Don't Get Spotted!

When you bought your last new or used vehicle, did the salesman encourage (or even insist) that you drive your vehicle home that same day? The chances are very good that he did because Florida dealers and those in most other states have a firm policy of doing this. I’ll estimate that 90% to 95% of all cars sold in Florida are “spotted” which is the slang expression dealers have for this policy. A few states, like New York, make it illegal to deliver a newly purchased car until the tag, title, and registration process have been finalized which delays the delivery for a few days. As much as you may be tempted, these are 5 reasons you should not sign the papers and drive the newly purchased vehicle home the same day you decide to buy it. Some car buyers are under the impression that there’s a 72 hour “cooling off period” mandated by law that allows you to return purchases, but this is not true when you buy a car at the dealership. It applies only if you purchase the product in your home. 

(1) If you’re financing the car through the dealer, there’s a chance that your financing has not been approved based on the same terms, interest rate, and down payment you agreed to. If you bought the car on a weekend or after 5pm, most banks and credit unions are closed. Even if you bought it earlier during a weekday, it can take a day or more for a bank to do a thorough credit
investigation and approval. If your credit is later turned down or the down payment, interest rate, or terms modified, you will be faced with the embarrassing necessity of returning the car and resigning a contract that will result in you paying more money than you had agreed to. 

(2) Most cars, surprisingly, are purchased on impulse with emotion overcoming logic. The 2nd largest expenditure the average person makes in their life is for their car. This decision should be made with logic, not emotion. Logic dictates that one should spend several weeks studying the pros and cons of the many different vehicles available. The Internet offers a wealth of information. Should you lease or buy? Should you buy a late model used car or a new one? Which dealer offers the lowest price? Which dealer offers the highest price for your trade-in? Which bank or credit union offers the lowest interest rates and terms and down payment acceptable to you? You should never buy a vehicle without an extensive test drive. 

(3) The dealer may be insisting that you take delivery immediately because he knows that this is the best way to force your emotion to overcome your logic. When you take your new vehicle home and show it off to your friends, family, and neighbors, you’re far more likely not to change your mind. Because you’ve left your trade-in with the dealer, you’re not going to be checking prices with other dealers. Taking you out of the market by keeping your trade in has a slang term among dealers…you’ve been “de-horsed”. Taking that new car home the same day also has a slang term…you’ve been “puppy-dogged”. Have you ever gone puppy shopping with your family and brought home a warm, cute, and cuddly puppy? What are the chances you’ll return her the next day because the price was too high? 

(4) A legally binding contract must have “offer and acceptance.” Taking your car home completely binds the acceptance of the contract, if you signed one, and makes it far less likely that you will be able to get out of the deal you made. 

(5) Unscrupulous car dealers will spot deliver cars knowing that the lender will not approve the low interest rate, low down payment, and longer terms that you have agreed to. They’re relying on the fact that you’ll fall in love with your “new puppy” and that you’ll brag to your family, friends, and neighbors how about the low price, low interest rate, etc. that you negotiated. When you get that call from the finance manager at the dealership a few days after delivery that you must come back to “take care of a little more paperwork”, you won’t hesitate. When you get there, you find out that you have to come up with a lot higher down payment, a much higher interest rate, and tell you that you have to buy an extended warranty because “the bank requires it”. Your monthly payment goes way up and so does the dealer’s profit. The dealers have a slang expression for this too…it’s called the “yo-yo delivery”. 

If you find yourself in the position of being told to return your purchase because the bank requires a higher interest, higher down payment, or shorter terms be sure that you understand that you have no obligation to sign a new contract and keep the vehicle. Your contract is null and void. There’s even an argument to be made by you and your lawyer that the first contract is valid and that you can keep the car at the original terms agreed upon. You may have signed a paper, typically referred to as a “Rescission Agreement”, which purports to require you to return the car if the bank refuses to honor the contract as written. There are financial penalties if you don’t. This was common practice with all Florida car dealers for many years but court decisions, case law, has made this a very questionable practice. I hope that this never happens to you but if it does and you decide you want to keep the car under the terms of the original finance contract, I recommend you hire a lawyer.

What is the True Cost of a New Car?

One of the most common questions I’m asked during the Q&A at public speaking engagements is, “How can I calculate the real cost of the new car I want to buy?”.

Unfortunately, my answer is always that It is almost impossible for you to determine the true cost of a new car. This might sound crazy, but many dealers don’t know the true cost of their cars. The manufacturers and distributors invoice their dealers for an amount when they ship them a car that is almost always several hundreds of dollars more than the true cost. It’s fair to say that in virtually every case the “invoice” for a new car is much higher than the true cost. By true cost, I am referring to cost as defined by GAAP, generally accepted accounting principals. You probably have heard about “holdback”. That is an amount of money added into the invoice of a car ranging from 1% to 3% of the MSRP which is returned to the dealer after he has paid the invoice. Some manufacturers include the cost of regional advertising in the invoice which offsets the dealer’s advertising costs.

Another fairly common charge included in invoices is “floor plan assistance”. This goes to offset the dealer’s cost of financing the new cars in his inventory. Another is “PDI” or pre-delivery expense which reimbursed the dealer for preparing the car for delivery to you. I could name several more, depending on the manufacturer or distributor. Some of these monies that are returned to the dealer are not shown as profit on his financial statement and some are. Technically a dealer could say that the cost he showed you reflected all of the profit (by definition of his financial statement), but the fact would remain that more money would come to back to him after he sold you the car. To me, that’s called profit. Besides holdbacks and reimbursements for expenses, you must contend with customer and dealer incentives when trying to figure out the cost of that new car. You will probably be aware of the customer incentives, but not the dealer incentives. Most dealers prefer and lobby the manufacturers for dealer rather than customer incentives just for that reason. Also, performance incentives are paid to dealers for selling a certain number of cars during a given time frame. These usually expire at the end of a month and are one reason why it really is smart to buy a new car on the last day of the month. Last but not least, remember the “dealer fee”, “dealer prep fee”, “doc fee”, “dealer inspection fee”, etc. which is added to the price you were quoted by the salesman.. It is printed on the buyer’s order and is lumped into the real fees such as Florida sales tax and tag and registration fees. Most dealers in Florida (it is illegal in many states) charge this fee which ranges from $500 to $1,000. If you are making your buying decision on your perceived cost of the car, even if you were right, here is up to $1,000 more in profit to the dealer. Hopefully you can now understand why it is virtually impossible to precisely know the cost of the new car you are contemplating buying. Most often the salesman and sales manager is not completely versed on the cost either. Checking the cost on a good Internet site like www.kbb.com or www.edmunds.com is about the best you can do. Consumer Reports is another good source. One reason that Internet sites don’t always have the right invoice price is that different distributors for cars invoice their dealers at different prices.

Do not make a decision to buy a car because the dealer has agreed to sell it to you for “X dollars above his cost/invoice”. This statement is virtually meaningless. As I have advised you in an earlier column, you can only be assured of getting the best price by shopping several dealers for the exact same car and getting an “out the door” price plus tax and tag only.

YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY HATES EARL STEWART TOYOTA’S BODY SHOP

This article was written by Alan Nappier, my Body Shop manager. I’ve owned and operated body shops for over four decades…at one time I owned five! I’ve never had a body shop manager as qualified as Alan and never had one that put the customer first 100% of the time the way Alan does. By putting the customer first, I mean considering the customers’ needs above those of the insurance company that pays us for repairing the customer’s car. Please read what Alan has to say carefully:

So, you had an accident and called your insurance company to report it and things seemed to be going pretty smoothly…. Then you told them you were taking your car to Earl Stewart and everything started getting weird…. The claims adjusters’ demeanor inexplicably just changed…. And NOT for the better!! Suddenly they’re telling you they that have a perfect shop in mind for you that will get your car in and out in a hurry and the whole process will be effortless for you. Yep, it’ll be such a great experience, you’ll be GLAD you had an accident. You thank them politely and tell them you’re just more comfortable repairing your vehicle at Earl Stewart, where you bought the car and know and trust the people.

