I did not catch it right at first, but did figure it out, partially thanks to what I had learned here on the Edmunds topics. I immediately called and cancelled the funky financing which would have ended up a $1500 mistake. Now, I still would have gotten a good deal, but just not as good as I ended up with.
Hey, I'll get a vehicle that should last me 150K miles for $23K. Since this is the first new vehicle that I have bought in 20 years, the sticker shock and variety of choices have been quite something to contend with.
I can't think of one European car in short supply with high demand that ever sells for even that low.
BMW 3-Series? 9-10% over.
Mercedes? Few of them are even discounted.
However, the resale value of these cars more than makes up for it.
If you must buy a car at invoice may I suggest a Domestic.
Bill
They don't sell that cheap because they don't have to.
Rich
When they "think" they might have a problem...guess what?
I also know some cars attract joyriders, they types that want to drive anything cool with no intension/ability to buy. Some dealerships will use a credit check to weed these people out.
Harsh?..yeah, but the risk of offending a few worthy people may offset a bunch of worthless test drives for these dealerships.
Sometimes you can't win!
I hope you'll pardon a slight divergence.
I recently made a $500 deposit for an ordered Silverado in California and intend to pay cash. Since I've never done this before, I'm curious about what documents will require my signature at the time of delivery.
Also, in the event of some problem in the vehicle such as damage from transit or some other discrepancy and I want to go ahead and take delivery, what sort of document binds Cheverolet or the dealer to corrective action?
And finally, I'm aware of a federal law which requires the reporting of any cash purchase over $10,000. Since I'll be using a cashier's check, does this mean I have to relinquish my SSN to the dealer, or am I correct in assuming an identity trace can be made through the check?
In the previous several months leading up to this purchase I've found a lot of good info both here and there about negotiating and what the dealer may pull in order to squeeze out more $$s, but very little about the final procedure in a cash deal. Much gratitude to anyone in California willing to take the time about the other two points above.
Terry.
Funny how everything worked great and now I'm set for quite a few years.
a *five-liner*...You will be required to provide your Driver's License,
your Proof of Insurance...
The five-liner will include your name, address, phone numbers, SSN,
CDL #, and your place of employment, unless you are retired, and
your signature on the bottom. This Document, which is completed on a
Credit Application, is the Dealership's proof that they went through a
reasonable effort to verify that you are, in fact, the person that you claim
to be. This, like the reporting of cash deposits that exceed $10,000 in cash...
is done to create another obstacle in the process of Money Laundering...It
does not leave the dealership, but stays in the Deal Jacket and is filed.
If you are presenting a Cashier's Check you can write on this *Five-Liner*
that no Credit History on you will be pulled...Not so if the store is prepared
to accept a personal check from you...
As to the condition of the car...If there is any type of *transport damage* to
your Silverado; it will no doubt be repaired before you even pick it up. I
certainly would not deliver a damaged vehicle.
Assuming that you are going to have your Silverado serviced at this Chevy
Dealership, you might want to ask Them what information they would like
from you...that way you can request that they have all of your paperwork
prepared and ready for your signature, and that will save you time that would
probably be better spent on your Sales Rep's proper Delivery of your new ride.
Start the relationship out on the right foot...No Surprises...
Allow yourself at LEAST 90 minutes for this entire process...from the minute
you walk through the door until you drive away.
This whole process is fraught with unknowns, and therefore disadvantages. Dealers do this everyday. We customers are mere amateurs. It relieves some of the anxiety to know what to expect going in. Then, if there are any "surprises", I'll be able to react appropriately. I sense my salesman is a pretty good guy, however have no previous experience with him.
Owing to the abuses we hear about almost everyday, I'm very cautious about releasing my SSN and will only do so when I believe the requirement is legitimate, which you addressed with the "five liner" info.
Thanks again for the indulgence.
In my business we deal in "big ticket" items (100K &up)so as you can imagine we just do not take someone's word for a lot of info we need , do it all the time and the customer does not even know. You'd be surprised at all the little white lies we uncover as well. Some wives would LOVE to see some of this stuff.LOL
Floridian
How long have you been doing this ..?
I would never recommend any one doing that, unless they know straight up it's going to be used..
A 5 liner in my stores..or anyone I have ever met in the businees from Seattle to Miami will run it -- Just to protect themselves...
