Purchasing a new car can be an awesome, exhilarating experience. It can also be a total nightmare if you’re tricked into accepting a deal that you’re not entirely satisfied with.
Now, I’m not one to flaunt blanket statements about car dealers being cheats and scammers but suffice to say there’s definitely a reason they some of them have that reputation. A salesman’s main objective is to finalize a sale, even if they care about the satisfaction of their client.
That’s why today I want to talk about some of the main dirty tricks that many dishonest salesmen reduce themselves to, and how you can turn the situation around to your favor once you pick up on it. Let’s go!
Additional Fees
Extra fees are to be expected when purchasing either a used or a new car, but this is also a nice way for a dishonest car dealer to sneak in some additional profit, under the assumption that the client will accept those fees at face value. This is definitely not the approach you should take, however.
After you look up a cool car on a used car website and contact the car dealer, ask them about any and all fees that will be summed into the final price. If they’re not upfront about it, or if they say that “it depends” – it’s kind of a red flag. They should at least be able to give you a ballpark, or say “it will be this much at the most”.
Not Disclosing Damage
The first time that you actually see your potential new car, give it a good look up and down, and if you notice anything at all off, ask the dealer about it immediately. Generally, there are two responses that you can get when you ask about this: either the dealer will say something along the lines of “don’t worry about that, I’ll take care of it for you” – or they’ll immediately apologize and tell you all about it.
The second response is what you’re looking for in an honest dealer. It will show you that the dealer is being upfront about the deal and that they have nothing to hide.
Selling on Payment
If the first thing that you hear from your dealer is “what type of payment are you looking for?”, take extreme caution. This is the sort of salesman that’s intent on getting the most money off you that they possibly can. Hidden under this guise of a “ type of payment”, they’ll most likely try to trick you into paying more money than you need to.
A responsible dealer that cares about the satisfaction of their customer will discuss the budget and not payments. There’s a huge difference because one shows that they’re interested in how much you’re willing to spend, and the other shows that they’re interested in how much they can take from you.
Dragging it Out
A common tactic that many dealers use when the customer is a good haggler is to drag out the deal as much as they possibly can. This is done in order to take advantage of your impatience, by making you wait at crucial times. In essence, this is a psychological trick; by leaving you in anticipation of whether they’ll settle for your preferred price or not, they’ll slowly wear down your patience until you just want to get it over with, even at the expense of settling on a higher price.
In situations like this, simply don’t succumb to the tactic by losing your patience. Be assertive with your final price and let the dealer know that you really can’t afford to go higher, and if they insist – there’s always another dealer!
Conclusion
It’s really not hard to avoid cheap tricks from salesmen if you know what to expect, and hopefully, these few tips will come in handy the next time you think of upgrading your ride. I wish you the best of luck in your future car-purchasing endeavors, and remember to keep your guard up against dirty tricks!
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