If you’ve purchased a new car at a dealership, you’re probably familiar with the slew of possible options and add-ons for your vehicle — everything from tinted windows to extended service contracts. A new report claims that the price a customer is charged for these extras may be linked to their ethnicity.
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car dealerships
Report Finds Auto Dealers May Be Charging Hispanic Customers More For Vehicle Add-Ons
By 10.11.17
Police: Florida Man Interprets “Test Drive” As “Free $150K Maserati”
By 2.24.17
If you sell cars, you’ve probably had your share of jokes from “hilarious” customers who crack wise about making off with the car they are test-driving, but most car-shoppers are indeed only joking about committing grand theft auto. Then there’s the Florida man accused of using a test drive to help himself to a $150,000 Maserati. [More]
Couple Claims Car Dealership Employee Stole Intimate Photos, Sent Them To Swingers’ Site
By 12.2.16 — Updated: 12.5.16
The thing about private photos is that they’re supposed to be just that: private. But a couple in Texas says not only did a car dealership employee swipe intimate photos from one of their phones, he then emailed them to a site for swingers. [More]
Tesla Suing Michigan After State Officials Reject Company’s Bid To Open Dealership
By 9.22.16
After Michigan denied Tesla Motors’ application for licenses to sell directly to consumers, the company has filed a lawsuit against the state, challenging a law that says automakers can only sell through franchised dealerships. [More]
Man Puts Up Stolen Lexus As Collateral, Steals Mercedes On Test Drive
By 3.29.16
It probably wasn’t the first time that one man in Pennsylvania has been accused of stealing a car. We’re guessing. That’s because when he took a Mercedes on a test drive at a dealership near Pittsburgh, the Lexus that he left behind the keys to was, um, also reported stolen. From another dealership. [More]
Car Dealerships Still Don’t Understand How Customer Surveys Should Work
By 8.24.15
For years now, we’ve shared stories of how the current system of car dealership surveys is unfair to everyone involved. If you’re in the market for a car or considering a career in car brand marketing, consider how something as simple as a customer service survey has devolved into bullying, pleading, and lies. [More]
Tesla Not Giving Up On Bringing Direct Car Sales To Connecticut
By 6.11.15
After a bill to bring direct car sales to Connecticut died, Tesla Motors says it’s not going to give up on a the idea of opening retail stores in the state. [More]
FTC Urges Michigan To Repeal Ban That Prevents Tesla From Selling Directly To Consumers
By 5.11.15
Last year, Michigan joined the list of states that require car manufacturers to use dealerships to sell their vehicles, effectively banning Tesla from selling its pricey electric vehicles to Michigan residents. Now, staffers at the Federal Trade Commission are chiming in, urging Michigan lawmakers to consider repealing this ban. [More]
Police Looking For Thief Who Drove Indy 500 Pace Car Through Dealership’s Window
By 4.9.15
Police are looking for someone felt the need to destroy a perfectly good replica Indy 500 pace car by driving it through a car dealership window last night. Apparently “replica” doesn’t mean the there’s no engine. [More]
Morton Salt Avalanche Buries Three Vehicles At Car Dealership Next Door
By 12.31.14
Quick, someone grab all the deer and salt shakers you can find and start licking/scooping: After a storage facility wall partially collapsed at Morton Salt in Chicago, the Acura dealership next door became the victim of a salt avalanche that completely buried at least three cars and damaged up to 11. [More]
Texas Plumber Sells Truck, Gets Branded A Terrorist
By 12.17.14
Our global, interconnected economy is an amazing thing. Of course, it doesn’t seem so amazing right now to the person answering the phones at Mark-1 Plumbing in Texas City, Texas. The business has had to remove the batteries from its cordless phones to stop the phones from “ringing off the hook” after a truck with its name emblazoned on the door ended up in the hands of an Islamic militant group in Syria. [More]
Dealership’s “White Friday” Deal: Buy A New Vehicle Now, Get A Refund If It Snows 6 Inches On Christmas
By 11.25.14
We’ve seen retailers make a big gamble for events like the Super Bowl (and lose millions in merchandise, in one case), but this might be the first time we’ve caught wind of a car dealership willing togive out free cars just to woo Black Friday shoppers. [More]
Dealership Registers Car To Wrong Person, Random Lady Gets 18 Tickets In the Mail
By 10.14.14
An 87-year-old woman in California was confused when she started to receive parking tickets and toll notices in the mail. She had 18 separate tickets, with a total of almost $1500 in fines. Was she racking up tickets and forgetting to pay? No, and she could prove it: she no longer drives at all. The tickets listed her as the owner of a white Acura, and she doesn’t own one. [More]
Used Car Dealer Accused Of Rolling Back Odometers, Selling Cars And Lies
By 8.22.14
A couple in California who ran a used car dealership embody consumers’ worst fears about buying used cars. They now face almost 80 criminal charges of grand theft by false pretenses, perjury, filing false documents with the DMV, and twenty counts of unlawfully rolling back a car odometer. [More]
Reminder: It’s Impolite To Shoot A Deer With An Arrow At Your Local Car Dealership
By 8.15.14
So you’re at the car dealership perusing vehicles and mulling the difference between Space Ghost Gray and Ghost Rider Gray when fwiiiiiiip! — an arrow zings past and takes down a nearby deer. What an awfully rude customer, you might think. And you’d be right, one car dealership was none too happy when a guy allegedly shot a deer with a bow and arrow on the premises. [More]
Impersonating A Sheriff And Pulling People Over While Test Driving A Car Ends Predictably For Oregon Man
By 7.8.14
There are surely plenty of signs to alert even the most unobservant person that someone is impersonating an officer of the law. A really bright red flag? When said person tries to pull a fellow motorist over while test driving a car. [More]
Dealership Employees Take Rare Ferrari Out On Highway, Crash It
By 6.26.14
When you bring your vehicle in for repair, you sort of expect that your vehicle will be waiting for you when you return. A mattress mogul left his Ferrari Enzo with a Connecticut luxury car dealership, and two dealership employees crashed it, fishtailing and then spinning across three lanes of highway traffic on I-95. [More]
New Jersey Assembly Passes Bill That Would Allow Sale Of Tesla Vehicles
By 6.17.14
Can you feel it? The slight wind that passes over the hands of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as he rubs his hands together in anticipation of a greater glee down the road? The automaker is one step closer to getting the stamp of approval to sell its cars in New Jersey, after a bill saying as much easily passed the state Assembly. [More]