This isn't the land of Oz, it's just a good business practice.
Terry.
Like the people who try identity theft, or the people who try to write bad checks (Example, on a deal where we take a personal check we generally run a credit inquiry. The only people that I have ever had objections from have always had several bad check collections listed..)
The people who damage cars or abuse them on test drives inmany cases intentionally, the people who come in to pick a fight..etc.
Some people are miserable and do their best to drag everyone else down with them. However, they seem to be in the minority. Most people, I have found, are nice to deal with. 2-3%, however, are in the class of people that I'd rather not do business with. .5% I refuse to.
Bill
sale I have no interest in running a bureau on him. I have a valid California Driver's
License and current Proof of Insurance...What do I care if the guy scores 476 with
Equifax?
The question from David centered around his concern about Identity Theft...a very
topical issue here in Calif.
Additionally, my response reflected how WE do business, and although the Carmel,
Pebble Beach area is not Oz, it is pretty close to Paradise...I cannot speak to the
way business is conducted in Florida.
Foreign: clean, up scale, comfortable, knowledgeable, will let you walk away
Domestic: dirty, plain, little to no knowledge or product, will do anything to prevent you from leaving even if you are just looking.
Rich
I've got a new policy. The truly abusive people, the really nasty ones, get one pencil. List. My way of saying "we dont want yer business".
Might happen once a week or so.. so maybe I'm blowing at worst 5 deals a month. But no more headaches...
Bill
That's how I look at it. I'm not making money off new cars anyways so why do I need the headaches and allocation cuts?
I remember how Cliffy mentioned once how one bad survey on a Volvo cost them so much that it would have been cheaper to give the guy the car.
Bill
VALUE.... they will all end up with the *minis*...Folks just will not pay for what
they don't see...The operative word here is *control*. When my wife and I go
out to our favorite restaurant we don't go into the kitchen and tell the Chef how to
do his job...nor do we ask how much the Lobster cost...Who is in control in this
situation? The restauranteur, of course; for us, we are treated like family...well
attended to, fawned over, and comfortable...Do that...make your customers feel
that way and the *minis* magically go away...
There are no short cuts to a job well done...
Unfortunately, he never paid the subsequent premiums and the policy lapsed. As it turned out, I would have been better off if I had paid the balance ($600) of the annual premium for him. Not only would I have made $420 (making my net cost only $180), but I wouln't have been hit 18 months down the road with a lapse which cost me over $2K in a deferred profit-sharing bonus. By making $140 on the initial quarterly premium, I ended up losing $2K. Better to have not written the policy at all.
BTW, it would have technically been "illegal" for me to have paid the premium as we have anti-rebating laws here, although it's been known to have been done. Some "buyers" demand the entire premium back, not only the agent's commission, on a "jumbo" case. The agent is supposed to be satisfied with the honor of selling that $1M policy.
Auto salesmen should not be afraid to pass on "blood-thirsty" buyers. They can be more trouble than the commission is worth.
good story - an old friend has an uncle who is loaded - only buys caddies - dresses like a bum - i mean if you could see this guy - white t-shirt -belly hanging over, food always on his clothes (you always know what he ate by looking at his shirt) etc. - salesperson refuses to help him - makes a scene - he's told - what makes you think you can buy/afford a caddie - when the sales mgr comes out to see what's going on - the uncle complains about his treatment - says he wants to buy this caddie here - sales mgr says - it's 32k - uncle pulls out 35k in cash and says i'll give you 29k cash out the door - if you could have seen the difference in treatment at that point it was a sight to see
can you honestly say you have exactly the same reaction when you saw that person either if they were dressed like a bum or dressed like a professional?
i wouldn't. i wouldn't even open the door for the person who looked like a bum.
-Chris
He said, "You can shear a sheep a hundred times, but you can only skin him once."
I don't know why more people don't understand that.
Never looked back and she enjoyed the Rabbit for 100K miles before we passed it on to a friend who got another 100K out of that little diesel.
Only in California?
The rest of the ad has a dozen or so cars with prices next to them.
The fine print at the bottom of the ad says something like "$2,000 minimum trade allowance applicable for all cars priced at $2,900 or higher, and does not apply to advertised cars."
Putting aside the advertised car exclusion scam, I wonder what those $2,900 car look like.
-Chris