Never Get Tricked by Used Car Dealers Again– (part One)

Amazingly, no matter what car the customer wants, it is always ‘hot property’, ‘very sought after’ and/or ‘hard to find’. Moreover, it isn’t a secret; we have all known it for years. Nevertheless, some of us still continue to be tricked into buying a new or used car we really don’t want to buy, and at a higher price than we expected. So let’s find out what some of the most favourite and sneaky used car dealer tactics in the car industry today and put them in our diary so we can refer to them when next buying a new car.

Car Dealer Tactic #1
Almost every new car dealership will drop the initial price they have listed on a car for sale. However, be wary of scams, pressure tactics, twists, and turns that car salespeople have up their sleeves. It is in the showroom, when you are ready to finalise the deal, where you shall be worn down by these machinations if you don’t have your wits about you.

Car Dealer Tactic #2
Car dealers will never give a direct or exact quote. If they do, they know you will go to another dealer and have them better the price. If you do leave the dealership and tell the dealer you will ‘look around for other prices’, the dealer will most likely ask you to come back once the ‘best price’ has been obtained. Don’t be fooled by this because the dealer will then either match the price, or, worse, since you're back and apparently ready or even eager to take the car, they will increase the pricer slightly, knowing they've gained upperhand this time.

Smart and very familiar, this trick works very well for most car dealers. It relies mainly on getting you, the customer, to feel obliged to buy the car finally, since you have put the dealer to ‘so much trouble’.

Car Dealer Tactic #3
Smart car dealers will urge you to commit to buy the car you really want, even before you get the final price. This is irksome and exasperating for customers, but reasonable from a car dealer’s point of view. Now your car dealer has two choices: to give you a quote and watch you walk out the door, or entice you to negotiate. Perhaps you may be lucky when negotiating with the dealer; however, you may never know whether you have paid too much.

If you feel uncomfortable about a car dealer, know that you can always back out of the negotiation, and find a new or used car elsewhere.

Go online at consumer.vic.gov.au, for instance, where you can check if traders of cars and other vehicles in Victoria are licensed and have Licensed Motor Car Traders (LMCT) number. Car classifieds such as OzFreeOnline.com, offer thousands of used cars for sale, which can offer you the best price without the car dealer commission.

Car Dealer Tactic #4
A dealer will make an expensive car the “better choice” among two undesirable ones. Most online car classifieds online give a price which you can work with, but a regular trick from some car dealers is identifying car models that are ‘undesirable’. The problems are common and may be simple. For instance, ‘the manufacture date is very old’, ‘the car has been in the showroom for a very long time’, perhaps they are ‘the least popular colour’ and of course ‘with no options’.

Next, the dealer will run a large advertising campaign based on these two cars, with the price ridiculously below cost. When the advertisement runs, the dealer waits for customers to flood through the doors. Of course, when they do arrive to get the best deal, they are usually told that the cars have been sold and are now waiting to be ‘delivered’ to the clients. Consequently, you will be invited to browse the showroom. And so, customers willingly but unknowingly switch to another car.

If the buyer still insists on looking at the vehicle, if it is still on the floor, the car dealer just points out why this particular car is undesirable, and then persuades the customer to look at a better car. Of course, the trick is to have the customer buy that “better” car and pay more for it.

To make sure you do not pay too much, log in at any used car classifieds sites like OzFreeOnline.com, where you just register, search for used cars Australia wide, and negotiate with the car owners themselves. No car showrooms or car dealers to pay the added price of commissions anymore.