Now it seems like the adjuster is downright angry with you and the real pressure tactics start!! They start making vague yet ominous sounding statements about Earl Stewart Toyota, almost as if they’re letting you in on a dirty little secret….. “We can’t guarantee their work….” “We’ve had problems with that shop….” “They charge more than we allow for repairs and you will have to pay out of pocket…” “If you take it to our shop, you won’t have to wait for an adjuster…” “They ignore our estimates…” The list goes on and on, but, they’re planting their seeds of doubt…. And now you’re concerned and thinking “Earl Stewart Toyota must have done something to cause this hostility by my insurance company…”, after all, your insurance company only has your best interest in mind…..

Well, you’re right, we DID do something to cause your insurance company to hate us and I’d like to tell you what….. We actually had the audacity to tell your insurance company something that they’re not used to hearing…. “NO!!” and they reacted like any spoiled 3 year old would who’s never heard the word before.

But wait, you’re still “in good hands” right? Wrong!! Your insurance company will instruct “their” repair facility to install untested aftermarket crash parts on your vehicle, even knowing that these parts can absorb crash energy differently and affect the timing of your air bag deployment, resulting in possible death and serious injury.

Here’s the really crazy thing…. The insurance company’s “approved” repair shop will do it!! Do you see what’s going on here? Everybody’s making out like Jesse James!! The insurance company is saving money, the body shop is making money, and you? You’re getting scammed!! Your insurance company has been provided with countless documents, provided by the vehicle manufacturers that state that these “cosmetic crash parts” are actually “designed and tested as part of the overall vehicle and may help send impact energy to the SRS sensors. In addition, some of these parts may help GM, Chrysler, Ford, Toyota, for Nissan vehicles comply with several Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) including hood intrusion in the passenger cabin, preservation of proper door operation following a collision and proper airbag function.

You may be thinking “Well, if these parts are that bad, surely there’s a law against using them without my permission…” You’re right again!! Florida statute 626.9743 states “An insurer may not require the use of replacement parts in the repair of a motor vehicle which are not at least equivalent in kind and quality to the damaged parts prior to the loss in terms of fit, appearance, and performance.” Sounds like an open and shut case, eh? The law doesn’t say “if the insurance company believes they’re the equivalent”. It doesn’t say anything about “if the insurance company hopes they’re the equivalent”. The insurance companies need to prove these cheap parts are the exact equivalent to the original factory parts to be in compliance with the law or stop mandating their use. Right? I thought so too….

So, I wrote a letter to the Florida Office of Insurance Regulation!! Went right to the top, straight to Commissioner Kevin McCarty (well, his office anyway…. he’s got “people” for that…). After much arm twisting via the Florida CFO’s office, the FLOIR begrudging agreed to “investigate” our concerns. After a couple of months, we received their response “We have concluded our investigation and found no violation of the Florida Insurance Code.”, and my favorite part….“Generally speaking, the burden of proof that an aftermarket part is not of like kind and quality or as safe as an OEM part rests with the one making that assertion, as opposed to one having to prove that the aftermarket part is of like kind and quality and as safe as OEM.” Huh?? That one left me scratching my head. Why have a consumer protection law at all then? Your insurance company can mandate the usage of any part they desire, so long as it looks the same. Nobody really complains though because, as they say, “dead men tell no tales…”The jury’s still out on this one, but rest assured WE WILL NOT USE AFTERMARKET PARTS TO REPAIR YOUR VEHICLE.! (p.s. Also check out Title 49, Chapter 301 Subchapter II Sec. 30122 "Making Safety Devices and Elements Inoperative" in the Federal Code-you can Google it).

How about used crash parts then?? Your insurance estimator will tell you “they’re factory original parts taken off of a car that’s just like yours”. Really? Was your car damaged so severely that it was deemed a total loss and ended up in a junk yard? The car they want to cannibalize to get your replacement parts was. We won’t even know if the donor car was damaged in an accident, a flood or even a fire and quite frankly, we don’t care-WE’RE NOT GOING TO USE THESE PARTS EITHER!!

Well, what about Earl Stewart overcharging for labor??? THAT sounds pretty shady….. let’s talk about it…. I recently had my lawn mower repaired and it cost me $65 per hour and having an electrician fix my air conditioning at home cost me $75 per hour (plus gas & travel time), plumbers and a/c repairmen are $100+ per hour. If you have mechanical work on your car, it’s liable to cost you anywhere from $100 to $200+ per hour, depending on the repair shop and type of car.

The insurance companies feel that $42 an hour is more than fair to have your collision damaged vehicle repaired and they won’t pay a dime more. If you want to repair your vehicle here, they will tell you that you’ll have to pay the difference out of pocket OR, well….. they know a guy…… Ironically, back in the early 70’s, when Allstate and Sears were all part of the same company, Sears wouldn’t repair your toaster for less than $12 an hour while at the same time Allstate wouldn’t pay more than $7 an hour to have your vehicle repaired. Hilarious, ain’t it? Back in the 60’s, the insurance industry running roughshod over the repair industry was so pervasive and blatant that the Kennedy Administration tackled them before they even got started on the Mafia!!! (see 1963 Consent Decree-Google is your friend) What the insurance industry is doing to the repair industry is a clear violation of antitrust laws and we are part of a class action lawsuit to try to put a stop to it. WE WILL NOT MAKE YOU PAY THE DIFFERENCE IN LABOR RATES!!

Then we get to “charging for supplies and labor operations not customarily charged for in the market area”. This basically means that because they’ve been able to badger, coerce and intimidate some repair shops into not charging for certain supplies and labor operations necessary to return your car to pre-accident condition, they should not have to pay it to anybody whether they ask for it or not. Your insurance company won’t dispute that the materials are being used or the labor operations performed, nor will they dispute the necessity. Their only problem is having to pay for it because at some point, long ago, somebody “cut a deal” to get more business sent their way and it then became the “new norm” for every shop. We will never charge for a labor operation or supplies that cannot be verified. WE WILL NOT MAKE YOU PAY THE DIFFERENCE.

Now you’re probably saying “I never get into accidents so I can’t believe I’m still reading this. Can this guy just get to the point??” and the answer is “YES! Yes I can!!” Please don’t fall victim to your insurance companies scare tactics! The top 5 insurance companies spent over $4,000,000,000 (yep, that’s $4 BILLION) last year to convince you that they’re good guys so that you will buy their product (GEICO alone spent over $1 Billion if that tells you anything). Sometimes, there’s not enough perfume to cover up a smell and not enough lipstick to pretty up a pig and this is one of those times.

Please go to some consumer websites and check out how these insurance companies perform once you’ve had to turn in a claim (a.k.a. became an expense to them). Also keep in mind, the shops that enter into these unholy alliances with the insurance companies see them as their #1 priority and best customer and they will do whatever they are told to stay in their good graces. The insurance company feeds the shop lots of work and the shop does what they’re told to keep the repair cheap. It’s a marriage made in Hell. The repair shops that participate in this fraud are just as, or maybe even guiltier than the insurance companies. They should know better, but, it’s all about the money (insert photo of pigs at trough HERE) ;)

If you have already had your vehicle repaired at one of these direct repair shops and you’re not exactly sure how your car was repaired, bring it by with the invoice and the final estimate and we’ll be glad to take a look at it for you. If the vehicle has not been repaired properly, we’ll point out the deficiencies so that you can return to the shop for corrective repairs. If they repaired your car with aftermarket or junkyard parts, you may be entitled to higher than normal diminished value compensation. WHAT?? Your insurance company didn’t tell you that your car is worth less now and you’re entitled to additional compensation?? You might want to contact Gordon and Doner, they have a division that can handle that for you. If your insurance company has pressured you to not have your car repaired at Earl Stewart Toyota, please email me the details at alann@estoyota.com or Mr. Stewart at earl@estoyota.com and share the gory details.

