Car Dealer Tricks to look out for
This article from Yahoo News is mostly about buying a new car, but many of the tricks used by dealers are equally pertinent to used car buyers.
When you sit down to negotiate, the salesman will pull out a “four-square” worksheet on which to work out the terms of the deal. In the four quadrants of the sheet the salesman will record purchase price, down payment, monthly payments, and trade-in value. He will fill in the sheet as you talk, working the deal like a shell game
This is a very typical trick used by car dealers to keep you off balance during negotiations.
The sales manager gets cast as the villain in a good cop/bad cop routine some salesmen play with buyers. You’ll negotiate a price, and the salesman will leave to get approval from his sales manager, painting the salesman as your ally and the manager as a common enemy.
This is taught in every car dealership I have ever been to/worked for in my 20+ years in the business.
If you are thinking of trading in your old car when you buy a new one, someone may borrow your keys to evaluate your ride. If negotiations stall and you try to leave, you might find that they’ve been “misplaced”
This is a dirty trick used by unscrupulous dealers to keep you captive. Always have a spare key to your car, and don’t be afraid to walk out and leave your key behind. That wokrs well, UNLESS the dealer has also blocked your car in to make it impossible for you to leave.
These are all good things to watch out for when you go to a dealership to buy a car. Read the rest of the article here: Car Dealer Tricks To Watch For