UPDATE: Chris goes back to the dealership and makes the manager give him 50% off his bill
dealerships
Dealerships Rip You Off With The "Four-Square," Here's How To Beat It
By 3.30.07
Former used car salesman Alan Slone grows a conscience and reveals one of the major strategies dealership use to screw you when buying a new car.
Car Dealer Refuses To Sell You A Vehicle Without A Thumbprint
By 3.19.07
You are handed a slip of paper and told to mark your right thumbprint in a box. The paper says clearly that it’s a request, for your protection, and to prevent your identity theft.
FOLLOWUP: Car Dealership Breaks Into Customer's Home, Steals $70,000
By 2.13.07
A Seattle car dealership that broke into a mentally-disabled customer’s apartment and stole $70,000 in cash has a history of drug-use, shady tactics, and abusing mentally handicapped customers, The Seattle Times reports.
The Truth About "Factory Invoice" Car Prices
By 2.5.07
The invoice that most dealers are happy to show you represents a theoretical price the manufacturer would charge the dealer if the dealership sold just that one vehicle. Of course most dealers sell hundreds or thousands of vehicles a year and manufacturers offer all manner of incentives to encourage dealers to sell even more.
There’s no way to know what the dealer incentives are, so how will you know if you got a good deal?
Dealership Disappeared, Can I Return My Truck To Chevrolet?
By 1.24.07
Terry would like to return his new 2007 Chevrolet Avalanche with only 70 miles on it. The only problem is that when he drove it back to the dealership, they found an empty lot. The dealership had gone out of business.
Car Dealership Breaks Into Customer’s Home, Steals $70,000
By 1.23.07
In July, 60 year old mentally ill Richard Grey wheelchaired into the Huling Brothers dealership in Seattle, his pants encrusted with feces and urine, and bought a truck with $30,000 in cash in a plastic bag.
What’s A Good Dealership Rating Site?
By 11.9.06
Reader Etinterrapax wants to know if there’s any trustworthy car dealer ranking sites.
Buying A Car: Always Up The Ante
By 10.19.06
Over at the Get Rich Slowly blog, they have an excellent email from a reader illustrating the importance of never caving in to the high-pressure tactics of a car salesman.
UPDATE: Drove My Chevy to the Levy But The Dealer Left Me Dry
By 7.26.06
An investigation into the Bill Heard used car dealership reveals a history of complaints over customer intimidation and harassment.
Daimler CEO Gets Bad Customer Service From Own Company
By 7.25.06
Last week, DaimlerChysler CEO Dieter Zetsche went unannounced to a German MercedesBenz dealership, only to have the receptionist have him cool his heels for 45 minutes. He eventually asked to speak to the manager and was told he was busy.
Drove My Chevy to the Levy But The Dealer Left Me Dry
By 7.20.06
Unlike Mark’s Prius story, there’s no confusion in this truck twister from Tennessee. Except, how did the dealership think they would get away with it?
Earl Stewart on Cars
By 7.20.06
As many of our commenters justly pointed out in the comments of yesterday’s Confessions of a Car Salesman, the only way to truly avoid getting ripped off buying a car is to know what you want, know what it’s worth and have a spine.
Stone = Dealership. Blood = Fair Deal.
By 5.8.06
Dana sent in her tale of buying a car and nearly being hoodwinked at sale, but thanks to her dogged persistence and detective-like compendium of evidence, she finally got the deal she deserved, the deal that had already been agreed upon in writing. The deal that, for some reason, wasn’t sitting at the dealership when she walked in to pick it up.
UPDATE: Buying a Car and Getting Away With It
By 5.3.06
2006. It’s called, “The Financing Fell Through Scam.”
Don’t Buy a Lemon from Chicago
By 3.9.06
Did you know that Illinois doesn’t make car accident reports public? So if you Carfax a used car from there, you won’t know it’s already been around the block. Efforts to introduce legislation to change this have failed.