Earl Stewart Toyota will repair your vehicle properly, per the manufacturers’ recommendations and only with new OEM crash parts. We will guarantee our paint, our workmanship AND the OEM replacement crash parts, for as long as you own your car. That’s right, I said AND THE PARTS!! The manufacturers’ warranty for replacement parts is 12 months or 12K miles. Earl Stewart Toyota will pick up the warranty after Toyota’s warranty expires, this includes parts, materials and any necessary labor to paint and install the failed part. Everything!! If we are unable to convince your insurance company to pay in full for the properly repaired property damage, with your written permission we will initiate action on your behalf to recover the funds. Ultimately, it is YOU who are responsible for ensuring your vehicle is repaired properly. You already had an accident; don’t let your insurance company force you into making a mistake.

Earl’s Good & Bad Car Dealer Lists

www.GoodDealerBadDealerList.com 

I must explain that those dealers listed as “Good Guys” are far from perfect. I urge you to shop and compare prices, stick up for your rights, and do your homework in preparing to buy. South Florida is the “Sodom and Gomorrah” of the retail car business. Listing the best dealers is like listing the most honest inmates in Attica or Leavenworth.

I arrived at my evaluations of these dealers by my weekly mystery shopping reports that I’ve conducted for more than 7 years. I also gather data from my constant interaction with you, the car buyers of South Florida. You call my weekly Tuesday afternoon talk show, “Earl Stewart on Cars” (stream it live at www.StreamEarlOnCars.com 4-6 PM), my cell phone, and text me, you send me emails, and you write me letters about your experiences in buying and servicing your cars. You post comments on my blog,www.EarlStewartOnCars.com.

This list is not static and I update it regularly, adding more “good guys” and dropping the undeserving from the list. Hopefully, I will not have to add to the “bad buy” list very often, but I will if I have to. These dealerships are the worst of the worst and should be totally avoided at all costs. You would be better served to drive an extra 50 miles to buy the make car you seek than buy it from one of these dealers. In fact, you would be better served to buy a different make from a good dealer.

I know I’ve angered a lot of car dealers (so what else is new?) by leaving them off the “good guy” list and especially the bad guys. I urge those of you who are sincere to call me personally and I will be glad to discuss with you what your customers told me about you that led me to omit you from the “good guy” lists. The “bad guys” won’t call me because they know exactly what they are doing and how they are premeditatedly deceiving their customers.

If the make car you are seeking does not show a dealer, it’s probably because not many people buy that make. I listed only the most popular. I suggest that you choose a dealer a “good dealer” who is listed that also sells your make. For example, Schumacher also sells Mitsubishi and Infiniti and he is listed as a good dealer for Chevy and Buick.

BUY YOUR NEXT CAR THROUGH COSTCO

There are lots of third-party new car buying programs out there but the Costco auto-buying program will give you the lowest price and the best protection from car dealers’ efforts to increase the price by dealer fees and dealer-installed options.

My second choice is TrueCar, www.TrueCar.com. My first choice used to be TrueCar, but several auto manufacturers including Toyota and Honda, have recently began requiring their dealers to increase the MINIMUM ADVERTISED PRICE for all the cars they advertise and sell. These manufacturers consider TrueCar dealers that share their best price with TrueCar, to be “advertising” their price. Thus you will no longer find a TrueCar dealer’s lowest price displayed on the TrueCar website. In my opinion, this is a bad thing for the car buyer because it has the net effect of raising the price you pay for your new car.

Unfortunately, Costco requires an annual membership fee, but this fee is nominal, $55, in comparison to the large savings you realize from buying, not only cars, but all of their products. I’ve been a member of Costco for over 20 years and I can promise you that you will save thousands of dollars a year by shopping there. There’s another problem with buying from Costco and that is there may not be a location near you. My answer to that is that you can still buy from them online, www.Costco.com and, if even if you have to drive 20 or 30 miles, you’ll find out that the savings justify your time and gas expense.

The only real problems with the Costco Auto Buying program are not from Costco, but from their car dealers. You probably have had bad experiences buying or leasing cars from car dealers and this is why you’re reading this article. You’re not alone, the Gallup Organization has been conducting an annual opinion poll on Honest and Ethics in Professions for the past 36 years. Last year (2016) car dealers ranked next to last, just above Congressmen. Car dealers have been at the bottom or near the bottom of this list for every one of the past 36 annual surveys. Even though Costco selected their car dealers in good faith and required them to sign a contract obligating them to give you their best price (the price must be lower than the price they sell to anybody else except a Costco member), does not mean that you will get that price UNLESS YOU FOLLOW THESE THREE IMPORTANT RULES.

COSTCO AUTO BUYING RULE ONE. Visit the Costco Auto Program website, www.CostcoAuto.com. You’ll be asked to input your Costco membership card number and other information pertaining to the make and model of car you wish to purchase. From your zip code, you will be advised of the Costco approved car dealer nearest you.

COSTCO AUTO BUYING RULE TWO. You will also be advised of the names of the Costco approved sales representatives at the dealership. It is imperative that you speak to no other sales person other than those named on this list. You should print out the information sheet which includes the names of those Costco sales people that are approved and bring this to the dealership when you visit.

COSTCO AUTO BUYING RULE THREE. When you arrive at the dealership and are sure you’re dealing with the official Costco approved sales person, insist on her showing you the Costco Member-Only Price Sheet which shows your exclusive prearranged Costco member savings. Remember that you are entitled to applicable manufacturer rebates and incentives or special financing. You should also ask to see the manufacturer’s invoice and MSRP for the vehicle you selected so you can see how much you saved as a Costco member.

Remember that Costco rules do not allow their approved dealers to add anything to the Costco Member-Only Price except GOVERNMENT FEES…namely sales tax and the actual cost of the rag and registration paid to the state of Florida. If a Costco dealer tries to add anything else, do not buy the car and report them to Costco. Be especially wary of dealer or port installed accessories like nitrogen in tires, LoJack, protection packages like Toyoguard, floor mats, pin stripes, etc. Also, pay no dealer fees which often carry different names like electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, dealer prep fee, doc fee, notary fee, etc.

If the Costco dealer attempts any of these shenanigans, report him to Costco immediately. If the dealer refuses to make things right, Costco will cancel him as an approved dealership.

“CERTIFIED” USED CARS CAN KILL YOU

Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety (CARS), the leading consumer advocate organization for car owners in the USA, issued a press release on February 6, entitled, “AUTO SAFETY/CONSUMER ORGANIZATIONS SUE FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION, OVER DECISION ALLOWING GENERAL MOTORS AND CAR DEALERSHIPS TO ENGAGE IN FALSE ADVERTISING OF UNREPAIRED RECALLED “CERTIFIED USED CARS.”

For many years used cars that were “certified” by car dealers according to rigid standards set by the car’s manufacturer were considered to be the best, most reliable, and safest used cars you can buy. Certified used cars are required by the auto manufacturer to be carefully inspected and tested by the dealer. Only cars that have passed this careful and extensive examination are permitted to be sold as certified. Because of this, certified used cars carry a better warranty and also cost more…about $1,300 on the average.

Sadly, a very bad and puzzling decision by the Federal Trade Decision has changed the rules that define “certified” used cars. The FTC, for reasons known only to them, have issued a ruling that allows car dealers and manufacturers to call a used car “certified” and sell that car to you without any consideration for dangerous recalls. This ruling is not only very wrong, but in direct contradiction of the Federal Trade Commission’s existing rules against selling any product that is dangerous to the consumer.

This would be a terribly dangerous decision at any time, but given the existing huge and historically unprecedented recall of 44 million cars with defective Takata airbags, it poses an immediate, clear and present danger to all buyers of used cars. To quote from CARS press release, “The FTC’s Consent Orders set a de-facto standard for the auto industry that allows dealers to deceptively advertise cars with dangerous and potentially lethal safety defects that have killed and maimed people. May of those defects jeopardize the lives of not only used car buyers, but also passengers and everyone e else who shares the roads and adjacent areas, including sidewalks, driveways and parking lots.” According to Michael Brooks, Acting Director of the Center for Auto Safety, “Even if there is a 100% certainty that an unrepaired safety recall defect will immediately kill anyone who buys a so-called ‘certified’ car and their family, the FTC would allow car dealers to advertise that car (certified car) as ‘safe’ and ‘repaired for safety.’”

The Takata airbag recall affects almost every auto manufacturer in the world. Weekly you see headlines of additional cars being recalled with defective Takata airbags and the pace is so great that millions of these cars have no available fix. Estimates are that it will be years before enough safe replacement airbags will be available to make all these cars safe.

