Fraudulent practices in the used car department increase as new car sales are slowing down. Car dealers today use dealer fraud just to keep the money flowing.
According to some predictions by the end of the year the US automakers will drop to less than a 50% share of the market in US new car and truck sales. It should be mentioned that sales figures are dropping not only for the Big Three but for virtually all makes. That’s why consumers should be more careful now if they decide to visit a local car dealer and purchase a used car.
One of the newest dealer scams include the tire care package that some dealers are packing into your monthly payment, sometimes without the buyer even knowing it. The tire care package is really not much more than just a scam when the consumer pays the car dealer for tires that he might (or might not) need in the future.
Negative equity scam complaints are also increasing. This happens when the dealer informs that your trade in vehicle is not worth what you owe on it “but don’t worry, we’ll pay off your trade in anyway”. What they don’t tell you is that they are jacking up the price of the car they’re selling you too.
Another common dealer fraud is the Gap Insurance when the dealer sells you a high priced guarantee. Generally the dealer promises that if your car is stolen or wrecked and your own insurance won’t pay it off, then they’ll put money toward the payoff too.
Question… If a new car dealer sells you a car with the wrong odometer listed on the bill of sale and the odometer papers, is there anything I can do about it?
Yes! Abosolutely. If the miles are acutally lower then on the paperwork then you are getting cheated because your vehicle is worth more then it will get credit for based on the papers. If on the otherhand the actual miles are much higher then the dealership likely committed fraud and told you the vehicle has lower miles and induced you into the purchase. In that case you could very likely reneg the purchase agreement and retun the vehicle for a full refund. In either case the same outcome might be attainable. Please call me to discuss. Thank you for the post.