Yup.

I tell sales people the same thing. Find me a truck with no tint, no pinstripes, no nitrogen, etc. When I walk into finance office I say no extras. Last time the finance guy said OK. Totally shocked me. Then he handed me the paperwork and it had a $650 dealer fee. I asked "what's this"?. He said "we charge that to everyone". I said not me. The purchase price I agreed to with sales was $xxx plus TT&L.

I had a finance dude trying the hard sell on the extended warranty. He tried everything to talk me into it. He asked if I knew why they had a shop. I said yep to do routine maintenance. Then he said will you take it if I can get you a lower interest rate. I asked how much? When he told me I asked if he would have offered the lower rate without the extended warranty. When he said of course I said fine I will take it and not the warranty.

That is usually true. I have seen swings of 50+ points, but that is extremely rare, and is often times the result of a negative showing on one bureau, but not the other. i.e. Trans Union is showing a collection account, but Experian is not.

Looks like we missed a few…
The following is a reprint from Public Counsel.org

Let’s face it: Americans love to drive, and buy hundreds of thousands of cars each year. While most auto dealerships play by the rules, there are still some dealers that do not. This list takes a closer look at some of the more common abuses and provides information on steps that consumers can take to educate and protect themselves.
Common Auto Dealer Scams
Bait and Switch.
Packing the Contract.
Advertising Bait and Switch.
Hiding a Lemon or Wreck.
Financing Fraud – Lying about credit scores.
Buy-Lease Switch.
Trade-in Fraud.
Co-signer Scam.

Missed another. Finance guys telling you that you have to buy the warranty/GAP/Credit protection in order to get the lower rate. You don't have to . Warranty/GAP/Credit Protection are not tied to rate.

It's comedy seeing the same people say dealer service takes too long, is too expensive AND also new cars are too complex. Pick one or the other.

LMAO

As far as credit score goes ... I don't know mine. Last time I checked it was REALLY good and I have done nothing to hurt it. I haven't applied for a mortgage in 19 years and I haven't applied for a car loan in 16 years. Why would I know to the exact number what my score is?

I encountered the bait and switch advertising at 2 dealers when shopping for a used car for my son. When I went to the first dealer and inquired about the car I saw advertised the sales lady said it was on the back lot. I said ok can you bring it up. She said no I can't drive it. I said "what" and she said it has a manual transmission. Encountered something similar at 2nd dealer when I asked about a car they advertised. Sales guy said it is on back lot and not for sale. I ended up buying a Ford Focus. When I checked the transmission fluid it was high. Drove it and it drove good and was very clean. Later I found out why they had overfilled the trans fluid.

The best way to protect yourself, other than avoiding dealerships altogether, is to simply become an informed consumer, do your research, know what you want, know what you'll pay, and know which dealership has the best rep to deal fairly. Don't be emotionally tied to the vehicle and be prepared to walk if your expectations aren't met. Stick to your guns.

We rarely buy locally and have been known to make trips, even one-way flights, to get the right vehicle, at the right price, from the right dealer.

I have family (in-laws) that own car dealerships in AZ, and have had numerous business discussions with them about the car business. I've bought vehicles from them at large enough discounts (basically wholesale) that I still save money after the shipping costs from Phoenix. I find that when you talk to car dealers and speak their language, they quickly figure out that they can't BS an BSer. Either they need to move the unit and will play ball, or not... and you simply go on to the next dealer. I bought my last family vehicle during the lock down days of COVID and smoked the dealership on it.

Why would you need to monitor your credit even though you are doing nothing to hurt it? What is someone has stolen your identity and is doing things to hurt your credit?

When I was 24 years old I showed up at a dealer, I had good credit and pre-approved financing at my bank.
I was buying a $13,000 truck, and I had a $3000 trade, that I had the title for. All was well until I sat down to sign papers. They added the $3000 trade on to the total price, I now owed $16000. I explained their error and that they needed to subtract the $3000, not add it, the final number should be $10000. I was told "why should we have to pay for your car?" They had a lot of papers to pick up as I walked out. What should have been $10000 was now $16000, a $6000 difference. I wonder how many young folks they had done that to.

You are 100% correct. I finally traded last year after waiting 2 years longer than when I normally trade my wifes vehicle. I researched for almost 6 months checking internet prices and checking inventory on dealers' lots before I ever walked on a car lot. Even sent a few emails to dealerships. I also had offers for my trade from 3 places if they didn`t want to give me enough $$$. Luckily, I`ve never had to deal with some of the salespeople that try to pull BS on customers. I always try to be respectful when the negotiations start and let the salesperson dictate how it goes from there. Never really had to get ugly with a salesperson, but I`ve made it clear more than once that I`d be willing to walk over as little as 200 bucks. Never get emotional over a car.

Had that happen. Girl opened up an account at Goldman Sachs and ran up a $10k bill under my social. Only way I caught it was thru looking at my credit wise account.

Always wise to run the yearly free credit reports just to ensure no funny business.

Now, I do it out of curiosity and to stay on top of my financial information. It's interesting to see it move up over the years. I'll continue to finance vehicles every 6-8 years or so and want to be ready if a dealership tries to tell me my score is something it isn't. Actually, that has not happened to me as I can recall. They know my credit score, and when they see it, they know I know it as well.

That only happens with women FME.

Yessir. We just traded the wife's ride in for new as the previous had become unreliable from my perspective and very much beginning to look like a money pit. Screw that, it's just a commodity (but my kids get emotional when I DX the family vehicle as they normally have a lot of memories tied up in the car... but I believe they're learning that it's just a car).

With my schedule, which includes a lot of frequent travel away from home, I will not allow Household 6 to be driving herself and the kids around in unreliable transportation. Luckily, we had a really good salesman with a great reputation, and we did a deal without too much consternation. I left a little meat on the bone with the deal, which I'm happy to do for great service, and I've found at this point in my life that after my family, my time is my most precious resource and I was not willing to haggle over the last pennies. The car we traded in, I got 21% off of sticker (no joke) when I bought it. The new one was only around 5% under sticker, and I went into the negotiation knowing where my boundaries were and where we'd likely land with the deal. I also knew at what point I would walk away.

But the comfort and security is well worth it knowing the family is in good shape when I'm not around, and you cannot put a price on that.

It's different for every person and family, and that's where being an informed consumer really pays dividends.

I have no idea what my credit score is.

Who on earth memorizes there credit score????? You have to be so far in debt buying everything on credit that often . Geez. No wonder young people dont feel they have to pay off there student loans .

Gen z and millennials never fail to amaze me

True. I have a rough idea what mine is. What amazes me is how it goes down when you pay off debt.

While we’re at it; anyone know a great Toyota dealership?

Not knowing an approximate idea of your credit score isn’t some kind of flex. It just means you’re not paying attention to your personal information.

I haven’t applied for a loan in 20 years and have fraud alerts on my information with all 3 of the CB so I don’t have any reason to know what it is or care what it is.

Who in this thread are you referring to?