Hopefully this lawsuit against the FTC by Rosemary Shahan’s CARS and the other consumer organizations will prevail, but this can take a long time. Sadly, until the FTC ruling is overturned, it’s Caveat Emptor, BUYER BEWARE, when you buy any used car. The only way you can know that the used car being sold to you does not have defective Takata airbag or other dangerous recall is to check your cars Vehicle Identification Number or VIN. Click on the website for NHTSA, www.SaferCar.gov or www.IsMyCarRecalled.com. You should also call your car’s manufacturer because they have information even more current than NHTSA. Do not rely on the reports by CarFax or AutoCheck because they are often inaccurate.

Should I Trade In My Old Car or Sell it Myself?

When you trade your old car in on your next car, the dealer will try to retail your car or sell it at auction for more than he allowed you in trade. If he successfully retails your car, he will make about $2,000. If he wholesales it at the auction, the profit will be less. You should know that this is what the dealer wants to do. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way and he will actually lose money on your car at the auction. Or, he may be unable to retail your car and then most certainly lose money when he is forced to wholesale it.

Obviously it is more difficulty for an individual to make a profit by selling her own trade-in than it is for the dealer. That is one of the main consideration you must consider before deciding to sell your old car yourself. Most people run an ad online to advertise their trade using a site like AutoTrader.com. If you do this, you need to know what to ask for your car and I recommend studying the listings on Autotrader or consulting Kelley Blue Book at www.kbb.com. This site will tell you about what your car is worth wholesale and retail. Another way to determine this is to ask dealers for your make of your car what they will buy it for. This will establish the wholesale value. CarMax is a good company to consult if there is one near you. Once you establish the wholesale, you should consider a markup of less than what car dealers are asking. When deciding how much profit you want to make, remember that you are losing the sales tax reduction that you earn when you trade your car in. On a $20,000 trade, that amounts to $1,200. If you can make a $2,100 above wholesale, you are ahead of the game by $1,000. This takes a lot of work and you will be dealing with a lot of “tire-kickers” and people who cannot afford to buy your car. I very strongly advise you not to extend credit. Require full payment in cash. Set a time limit on how long you will try to sell your car. Remember that your used car is depreciating every week and your cost of advertising will climb. I wouldn’t suggest you hang on to your old car for more than a month.

Ebay can be a good option for advertising your car. A lot of car dealers use Ebay to retail used cars and it is very effective. There are schools on how to retail merchandise on Ebay and Ebay has tutorials. There are also a lot of books at any bookstore on this subject. There are companies who will do all of the work for you and you only pay them a fee if they are successful in selling your car. If the dealer you are buying your new car from sells cars on Ebay (most do), you can ask him if he will post yours Ebay along with his cars for a fee.

If you fail in your attempt to retail your old car, remember to be careful to maximize the amount you get from your dealer as trade-in. Often times dealers will attempt to trade a car in for below wholesale. Be sure you have a firm handle on the true wholesale value of your trade. You can get bids from other dealerships to purchase your car for cash and you can check with www.kbb.com. If you are buying a car from a dealer franchised to sell a different make than your trade-in, be wary. This dealer will likely be unable to offer you as much as a dealer who is franchised to sell the make of your trade. People looking to buy a used Toyota are more likely to visit a Toyota dealership than a Chevrolet dealership. That is why it’s important to get bids from other dealerships before accepting the trade-in offered by the dealer you’re buying your new car from.

Comments to the Federal Trade Commission

Regarding CarMax Selling Killer Cars

Below are my comments to pending litigation against CarMax, the largest seller of used cars in the USA. The litigation is being spearheaded by Rosemary Shahan, the president of CARS, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety. They are the largest car consumer advocate organization in the USA. CARS is the reason we have a “lemon law” in Florida and all 50 states. Shockingly, the Federal Trade Commission has ruled that CarMax and all used car retailers can advertise their cars as “Certified” and claim that they have passed a rigorous safety check, even though that car has a dangerous, potentially lethal recall. CARS and other consumer advocate organizations are suing the FTC to force them to change this terribly wrong ruling.

Attention: Federal Trade Commission

Subject: In the Matter of CarMax, Inc., File No. 142 3202 – Consent Agreement

I've been a car dealer since 1968 and am currently the CEO of Earl Stewart Toyota of North Palm Beach.

Virtually all of the other car dealers in my market (SE Florida between Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale) are actively selling used cars with dangerous recalls. Most of these are Takata airbag recalls. These cars are being aggressively advertised and sold, many of which have NO FIX AVAILABLE (the Takata airbag inflator is unavailable). I have taken the position of not retailing these cars because of my concern for the safety of my customers. When I trade-in one of these affected cars, I don't retail it unless I can replace the airbag inflator. If no airbag inflator is available, I store the car and wait for the time when it can be repaired and made safe.

This puts me at a severe competitive disadvantage to the other car dealers in my market. I must accept these used cars in trade on new or used cars because, if I don't, it will cost me a sale. I am unable to retail the used cars with defective airbags which makes it impossible for me to retail many high demand used cars (Honda is one of the most affected brands). Furthermore, I'm incurring the large depreciation expense of the stored, affected used cars that I cannot retail. I am wholesaling cars with only the passenger side airbag defective.

I have filed a lawsuit against one car dealer in my market under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act and will be filing similar lawsuits against more dealers.

I have mystery shopped over 100 car dealers in my market and learned that virtually all of them are selling these cars. Many of them do not even disclose the existence of the recall. Some even overtly deny the existence of the recall. Some tell the customers that there is a recall, but they can take it the dealer to have it fixed, when there is no fix available. The very few dealers that will not sell these cars (less than 5% of the dealers) advertise the cars for sale and use them as a bait and switch to sell the customer another car without the recall. I have shopped CarMax 3 times and they do not disclose the airbag recall unless asked. They advertise their cars as being safe because they have gone through their "rigorous" inspection process.

Very few used car buyers are aware of the severity of the Takata airbag problem. The media has downplayed this issue because of the importance of dealer advertising. The manufacturers are not speaking out because they fear the economic impact from litigation if it is made illegal to retail these cars. The NADA has taken the same position of negative economic impact on their dealers. I find it outrageous that "economic impact" can take precedent over human life.

I see this lack of awareness with my used car customers. They rarely ask about recalls when them buy used cars from me and I sell about 180 used cars monthly. Because of this lack of awareness, the other car dealers in my market are finding very easy to retail these cars. They are not only allowed to freely retail these cars but are under no obligation to disclose the recalls.

The car manufacturers, the dealers, the dealer associations, the legislators, and the regulators are all grossly negligent in not taking responsibility and action against this terribly dangerous threat to used car buyers. The danger is even greater than the current situation suggests. We know statistically that most recalled cars are NEVER REPAIRED...the older the car, the less likelihood of its being repaired. With the Takata airbag inflator, the older the car gets the greater the danger of a failure. Also, who knows how many deaths from the shrapnel of Takata airbags have actually


Until we can get a law passed making it illegal to sell killer cars with dangerous recalls, it’s BUYER BEWARE. Before you buy any used car, check the VIN with NHTSA and the car’s manufacturer, www.IsMyCarRecalled.com. You can also help make this illegal by signing my petition, www.AirbagRecallPetition.com.

How Much Is That Auto in the Window?

The title to this article and the illustration above was taken from an article in the Wall Street Journal. Please don’t accuse me of plagiarizing because I’m giving credit to the Wall Street Journal and the reporter, Charles Passy who wrote the article. You can read the article by clicking on www.HowMuchIsThatAutoInTheWindow.com 

The Wall Street Journal reporter interviewed the article. I sent him copies of invoices, buyer’s orders, dealer addendum labels, and names of people I knew around the US who were experts on unfair and deceptive advertising by car dealers. It was important to me because having what I’ve fought against for so many years written about by a national publication adds credibility. Not only does the Wall Street Journal have the largest circulation of any newspaper in America, but it’s also arguably the most respected daily publication. 

