This is it folks! At the end of this page you graduate! Let's examine some dealer ads that I've scanned in, plus one I created for my fictitious dealership to illustrate how dealers can mislead you with newspaper ads. I'll also give you advice and warnings about your Customer Satisfaction Survey, and what to do if you get ripped off by a dealer. Then summary and closing remarks, and you're out of here!

Customer Satisfaction Surveys
If you were smart enough to get a good buy using sites like InvoiceDealers, Cars.com, Yahoo!Autos, Edmunds.com, MyRide.com and CarsDirect, then you'll most likely be filling out a favorable customer satisfaction survey for the dealer.

Jeff's Car Buying Physics Rule #9:
A satisfied customer will tell 3 of their friends, but an unsatisfied customer will tell 10 of their friends

Some dealers may pressure you to turn in the manufacturer's Customer Satisfaction Survey to them. Don't give it to them, mail it directly to the company. A few Honda buyers emailed me to say dealers told them to lie on the CSS, right after scamming them! Many dealers offer you a free tank of gas to bring the survey to them instead of mailing it in. Some dealers seem to care more about how you'll fill out the survey than actually satisfying you as this reader wrote to me:

What to do when they bribe you for your Customer Satisfaction Survey
Make a photocopy of your completed survey and return the original to the dealership to get your free tank of gas. Send the photocopy to the manufacturer with a note telling them the dealer bribed you to turn in the survey to them: "Since I was offered a free tank of gas from Crazy Jeff's Automall NOT to send you my survey, I hope this photocopy will do." If you were irritated by a particular salesperson, as soon as they've paid for your gas, innocently tell them what you did. It helps take the bite out of the irritation.

Dealerships get bonuses if their CS index is within a certain range, so never lie on a CSS. If you liked the dealer, indicate it and if there was anything you disliked from attitude to service to scams, write it in. The car makers want to know. If no one lets them know there's a problem, they can't fix it. If they required you to purchase extended warranties or credit life insurance as a condition for loan approval (which is illegal), indicate that on the survey and tell them you are calling the Consumer Affairs Division to complain.

If You Got A Great Deal, Show Your Appreciation
If you got a great deal on your car after reading this article, you know the dealer gave up some profit when they did not have to. Thank them and reward them for it by sending your friends to them when they go car shopping. Any dealer who negotiates down to the 5% profit terms of this article is thinking win-win and deserves our repeat business. For any salespeople who made it this far in the article, keep in mind that your industry is constantly fighting an uphill battle in the customer satisfaction arena.

What to do if you get ripped off by a dealer
This does happen more than you think. I don't mean sneaky cash flow games, I'm talking about actual crimes by a salesman.

If you think you have been wronged, the easiest method to resolve it is to start with the dealer. Maybe they made a mistake, and they'll correct it. If not, file a complaint with the Consumer Affairs Division for your state.

Where To Go For Help

• Your state Attorney General web site, file a complaint online. Use our Directory Of All 50 Attorney General Web Sites
• TV news consumer reporters are effective at getting situations resolved. No car dealer wants to be the subject of a 6:00 news broadcast
• Complain to the Better Business Bureau, who can try to resolve issues and track and publish complaints so future customers can be forewarned
• If it's really complicated, you need an attorney. Do not ask me for legal advice

Before you file any complaints, make sure you can prove a crime took place.

Most states do not have a 3 day "Buyers Remorse" rule
Many people foolishly shop, thinking they can use it as a door stop. You should be certain you are ready for a deal before you sign, not 3 days after you sign. And lastly, you could always consult an attorney. Don't forget, there is also a lemon law, which varies from state to state that protects you from being stuck with a car that won't work properly. Your state attorney general web site is a great place to start. Most have an online complaint form for you to fill out. Make sure you read their directions for submitting a claim, and what documentation you'll need.

Loan/Lease Calculators:
Read all about ALG Residual Values. You'll need this vital data to calculate your lease payments, and look up dealer cost for cars and trucks. Every person who leases use the same type of leasing software that the dealers use. Without it you're sailing the ocean of confusion, and they'll swallow you whole. I would not in a million years lease a car without using software first.

Advertising Pages From Hell
Nearly all dealer ads quote low monthly payments that are actually lease Payments. This is because you are not buying 100% of a car, you are depreciating about 50% of it during a 36 month lease. They condition you with "low payment" ads, selling the car for MSRP and most people don't have a clue! The goal of dealer ads is to get you into the store and not sell any of the deals in the ad. You can bet any price you see on a dealer ad will be unobtainable by you when you get there. Many ads are only good the day they are published! Leases are too confusing for you to notice they are charging MSRP. Remember, when you lease, they sell it to the leasing company, who rents it to you during the lease. You are actually paying them for depreciation on the car during the term. The leasing company profits and can sell the car at the end of the lease. The dealer is happy because they get MSRP for the car. The trick to a lease is to not mention the lease until you have hammered down their price well below MSRP. This will make your lease payments even lower, as depreciation is now lower. If you could talk them down $2000 below MSRP on a 36 month lease, your monthly payments would be $55 less! Some ads say "Some cars subject to prior sale". The only useful information on any dealer ad is the address. So they could save lots of money by just taking out a 2" ad with their address on it. Here's some dealer ads you may read while enjoying your Saturday morning coffee:

Consumer Alert!

