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Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Sun Aug 20, 2017 12:38 pm
by BigDave
I went into a local Nissan dealer with my mother-in-law yesterday to help her buy a new car. In addition to their "processing fee" (aka Dealer Profit Fee), there was a line item for "fees" for $443. I asked them what "fees" was and they said it was the titling fee, license plate fee, and total loss protection fee.

I knew that titling and license should be something under $100, so I asked what in the world "total loss protection fee" was.

They said that $370 of the "fees" is for a new service that they provide with all vehicles they sell - if you total your car, they give you $2500 towards the purchase of a new car at this dealership and this $370 covers the cost of that program. (And it's only towards the purchase of a car at that dealership, so really it just reduces your negotiation power because they can leverage that $2500 over you.)

This is a new ripoff I have never heard of before. And to (try to) sell it, the salesman even had a photo booklet showing pictures of wrecks where the car had been totaled.

I told the guy that if one out of every seven cars they sell gets in a wreck and is a total loss, then there's a real problem somewhere along the line.

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 6:40 pm
by TheH2
BigDave wrote:I went into a local Nissan dealer with my mother-in-law yesterday to help her buy a new car. In addition to their "processing fee" (aka Dealer Profit Fee), there was a line item for "fees" for $443. I asked them what "fees" was and they said it was the titling fee, license plate fee, and total loss protection fee.

I knew that titling and license should be something under $100, so I asked what in the world "total loss protection fee" was.

They said that $370 of the "fees" is for a new service that they provide with all vehicles they sell - if you total your car, they give you $2500 towards the purchase of a new car at this dealership and this $370 covers the cost of that program. (And it's only towards the purchase of a car at that dealership, so really it just reduces your negotiation power because they can leverage that $2500 over you.)

This is a new ripoff I have never heard of before. And to (try to) sell it, the salesman even had a photo booklet showing pictures of wrecks where the car had been totaled.

I told the guy that if one out of every seven cars they sell gets in a wreck and is a total loss, then there's a real problem somewhere along the line.
Buying a car sucks. I think the best approach is to find a car on the dealerships website that is exactly what you are looking for (there is usually a link to the window sticker) and send an email asking for the out the door price of the specific car. Then all you have to do is set up a test drive and leave. No waiting around. If there are a couple dealerships you have everyone's equivalent price and can negotiate accordingly. They'll still be ripping you off in some way but at least you reduce the time spent at the dealership. You can always trade-in after.

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Fri Sep 08, 2017 7:35 pm
by cwtcr hokie
BigDave wrote:I went into a local Nissan dealer with my mother-in-law yesterday to help her buy a new car. In addition to their "processing fee" (aka Dealer Profit Fee), there was a line item for "fees" for $443. I asked them what "fees" was and they said it was the titling fee, license plate fee, and total loss protection fee.

I knew that titling and license should be something under $100, so I asked what in the world "total loss protection fee" was.

They said that $370 of the "fees" is for a new service that they provide with all vehicles they sell - if you total your car, they give you $2500 towards the purchase of a new car at this dealership and this $370 covers the cost of that program. (And it's only towards the purchase of a car at that dealership, so really it just reduces your negotiation power because they can leverage that $2500 over you.)

This is a new ripoff I have never heard of before. And to (try to) sell it, the salesman even had a photo booklet showing pictures of wrecks where the car had been totaled.

I told the guy that if one out of every seven cars they sell gets in a wreck and is a total loss, then there's a real problem somewhere along the line.
Yea, I bought a new chevrolet back in January after I had run the wheels off my last honda, we made the deal very close to my amount I was willing to pay based on my research. I put $15k down on it and got financing thru the dealer. We did this on a saturday and I told the guy from the start we had horses to feed so I could not be there all day. So we went to meet with the finance guy to sign all the paperwork and he had some stupid video about one of the "extras" I HAD to watch, then started going thru like 7 or 8 extras they could add to the payment that would be very affordable and were great deals for me. I shut him down on each one and about the fifth one I told him that if he did not give me the damn paperwork to sign and let me get back to my obligations at my farm I was going to walk away from the whole thing. He seemed rather deflated that I would not agree to any extras but it got the deal done very fast. Buying a car sucks

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 1:30 am
by Bay_area_Hokie
Buying cars sucks. I hate it. I like H2's idea


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Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Sun Sep 10, 2017 12:24 pm
by awesome guy
Bay_area_Hokie wrote:Buying cars sucks. I hate it. I like H2's idea


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Naw, they lie on the internet price as that's the lowest possible price given every rebate available, like military service. No one applies for them all so you're back to haggling. CarMax is the only haggle free dealer, but you're getting a used car.

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:01 pm
by TheH2
awesome guy wrote:
Bay_area_Hokie wrote:Buying cars sucks. I hate it. I like H2's idea


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Naw, they lie on the internet price as that's the lowest possible price given every rebate available, like military service. No one applies for them all so you're back to haggling. CarMax is the only haggle free dealer, but you're getting a used car.
That's why you contact them and ask for the "out the door" price. It's their best price including taxes, and stupid fees they always charge. "Key fee?" "You gotta start the car."

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 6:39 pm
by cwtcr hokie
TheH2 wrote:
awesome guy wrote:
Bay_area_Hokie wrote:Buying cars sucks. I hate it. I like H2's idea


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Naw, they lie on the internet price as that's the lowest possible price given every rebate available, like military service. No one applies for them all so you're back to haggling. CarMax is the only haggle free dealer, but you're getting a used car.
That's why you contact them and ask for the "out the door" price. It's their best price including taxes, and stupid fees they always charge. "Key fee?" "You gotta start the car."
the price was easy, I had the research and told him what I would pay, I made the offer, they countered, I split it but still got to what I wanted for price. The issue was when it came to signing the paperwork with the finance guy....so I imagine if you get the "out the door" price you still have to deal with the guy to sign the paperwork

Re: Interesting new way for car dealers to rip you off

Posted: Mon Sep 11, 2017 7:07 pm
by TheH2
cwtcr hokie wrote:
TheH2 wrote:
awesome guy wrote:
Bay_area_Hokie wrote:Buying cars sucks. I hate it. I like H2's idea


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
Naw, they lie on the internet price as that's the lowest possible price given every rebate available, like military service. No one applies for them all so you're back to haggling. CarMax is the only haggle free dealer, but you're getting a used car.
That's why you contact them and ask for the "out the door" price. It's their best price including taxes, and stupid fees they always charge. "Key fee?" "You gotta start the car."
the price was easy, I had the research and told him what I would pay, I made the offer, they countered, I split it but still got to what I wanted for price. The issue was when it came to signing the paperwork with the finance guy....so I imagine if you get the "out the door" price you still have to deal with the guy to sign the paperwork
Is that the guy who sells the coatings? This stuff costs $2000 but we'll give it to you for 500. What warranty would you like? Yeah, the process sucks no matter what and you can only avoid so much. The waiting is ridiculous. It's supposedly a negotiating tactic but that doesn't explain why they are so slow after you purchased a car.