One might ask, why don’t local newspapers write stories about car dealers’ unfair and deceptive sales and advertising? The answer, like so many, is “follow the money”. Every local newspaper has an auto advertising section with most of, if not all of the dealers in that market. Newspapers seem to be the advertising choice of many dealers, although TV and online have definitely cut into their revenue in large metro markets. TV ads are so expensive that most dealers have no choice but to use the newspaper and online. Car dealers are the single largest source of ad revenue in many newspaper markets. 

Now I know that journalistic ethics require a separation between the news, editorial, and advertising departments. But that’s the way it used to be. Today local newspapers and even some national ones are struggling for survival. Ethics go out the window when it comes to survival. Would you steal food for your child if you believed you had no other recourse?

Another reason that I’m encouraged by this Wall Street Journal article is that every auto manufacturing executive reads this newspaper every day, especially articles about automobiles. Also, most car dealers also read the Wall Street Journal. Reading a negative report about deceptive car dealer sales practices in a highly respected national newspaper has got to get their attention. Many manufacturers and most car dealers seem to be in denial about how they endeavor to trick their customers with misleading, false ads and sales practices.

I have to believe the auto industry will awaken one day and realize that almost all other retailers in the 21^st century have left car dealers in the dust. Most car dealers are still employing the “get ‘em in the door any way you can and make as big a profit as you can get away with” shabby tactics that were common practice fifty years ago. Most manufacturers and some dealers are beginning to realize that car dealers are held in the lowest esteem of any other retailer. Car sales and service complaints top the list and car dealers rank dead last or close to it in the annual Gallup poll, HONESTY AND ETHICS IN PROFESSIONS, along with Congressmen, lobbyists, and lawyers. 

I tell manufacturers and my fellow dealers that if we don’t regulate ourselves, you can bet the government will step in and do it for us. Federal Trade Commission is conducting hearings all around America asking for input about unfair and deceptive trade practices by car dealers. If the government steps in like they did with our nation’s banks, car dealers and manufacturers can expect to be up to their eyeballs in expensive regulations, red tape, and bureaucracy.

Car Dealer Victim Profiles

I receive a lot of emails, calls, and letters every week from victims of car dealers who were taken advantage of in buying, leasing, and servicing their cars. They mostly call to ask what they can do to get all or some of their money back. These “victims” fall into different categories:

1. The elderly, often widows.
2. The very young, usually buying their first car. 
3. Those who don’t speak or understand English well, not born in this country. 
4. The uneducated.
5. People with bad credit. 
6. Everybody else

1. The elderly, especially widows, are the most victimized. The reasons for this are that Florida, especially South Florida, is a “retirement” state. Baby boomers and pre-baby boomers make up a disproportionately large percentage of Florida’s population. Not only that, but life expectancies have soared in recent years…81 for a woman and 76 for a man. Men usually predecease their wives. Women’s role in the American culture is a great deal different than in the 1930’s and 1940’s. More often than not, the husband was not only the breadwinner, but the decision maker in the household. Widows of that era are often buying or leasing their first car today. Men and women in their seventies, eighties, and nineties (Yes, I have a lot of customers in their nineties) aren’t as sharp as they once were. I’m 76 and I’ll be the first to admit this. In my opinion, men and women of my age, and older, are more trusting. We can’t forget the terrible disease, Alzheimer’s. Unless a court declares a person incompetent, a person with dementia can legally buy a car in Florida, and it happens all too often. This is one of the most despicable acts that some car dealers commit.

2.  What chance does a teenager or kid in his twenties have when negotiating with a car salesman and his manager to buy a car? Usually it’s the parents who call me to tell me how their son or daughter was taken advantage of. I don’t tell them this, but what I’m thinking is “Why didn’t they accompany them to the car dealership to advise them?”

3.  South Florida is not only a retirement area, but it’s a haven for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, and South and Central America. Many of these are first generation Americans who have a difficult time with English or can’t speak, read, or write English at all. These people are easy prey for unscrupulous car dealers. Can you imagine how difficult it would be for you to get a fair price on a car you were buying in a foreign country where you did not speak or understand the language?

4.  Let’s face it; there are too many Americans who never had the benefit of a proper education. We have too many high school dropouts and too many high school graduates who still can’t read or write as well as they must to function in our society. Lack of a good education is one of America’s most serious problems and we’re seeing other countries like China, Japan, Germany and India pass us by in educating their children. It’s almost criminal how the educated are exploited by car dealers’ advertising and sales tactics. How many car dealers’ TV advertisements have you seen that you laugh at, knowing that they are totally untrue, “bait and switch” to lure you into the dealership. You wonder who would believe that kind of nonsense. The reason that car dealers keep running those ads is because they work.

5.  There are always people with bad, marginal or no credit who have to buy a car. In Florida, without an effective mass transit system, a car is virtually a necessity to get to your job or find a job, not to mention the doctor, school, or the pharmacy. People with bad credit are at the mercy of the car dealer. The main thing on these peoples’ minds is NOT how good a price or a car can I buy or how low an interest rate, but can they be financed? Knowing this, car dealers will charge whatever price and interest rate the lender will let them get away with. People with bad credit almost always pay dealers a higher profit than those with good credit.

6.  Who should be held responsible for car dealers ripping off customers? For categories one through five, the answer is our regulators and our lawmakers. But for the last category, “Everybody else”, it’s themselves. Of course, it goes without saying that the car dealers who do this are responsible too. But who doesn’t know that most car dealers do business this way? Who doesn’t know that car dealers perennially rank LAST on the annual Gallup “Honesty and Ethics in Professions” poll? I recently received an email from a woman who fell in none of the first 5 categories above. She was terribly victimized by a very unethical car dealer from whom she bought two used cars on the same night. Her email asked me for advice on what she should do. Of course the “horse was out of the barn” and this makes things more difficult. This woman did not ask for or receive a CarFax report on either used car. Nor did she take either car to her mechanic for approval. She clearly didn’t investigate the dealer for reputation. She didn’t check any sources like Consumer Reports for recommended used cars. She did not shop and compare prices for similar cars and the list of “did not’s” goes on. If you don’t do your due diligence when you buy a car you are equally culpable with the car dealer who took advantage of you.

At this point, I will shamelessly plug my book, Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer. I say “shamelessly” because 100% of the proceeds from my book go to charity, www.BigDogRanchRescue.com. You can buy this book at www.Amazon.com. It will tell you everything you need to know about how not to be ripped off by a car dealer. Or, you can read my blog articles at www.EarlOnCars.com.

Don't Fall for Nitrogen

I’ve been writing articles on why nitrogen in your tires is a waste of money for several years, but It has had very little effect on the number of car dealers that are selling it to their customers. The “Nitrogen Lobby” must be very powerful because we still have no federal or state legislation to curtail this. Selling nitrogen generation equipment and tanks of nitrogen to car dealers is very lucrative and, even more lucrative is the money car dealers make selling nitrogen to their customers. One large volume car dealer charges $398 for nitrogen in the tires of every vehicle he sells. The cost of nitrogen is about “25 cents” per application. If you feel you absolutely must have nitrogen in your tires, Costco will give it to you “free” which is exactly what nitrogen in your tires is worth. 

I don’t recommend that you even accept free nitrogen for this reason. It’s widely accepted and recommended that you should have your tire pressure checked in your tires at least monthly. We do this free for our customers and automatically do it at every service visit. When you are sold or even given nitrogen, it comes with a sales pitch that nitrogen will remain in your tires for a much longer time than air which is not true. Click on this link to Consumer Reports article,www.NitrogenInTiresWastesYourMoney.com. If you believe the sales pitch, you’re less likely to check your tires inflation every 30 days. You may have a slow leak in one tire from a nail or screw, uneven wear from misalignment, or even a defective tire. Being “over confident” because you paid money for nitrogen may cause these problems to go undetected. Consumer Reports estimates that 1 lb of nitrogen will escape from your tires every 3 months vs. 1 month for air. Remember that air is 78% nitrogen. I’ll bet the salesman that sells you nitrogen “forgot” to tell you that.