Here's an ad for my fake dealership, Crazy Jeff's. You may find ads similar to this. See my claim about paying your first loan payment for you? It also says "Up to", meaning I probably won't give you $400. Also, it says "See store for details". Come in to get details from me and find that I do make your first month's payment, but it's financed into the loan. Your brain fooled you, thinking I would just give you $400. Why would I do that? You're "stealing food from my baby's mouths"! I'll pay off your current loan, no matter how much you still owe. Sounds like I'm doing you a big favor right? Read the fine print at the bottom of my ad: "*Payoff amount will be added to the amount we lend you". What does this mean? It means I'm uprooting you out of your old loan, and into the loan for the car I sell you. Thus you might think your old loan is history and you'll never see it again. You still owe the balance, but to me. What if your previous loan was at a lower APR? Now you're paying off 2 cars!!!! If you owed $2000 on your car and bought a $15000 car from me, you just financed $17000. This type of ad misleads the uneducated into thinking their old loan is gone forever. This deal is OK as long as the buyer is aware of what's happening with the loans. Why don't the ads just say "Come on down buy a new car, we'll payoff your current loan and finance your current balance into the new car so you are effectively paying off 1 1/2 loans? Would you have come in to buy a car from me if my ad said that? With my deal, you'll still have your old loan AND the new loan! You're now paying off 2 loans! Pray you're not upside down on your current loan before you enter this deal. And don't bank on getting that 2.7% rate. The "as low as" in the fine print is their way of saying "expect to pay as much as". Beware of phrases "as low as", "qualified buyers only", or "with approved credit".

Notice how they did not mention the selling price (cap cost) for the lease? How do you know what the cap cost is for leasing? Assume it's full MSRP. Most dealers charge full MSRP on leases.

"New 1997" BMW's at low lease prices. But zoom in on the 328i ad: Tiny text under the rear wheel says "Stk. A19125". Sorry folks, that's the stock number of the only car offered at this rate. And gosh darn it, folks, we just sold that car before you walked in here. If you're a payment person ignoring all else, consider this from the fine print. The residual value at the end is $23094. Here's what's required at closing (inception): Down Payment (Capital Reduction) $3495 Security Deposit $350 Bank Fees $680 Dealer Service Fee $489 First Month Payment $275 TOTAL CASH DOWN: $5289 Monthly payment does not include taxes! The sizable $3495 down payment effectively increases your monthly payments by $116! This is how they make it look like the monthly payment is low. Now are you seeing RED? Dealer service fee is meaningless & pure profit.

Is it better to lease or to buy this Toyota?

Now if you buy the above car instead of leasing it using the same $3497 down payment @ 8.5%: Down Payment $3497 Borrow $9463 @ 8.5%, thus 36 payments of $298.75 $ 10755 TOTAL SPENT ON CAR: $14252! They'll make nearly $5000 more from the lease. That's why they push leasing so hard.

Here's the cost if you lease, then buy the car: Due at Inception $3497 36 Monthly Payments @ $179 $6444 Residual Value at lease end $9118 TOTAL SPENT ON CAR: $19059! Hmmm, they didn't mention bank/dealer fees.

Before we get all verklempt and say our good-bye's, let's review the steps to purchasing a new car one final time:

Congratulations, you have completed the CarBuyingTips.com Seven Chapter course on how to buy a new car, and you are ready to conduct business on a level playing field. Please email me and let me know what YOU found out there too. If you saved money, PLEASE let us know how much so we can add you to our MSRP $avOmeter at the top of our main page! Email the exact model and options, MSRP, Invoice price, and your negotiated price so we can anonymously add your vehicle to the savings database page mentioned above for other readers to use as a guide. If you liked this article, please bookmark it share it with your friends, they'll thank you for it. If you know any reporters, tell them to do a story on this site. Together we'll educate the world. Thanks for stopping by! -Jeff

Jump to any chapter. I suggest you read each chapter in order.
Chapter 1 Get your credit report, how to get a car loan, scams, online car loans, first time car loans, budget & loan excel spreadsheets, credit repair.	Chapter 2 Reviews of internet discount car buying sites, new car prices, find dealer's invoice cost. Get a new car quote.	Chapter 3 What to bring to a dealership, what to say, how to act, what not to do, what to look for at the dealership, and a glossary of all dealer fees.	Chapter 4 How to read dealer invoices, finding dealer's cost, how much to offer the dealer, buyers offer spreadsheet, examples, trade-ins.
Chapter 5 Negotiating tips, dealer scams & tricks to watch out for, dealing with aggressive salespeople, choosing between rebates or low APR loans.	Chapter 6 Close the deal, avoid needless extras, scams in the business office, extended warranty scams, options, buying warranties online.	Chapter 7 Actual misleading dealer ads, and what to do when you've been ripped off, customer satisfaction surveys, how I bought my Lexus.
CarBuyingTips.com

The information on this site is Copyright © 1996-2010 ConsumerNet, Inc. This site is solely for your personal use. You may link to these pages or print them out for your own personal use, but no parts of these pages can be reproduced, sold, or transmitted in any form without explicit written permission. By copying or paraphrasing the intellectual property on this site, you're automatically signing a binding contract and agreeing to pay a fee of $10,000 per instance per week payable immediately.