Throw back to the old school "used car salesman" t...

Throw back to the old school "used car salesman" techniques.

The car we drove 50 miles to see conveniently wasn't there. It was at another location even though we called before showing up to drive it. Oh, and it was really a standard and not an automatic like it said in the ad.

The first car we drove smelled like cat or dog piss and the rear seat belt was ruined. Apparently either an animal tore it up or it was shredded by a baby seat but either way, it was unsafe and they were okay with that.

Second car they showed us was "basically the same but just a little more expensive" ...like over $1500 more expensive.

They wouldn't finance our niece as a first time buyer without proof of income of $1800/mo. She's a college student with a full ride. No rent or bills and they want her to show $12/hr for 40hr/week equivalent. The payment would be around $200/mo but they want her to earn $1800/mo...and she was puttting almost 20% down in cash.

Then they started "negotiating". They like to write down numbers and say "if I can do this, will that work?" And have you sign on the number. When they said "okay" and then took it to finance (grandpa was going to cosign), they did the classic lie and went back to finance the original, non-negotiated price. The salesman (some kid from Montana) is either really new, really ignorant, or really drinks the Fredy Kool-Aid because he was reciting right from their "how to con a client" handbook. We were done at that point.

But the financing was also a joke. They said "the combined credit" was a B+ tier. They showed the credit for my niece which was non existent. But wouldn't show it for the adult because "it's complicated and based on a tier". So they show you monthly payments and ask which is best for you. I said "what's the interest rate" and they went on for a while about how it's tiered and we can't give you the rate because we have to get you approved for financing first blah blah. I told the sales guy it seemed high and I was guessing it was around 12% which was too high.

Finally, after me asking the very dumb or very conning "finance manager" for 10 minutes for the rate he said he couldn't give me, he arrogantly says to me "look, I don't know what your background is but this is complicated." Oops. So I responded, "I have a degree in electrical engineering and a background in finance (investment banking)". I then explained to this idiot that if you have the payment, and the term (months), and the principle balanace, then you can determine the interest rate. There's equations for it, but just google "financial calculator" or "loan calculator" and you can get it for free. So this guy finally pulls up the calculator. Guess what the rate was? 11.99%. And that's the lowest because they give you a range of payment it might be. So I nailed it with an educated guess and this jerk spent 10 minutes telling me how complicated it is.

We walked out.

But the sad thing is that many if not most of the buyers going there don't have my background. Their sales system is VERY slick. They pull every trick in the book. They bait and switch cars. They have you sign offers and numbers and then take it to credit to get a payment that is actually NOT based on the agreed amount. They screw you on interest rates and terms.

If you thought you negotiated an awesome deal and they said "great, can you do $250/mo?" And you said "sure!", would you be able to do the mental math to see that they didn't sell it to you at the agreed rate or that they're raping you in finance? Probably not. Unfortunately most of you are good, hard working, trusting fools and they're counting on that.

Don't be duped. Buy somewhere else. Whatever deal you THINK you're getting, you might not be. At least bring someone like me who is REALLY good with numbers, skeptical of salesmen, and has your best interest at heart.

These guys are cons. There are plenty of good car salesmen out there. The industry has changed and these guys are stuck in the past. We are going to try Texas Direct today.