Be prepared for a great sales pitch on nitrogen. You’ll be told that NASCAR uses nitrogen in the tires of their race cars, NASA used nitrogen in the tires of their space shuttle, and that airlines uses nitrogen in airplane tires. All of this is true, but so what? A race car going 200 mph for hours and hours around an oval track subjects its tires to extremely high temperatures. 100% nitrogen gas does expand less under extreme heat condition than 78% nitrogen gas (air). The space shuttle tires go from zero atmospheric pressure in outer space to regular pressure at sea level. Airliners also have extreme pressure variations from 30,000 feet to the ground.

To be perfectly fair, I must say that some car dealers that are selling nitrogen have “drunk the Kool Ade” from the nitrogen generation equipment industry. Some car dealers actually believe that nitrogen is good for your tires. But those who do know must know how much they’re marking up that 25 centsworth of nitrogen they’re selling you! The argument for nitrogen can be persuasive. In fact, when the concept was first introduced, before the Consumer Reports study, I actually considered adding nitrogen to my customers’ tires. But, in an abundance of caution, I decided to test the claims about nitrogen myself. Over a six month period I used pure nitrogen in 50% of my rental car fleet and regular air (78% nitrogen) in the other half. Guess what! There was no measurable difference between the pure nitrogen and air filled tires in the fuel economy, tire wear, or inflation pressure after 6 months. We did check the tires every 30 days for slow leaks from road hazards, uneven wear from misalignment or other reasons, and we rotated and balanced the tires every 5,000 miles.

Finally, I’ll tell you why I was so careful to be sure there was no advantage to nitrogen. My dealership has a “fee tire program”. Everybody who buys a Toyota from me, new or used, receives free tires (maximum of $700 per set) for as long as they own their car. The one requirement is that they bring their car back to me for the factory recommended service and we replace only tires from normal wear, not road hazards, underinflating or misalignment. I give away over $100,000 worth of tires every month, well over a million dollars per year. BELIEVE ME, if I thought I could get longer wear from a tire for “25 cents” worth of nitrogen, I would! I look at the tires on my customers’ cars as “belonging to me” because I incur the cost of replacing them when they wear out.

Red Flags to Watch for When Buying a Car

The “Big Sale Event”

If you look online or in today’s newspaper, you will find that most car dealers in your area are having a sale of some kind. It may be because of a current holiday, “too large an inventory” of cars, to “reduce their taxes”, “the manager is out of town”, or some other nefarious lure. Advertising 101 says that you should give the prospective buyer a “motive to act”. Unfortunately, it doesn’t matter whether the motive is real or not. The fact is that most car dealers do not sell their cars for less during “sales events” than they do at any other time. I point this out so that you don’t rush your buying decision. If you don’t buy a car during the tight time constraints of a phony sales event, you can negotiate just as good a price the next day. The exceptions to this are legitimate rebates offered by the manufacturer. These often expire at the end of the month which is one reason why the “last day of the month” really can be the best time to buy a car”.

“The price I’m giving you is only good for today”

If a salesman or sales manager tells you that, it is probably only a tactic to push you into buying the car. The only exception would be the expiration of a factory rebate. Once again, this is simply a tactic to push you into buying before you have a chance to do your comparative price shopping.

“Take the car home tonight and see how you like it”

Driving the car you are considering buying home can be a good thing. It will give you a lot better idea about how the car performs, etc. However, there are two reasons the car salesman offers this. One is that you must leave the vehicle you might be trading in with the car dealer. This means that you cannot shop the trade-in price with other dealers. The second reason is the psychological impact of parking that new car in your driveway where your family and neighbors can see it. The slang expression for this is “the puppy dog”. If you were to take home a little puppy from the pet store, you and your children would fall in love with her and could not return her the next day.

“You must give me a deposit before I can give you a price”

This has to be one of the most insulting ways that some car salesmen have of intimidating a prospective buyer. It’s amazing how many people actually succumb to this which allows the salesman an element of control…. you can’t leave until they give you your money back. If confronted with this ultimatum, simply walk away.

“Are you ready to buy a car today”?

Often times, if you say no to this question, the salesman will tell you to come back when you are ready to buy. He will tell you to shop around and come back with your best price so that he can beat it. The salesman is afraid that, if he does give you his best price, you will go somewhere else and that salesman will beat it. Of course, that is the whole idea of competition and that is exactly what you want to do. If the salesman is afraid to give you a price because his competitor will beat it, it must not be the best price!

“Make me an offer and I will take it to my manager for approval”

This is a very common tactic which you have probably already encountered. It is not unethical. It is simply part of negotiating. I point this out so that you are fully aware that this is part of the negotiating game. Be aware, that no matter what price you offer, the manager will ask you for more money. Even if you offered a high price that would be a very large profit for the dealer, the manager would ask you for more money. The psychology behind this is that if you suddenly accepted the offer, you may frighten the customer by thinking he had offered too much (which he would have). When you negotiate, you must be well versed on what is a good price for that car. Start out below the best price you think you can buy it for. If you cannot negotiate a price close to your best price, get up and leave. Continue this process with another car dealer.

The “really big” discount”
The other day a friend showed me direct mail advertising piece from a new car dealer with a coupon good for $2,000 discount on any car in his inventory. This is very common for newspaper and TV ads too. Federal law requires new cars to have a price sticker on the window named the Monroney label. A discount from this suggested retail price gives you a fair basis for comparison. Unfortunately, most car dealers today, increase the suggested retail price substantially with the use of an addendum to the Monroney sticker often referred to as a “Market Adjustment Addendum”. This “adjustment” can be several thousands of dollars. Be sure you know what the asking price is for the car when you have been offered a “big discount”.

The best protection from all of the above is to find a car dealer that you can trust. Ask your friends about their experiences with dealers and call the Better Business Bureau and the County Office of Consumer Affairs. All things being equal choose the dealership that has been in business a long time and an owner or general manager who will make himself accessible to you and all of his customers.

Open Letter to Florida Car Dealers

SUBJECT: ELIMINATE THE DEALER FEE

Dear fellow Florida car dealer,

I started in the retail auto business in 1968, about almost 49 years ago, and I have seen a lot of changes in the way we dealers sell cars and the expectations of our customers. My remarks in this column are made sincerely and with a positive intent toward you and your customers. I am not trying to tell you how to run your business; I am suggesting a change that will reward both you and your customers.

Virtually every car dealer in Florida adds a charge to the price of the cars he sells, variously referred to as a “dealer fee”, “documentary fee”, “dealer prep fee”, electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, etc. This extra charge is printed on your buyer’s orders and programmed into your computers. It has been regulated in most states including California. You charge this fee to every customer and it ranges from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. You often charge several dealer fees by different names. Florida law requires that you disclose in writing on the buyer’s order that THIS CHARGE REPRESENTS PROFIT TO THE DEALER. Florida law also requires that you include this fee in all advertised prices. You don’t always do this and you get around the law by limiting the number of advertised vehicles (as few as one).

The argument that I hear from most car dealers when I raise this issue is that the dealer fee is fully disclosed to the buyer on his buyer’s order. But, most car buyers are totally unaware that they are paying this. Who reads all of the voluminous paperwork associated with buying a car? The few who notice it assume it is an “official” fee like state sales tax or license and registration fee. Those few astute buyers who do question the fee are told that your dealership must charge this fee on very car. This simply not true. These astute buyers are also told that all other car dealers charge similar fees. This is almost true, but, as you know, my dealership does not.

The reason you charge this fee is simply to increase the price of the car and your profit in such a manner that it is not noticed by your customer. This is just plain wrong. Dealers will admit this to me in private conversations and some will admit that they have considered eliminating the fee as I have, but are afraid of the drastic effect to their bottom line. By being able to count on an extra $899 in profit that the customer is not aware of or believes is an “official fee”, you can actually quote a price below cost and end up making a profit. Or, if the price you quote the customer does pay you a nice profit, you can increase that by several hundred dollars.

This “extra, unseen” profit is even better for you because you don’t pay your salesmen a commission on it. That’s being unfair to your employees as well as your customers. When the rare, astute buyer objects to the dealer fee, the law permits you to decrease the quoted price of the car by the amount of the dealer fee. This would have the same net effect of removing it. The salesman won’t permit this because he will lose his commission (typically 25%) on the decrease in his commissionable gross profit.

If you don’t know me, I should tell you that I don’t profess to be some “holier than thou” car dealer who was always perfect. Although, I never did anything illegal, when I look at some of my advertising and sales tactics 20+ years ago and more, I am not always proud. But, I have evolved as my customers have evolved. My customers’ expectations, level of education, and sophistication are much higher today. Your customers are no different. As I began treating my customers, and employees, better I discovered that they began treating me better. Yes, I used to charge a dealer fee ($495), and when I stopped charging it many years ago, it was scary. But I did it because I could no longer, in good conscious, mislead my customers. Just because everybody else was doing the same thing did not make it right.

Now here is the good news. My profit per car did drop by about the amount of the dealer fee when I stopped charging it. But, when my customers realized that I was now giving them a fair shake and quoting the complete out-the-door price with no “surprises” the word spread. My volume began to rise rapidly. Sure, I was making a few hundred dollars less per car, but I was selling a lot more cars! I was, and am, selling a lot of your former customers. My bottom line is far better than it was when I was charging a dealer fee. You can do the same!

Why am I writing this letter? I’m not going to tell you that I think of myself as the new Marshall that has come to “clean up Dodge”. In fact, I am well aware that this letter is to some extent self-serving. Lots of people will read this letter to you and learn why they should buy a car from me, not you. And, I am also aware that most dealers who read this will either get angry and ignore it or not have the courage to follow my lead. But maybe you will be the exception. If you have any interest in following my lead, call me anytime. My personal cell phone number is 561 358-1474. I don’t have a secretary and I don’t screen any of my phone calls. I would love to chat with you about this.

Sincerely, 

Earl Stewart

Quick Reference Guide to Fine Print in Car Ads

If you look down at the bottom of virtually every car advertisement online, TV, or newspaper, you will see some fine print. Most often,  you literally cannot read the print because it is so small and, on TV, displayed for 1 or 2 seconds. The disclaimers you read below were taken from a South Florida newspaper. I didn’t make any of these up. Basically what these disclaimers do is to totally negate the validity of all of the prices and payments the car dealers are advertising. The prices and payments are always much higher when you factor in the almost invisible fine print.

Combining a very short lease term with a high down payment. Nothing sells cars like low monthly payments. A car dealer can make a monthly lease payment as low as he wants by decreasing the number of months of the lease and increasing the down payment. I’m looking at an ad in the newspaper right now advertising an SUV for $19,999 or just $199 per month. In the fine print it says 27-month lease and $3,000 down plus a $799 dealer fee.

"Plus dealer installed options" The price you see advertised is not the full price. This loophole allows the dealer to tack on thousands of dollars in overpriced accessories to the price that was advertised. Dealers often charge well over one thousand dollars for floor mats, paint sealant, pin stripes, nitrogen in tires, emergency road service, and flimsy plastic door edge guards.

"Advertised offer good on select in-stock vehicles only" Dealers often advertise just one car at a price below their cost. They don’t pay the salesman a commission if he sells that vehicle. The chances of that car being available for you to buy are “slim and none”. Even if the car was still there, the salesman would do everything in his power to sell you a different car that he could earn a commission on.

"Impossible Rebates to Qualify for".  “Owner Loyalty”. Manufacturers offer special cash rebates to current owners of their make of car. These rebates are not available to you if you don’t currently own that particular make of car. Other exclusionary rebates are “College Graduate rebates” and “Military rebates”. These are great for recent college graduates and service men and women, but do not apply to the majority of consumers. It is also very common to see dealers combine all three:  loyalty, college graduate and military rebates, making it virtually impossible for any consumer to take advantage of.

"Price …plus, tax, tag, and fees". The red flag word here is “fees”. The fees these dealers refer to are “dealer fees” which are synonymous for DEALER PROFIT. Most people believe they are federal or state taxes of some kind. They are  nothing more than more money for the dealer that is not disclosed in the advertised and quoted  price of the car. These “fees” go by many different names…electronic filing fee, tag agency fee, doc fee, notary fee, dealer service fee, administrative fee, etc. The only legitimate fees that can be added to the advertised price are GOVERNMENT FEES…fees paid to the state for sales tax and license registration.

"Offers expire date of publication or may be cancelled at any time without notice". This simply means that the prices, payments, etc. you have read have no validity whatsoever. The prices are not good tomorrow, but they aren’t even any good today because the dealer can cancel the offer without notice.

"Not responsible for typographical errors". This is just one more way for a dealer to explain why they can’t sell you the car for the advertised price…We don’t have to honor that price because it was a “typographical error”.

"Vehicle Art for illustrations only". This means that that car you are looking at with the really great looking wheels might not have those wheels on the one you buy. Or, maybe it doesn’t even have those alloy wheels you see in the picture.

"Minimum Trade Based on Dealer List Price". The DEALER list price is not the same thing as the MANUFACTURER’S suggested price. Dealers add markups to the Monroney label also known as MSRP or manufacturer’s suggested retail price. They label this markup (often on a sticker designed to imitate the official federal Monroney label). Dealer markups of $3,000 and much more are common on such “counterfeit Monroney” labels. The dealer can mark up the price on the Monroney label by $10,000 enabling him to allow you an extra $10,000 for your trade in and still sell you the car for no discount from sticker price.

“$4,000 Trade Equity Required” This is another deceptive way to advertise a super low car payment. How many of us have $4,000 in equity in our trades? Certainly not the majority of consumers!

My advice to you is to ignore all car dealers’ newspaper advertising. Most car ads are designed to “get you in the door” so that they can sell you some other car than the one advertised so that they can make more money. If you must respond to a dealer’s advertisement, be sure you break out your magnifying glass and carefully read the fine print.
My advice to you is to ignore all car dealers’ newspaper advertising. Most car ads are designed to “get you in the door” so that they can sell you some other car than the one advertised so that they can make more money. If you must respond to a dealer’s advertisement, be sure you break out your magnifying glass and carefully read the fine print. My advice to you is to ignore all car dealers’ newspaper advertising. Most car ads are designed to “get you in the door” so that they can sell you some other car than the one advertised so that they can make more money. If you must respond to a dealer’s advertisement, be sure you break out your magnifying glass and carefully read the fine print.

Sales Commissions Are the Root of All Evil

The Wells Fargo Bank has been in the news constantly for the past several weeks. It all started when the Los Angeles Times exposed the scandalous practice that millions of Wells Fargo customers were being signed up for credit cards and bank accounts without their permission or knowledge. When this went public, Wells Fargo fired 5,300 low level bank tellers, but no higher level executives were let go. One high level executive took “early retirement” and was given a huge, multimillion dollar severance package. The CEO just resigned after the heat from Congress got to high…some are calling for criminal charges.

The cause of this huge scandal was determined to be the pay plans of the low level employees whose job was to “sell” the credit cards and accounts that were being illegally placed in customers’ names without their knowledge. Management had set quotas on these so called “upsells” which a bank employee must meet if she wanted to keep her job. These quotas were very high (higher than most other banks). These low level employees had to make a choice between deceiving their customers or losing their jobs. This system worked very well for many years because Wells Fargo led the banking business in “upsells” by a wide margin.

Do you see where I’m going with this? The last time you bought a car the salesman that sold you that car was paid about 25% of the profit that the car dealership made. Almost every car dealership does not have a fixed price on the cars they sell. Virtually every car sold by most car dealerships has a different price and markup…even on identical year-make-models. Prices and markups depend entirely on the amount of profit the salesperson can negotiate with the buyer. These markups vary widely! The same car on the same day can be and are sold for prices and profits varying by thousands of dollars. It would not be unusual for a car to be sold for a $100 profit to one customer and a $5,000 profit to the next, on the same day! The first salesman would make only a $25 commission but he second one would make $1,250! As you would expect, the well informed, sophisticated buyer and negotiator pays much less for their cars than others.

So, we’ve established that, by design, car salesmen have an adversarial relationship with you, their customers. The customer wants to pay the lowest price for your car and they want you to pay the highest price. Now, I’ll explain why the salesman must charge you more money than you want to pay. If he does not make his profit quota, the car dealer will fire him. All car dealerships have quotas for their sales people and those sales people that fall short are fired. The turnover for car salesmen is the highest of any profession, averaging 66%! This means that two out of three sales people will be fired or quit within the year. The survivors are the those that produce the most profit for the car dealer.

Car dealers have a minimum acceptable average profit that they must make on their cars. The problem is that the sophisticated, educated buyers won’t pay this price. The “slack” must be made up for by overcharging the less informed buyers…typically the very young, very old, uneducated, and those who aren’t conversant in English. A car dealer or a car salesman might have a goal of making $2,000 average profit per car, but for every car he has to sell for a $100 profit, he must sell another for a $3,900 profit to meet his average.

What the owner and upper management of the car dealerships have created is a culture identical to what Wells Fargo created. They designed a pay plan pitting the goals of the customer against the goals of the sales people. Then they established unrealistically high quotas that necessitated the sales people do WHATEVER IT TAKES to meet those goals if they wanted to keep their jobs. One could argue that the sales people are guilty when they knowingly employ unethical and illegal sales tactics in order to make sales at higher prices than the customer would normally pay. On the other hand, let me pose this question to you. How far would you go to put food on the table for your family, make your car and mortgage payments, and provide medical care for your kids?

The upper management of Wells Fargo and the upper management of all car dealerships know, or should know, what their sales people are doing to their customers to meet their quotas. Warren Buffet is the largest stockholder of Wells Fargo Bank. He didn’t know what was going on, but he should have. This is what happens when you grow too big…you’re insulated from what’s going on “in the trenches”. Ironically, Warren Buffet just bought a chain of car dealerships whose salesmen are doing to their customers exactly what his Wells Fargo salesmen did to theirs. I admire and respect Warren Buffet very much, but I won’t excuse him for his fiduciary responsibility as an owner of a business to protect his customers.

Many owners and CEO’s of car dealerships today, like Mike Jackson (AutoNation) and Roger Penske (Penske Automotive Group) have the same problem as Warren Buffet. However, there are lots of other car dealer executives, below the owners level that are more likely guilty of, not only knowing about, but aiding and abetting these practices. They “don’t want to know” what’s really going on because this gives them “deniability”. These are the truly guilty ones and the ones that should be purged from the system.

Car Dealers’ Latest Dirty Little Secret The “Electronic Filing Fee” aka Dealer PROFIT

During the last Florida legislative elections, Senator Joe Negron lead an effort to roll back about “$12” of the cost of registering a car in Florida. He said this would save Floridians about $230 million a year. It was supposed to bring back the tag registration cost to where it was about 7 years ago, when the legislature raised it because of the bad economy. He was, thankfully, successful in his efforts.

What Sen. Joe Negron and, apparently, the rest of the Florida legislature either didn’t know or care about is that, at about this same time, car dealers began passing along and marking up an expense to car buyers. This is increasing their profits far more than the $230 million a year that reducing tag registration fees will save.

This increased profit to car dealers is generally called the “Electronic Filing Fee”, “E-Filing Fee”, or “Tag Agency Fee, but there are other names that dealers use, just as they do for the infamous “dealer fee” like “dealer services” or “Dealer Prep Fee”. Car dealers used to process the tag and registration required on new and used cars themselves. About 8 years ago they began outsourcing this to data processing companies that can do this work cheaper than dealers can themselves. The typical cost of this outside service is only $10 or $12. So, not only did the car dealers reduce their expense, they passed along the reduced expense to you, the car buyer! But wait, there’s more! Car dealers are also marking up this reduced expense and passing this along to you too! I’ve seen Electronic Filing Fees marked up to $598…that’s a 5,980% markup!

At my dealership I began using a registration service company named Title Tech in 2009 and they charge me $10 to prepare the tag, registration, and title work for each new customer. This saves me considerable time and money from doing it myself. I inadvertently (and wrongly) passed this expense along to my customers for a short time until I discovered my mistake, which I immediately corrected. I’m refunding this extra charge to all of my customers that I overcharged. This saves me considerable time and money from doing it myself. In the past I always absorbed the higher expense and I don’t pass along the reduced cost to my customers either. It’s adding “insult to injury” to mark up this cost and pass it along to you.

The word “fee” is almost always used by dealers when they are trying to disguise additional profit or to pass along an expense to you (which is the same thing as additional profit). When car buyers are lucky enough to even notice the Electronic Filing Fee, they usually assume it’s a tax or fee charged by the state, federal, or local governments. They do the same thing with the dealer fee under its various other names like documentary fee.

Florida law considers the Electronic Filing Fee to be the same thing as a Dealer Fee and requires that it be disclosed and used by car dealers as such. The language Florida requires for disclosure is “This charge represents costs and profit to the dealer for items such as inspecting, cleaning, and adjusting vehicles and preparing documents related to the sale”. The law also requires that the Electronic Filing Fee be included in all advertised prices. Unfortunately, most dealers are ignoring this law just as they do with the additional profit they make with the Dealer Fee.

Dealers almost never include their Dealer Fees or Electronic Filing Fees in their advertised price which is a flagrant violation of Florida law. If they even mention that they have a dealer fee, they will say in the fine print something like “prices plus tax, tag, and fees”. A few dealers will disclose in the fine print, “plus tax, tag, and $999.95 dealer fee”. The Florida Senate says “The law requires that the fee be included rather than “specifically delineated” in the advertised price.” Most car dealers’ advertising is done on TV and the fine print disclosure is literally unreadable.

The other loophole permitted by Florida law is to allow the dealers to offer only one car with the dealer fee included in the price. That would not be so bad if the dealer clearly communicated this to the buyer. But dealers use something I call “the old stock number trick”. Every car in a dealer’s inventory is assigned a stock number for accounting purposes. A typical stock number is something like “#A25771”. Dealers will put their stock number for that particular advertised car in the fine print at the bottom of the ad or elsewhere. Even if a customer sees the stock number, they have no way of knowing what it means. When the prospective buyer responds to the advertisement, the salesman tells him that the advertised car was sold but, “not to worry”, he has several more “just like it”. Yes, he does have several more identical cars in terms of model, accessories, and MSRP. But, because they have different stock numbers, the law now permits him to add his extra profit to the advertised prices disguised as Dealer Fee and Electronic Filing Fee.

It’s an affront to the car buyers of Florida that their Attorney General and their legislature allow this to continue. Car dealers have powerful lobbying groups like the Florida Auto Dealers Association (FADA) and the National Dealers Association (NADA) and they clearly communicate to Pam Bondi, the AG, and the legislature that they better not “mess with” their Dealer Fees and Electronic Filing Fees.

Another reason you don’t hear much about this deception upon car buyers is that the media has assumed their “Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” stance. The local TV, newspapers, and radio are deathly afraid of losing car dealers’ advertising. Car dealers are the largest local advertisers. Some of you may know that my wife, Nancy, and I were fired 2 years ago from our weekly consumer advice radio show on Seaview radio which we had done for almost 7 years. This was because of dealer threats to cancel their advertising. When I reported this attack on free speech to the Palm Beach Post, they refused to run the story or even allow me to purchase an advertisement that states the truth. Fortunately, Seaview Radio was purchased by JVC radio over a year ago and the new owners immediately brought us back. And doubled our airtime to 2 hours. You can tune us in every Tuesday afternoon 4-6 at 900 AM The Talk of the Palm Beaches or stream us at www.StreamEarlOnCars.com.

What can you and I do about this when we have such powerful institutions as the media, Attorney General, and Florida Legislature siding with the car dealers against you, the consumers? The answer is MAKE SOME NOISE! “We, the people” support, not only the media, but the politicians. Without our viewing, listening and readership the media can’t sell advertising and without our dollars and votes, politicians can’t get elected. Call, write, or email your local newspaper, radio and TV station, and local senator and representative. Tell them you’re tired of them kowtowing to the car dealers and the Florida Automobile Dealers Association. Demand that the laws on the Electronic Filing Fee and the Dealer Fee be enforced. Tell them “WE’RE MAD AS HELL AND WE WON’T PUT UP WITH IT ANYMORE”.