Voted the Best Car Dealer in Palm Beach County

Regular readers of my newspaper columns and blog know I avoid promoting myself and my car dealership, Earl Stewart Toyota, in North Palm Beach, Florida. My weekly radio show (Earl Stewart On Cars), YouTube videos (www.YouTube/EarlonCars, public speaking engagements, and my book (Confessions of a Recovering Car Dealer) represent my efforts as a consumer advocate to help you avoid being ripped off by car dealers.

A year ago, a friend called to congratulate me for winning a contest sponsored by Palm Beach County’s newspaper, The Palm Beach Post, as the Best New Car Dealership and the Best Auto Dealer Service Department in Palm Beach County for 2019. I thought she was kidding because I didn’t even know there was a contest! I don’t advertise in the Palm Beach Post. One of my customers, employees or friends must have nominated my dealership in the contest without my knowledge.

2019 was the first year for this contest which was held again for 2020 and Earl Stewart Toyota won again! You may be wondering why I’m bragging about being the best car dealer when this column is supposed to be written by a consumer advocate giving you advice on how to buy, lease, maintain, or repair your car without being taken advantage of. That’s a fair question, and please allow me to answer it.

I really have two goals as a consumer advocate: (1) Equip you with the awareness, caution, and knowledge to protect yourself from being deceived by car dealers and (2) Set an example for car dealers to prove that ethics, honesty, and transparency with their customers is actually good for business.

There are literally dozens of car dealerships in Palm Beach County selling every make of car available. I have only one dealership. I sell new Toyotas which represent only about 15% of the new cars sold. I’m one of four Toyota dealers in Palm Beach County. Palm Beach Toyota, Southern 441 Toyota, and Delray Toyota are the others. Eighty-five percent of the new cars sold in Palm Beach County are sold by those dozens of other car dealerships that sell everything besides Toyota. Many car dealers in Palm Beach County own multiple dealerships…Schumacher, Napleton, and AutoNation for example. For more people to vote for Earl Stewart Toyota than those car dealers with multiple locations, I must have had car owners that don’t even own a Toyota voting for Earl Stewart Toyota.

At this point in this article, I am addressing all the car dealers in Palm Beach County who were not voted number one. I know you must be upset that you lost to me and you might not understand why a car dealer with only one location in a small town like Lake Park, FL (we’re technically in Lake Park but I use North Palm Beach in my name because so few people know where the small town (population 9,000) of Lake Park is. Logic must tell you that for me to win this contest, I must have received votes from other than Toyota owners that I sold. You must wonder why some of your customers must have voted for me. They voted for a Toyota dealer when they buy Hondas or Chevrolets!

Here’s why they voted for my Toyota dealership even though they like the make of car you sell more. (1) I don’t add over a $1,000 in hidden fees (aka dealer fees) to my advertised prices. (2) I don’t add over-priced, dealer-installed accessories to my advertised prices. (3) I post my lowest, out-the-door price on ever new and used car I sell. (4) I offer a 7-day UNCONDITIONAL moneyback guarantee on every new and used car I sell. (5) I don’t hide from my customers. I give every customer my personal cell phone number and have 5 red phoneslocated around my dealership that connect directly to my personal cell phone. Every Earl Stewart employee must adhere to the Earl Stewart Code. Check it out at www.EarlStewartCode.com.a

Why Do Car Dealers Lie about their Prices?

You probably already know that you can’t buy a new or used car for the advertised price; the out-the-door price always ends up thousands of dollars higher. Car dealers are the only retailers that routinely trick their customers like this, at least to the degree that car prices are understated.

Have you ever wondered why virtually all car dealers do this? Imagine that you owned a Ford, Honda, Chevrolet, or Toyota dealership in Southeast Florida. Each of these car brands has as many as 20 dealers and no fewer than 12 selling the IDENTICAL product. Toyota has 19 car dealerships between Ft. Pierce and Key West. Every Toyota dealer pays Toyota the exact same price for their cars; but Toyota dealers don’t sell those cars to their customers for the exact same price. They mark up each car as much as they can…the highest price that the customer will pay. If a Honda dealer sells 25 identical Honda Accords in a given month, the likelihood is that each sold for a different price; the typical variation in profits on the identical vehicle can range from a few hundred to a few thousand dollars.

Let’s say you owned a Honda dealership. The Honda manufacturer gives you a quota…a minimum number of Hondas you must sell monthly and annually to fulfill your contract allowing you to sell Hondas and often to receive volume cash bonuses. The only way you can do this is to price your Hondas “competitively”. But, you also must maintain a high enough markup on each Honda, so that your dealership remains profitable. This is the “Catch 22” and dilemma of all car dealers. A South Florida Honda dealer has EIGHTEEN other Honda dealers advertising the same cars he sells. If you advertise a Honda Accord for a higher price than most other Honda dealers, you won’t sell enough to meet your quota; if you advertise that Honda Accord for a lower price you’ll sell lots of Accords, but you’ll lose money on every car.

Therefore, all Honda dealers and all car dealers of all makes see only one viable course of action. Advertise their cars at a very low price, lower than their competition (and lower than they can or will sell the car for), so that the customers will come in to buy. Once the customer is in the dealership, the “games begin” to raise the advertised price to a price as profitable to the dealer as he can negotiate. The tools the dealers use to accomplish this are many…hidden profits (aka dealer fees) disguised as government fees, dealer pre-installed accessories, and switching the customer to a different vehicle or a lease rather than a purchase.

Car dealers see themselves as having no choice but to sell cars this way if they’re to remain in business. They blame their actions on the auto franchise system and there is some truth to this. Apple sells you iPhones directly, but Toyota cannot sell you a Toyota directly; car manufacturers MUST sell through their dealers. This system is mandated and entrenched by state law in all 50 states. The manufacturers created the dealer franchise system in the early twentieth century because they couldn’t sell their cars fast enough directly. Once a critical mass of dealers was created by the auto manufacturers, the dealers organized and lobbied their state legislatures to created laws protecting their franchises from the manufacturers. The main reason they did this was because the manufacturers were granting franchise agreements to too many dealers…” over-dealering”. Too many car dealers selling the same car in a market creates too much competition because it drives the prices down. Unfortunately for the dealers, there were (and are) already too many. Today, car dealers are overprotected, enjoying exclusive markets with state laws making it almost impossible to control, much less, eliminate even the most “problem” car dealers.

The auto franchise system is over 100 years old and obsolete, but it’s entrenched and will remain for the foreseeable future. New vehicles will, one day, be sold online directly by the manufacturers and maybe even through Amazon or Walmart. Vehicles will be built to order and delivered within a week. The price you see will be the price you pay, and you will be able to return the car for a full cash refund if you change your mind. Service, maintenance, and repairs on modern vehicles is minimal. Separate service centers will still exist to handle this need. Service centers will also have new vehicles of each model for you to inspect and test drive. Tesla is doing today exactly what I described, except for the one-week delivery time and unconditional moneyback guarantee.

But there’s a larger reason why car dealers get away with their deceptions. That is “because they can”. Auto manufacturers realize they’re stuck with the dealer franchise system and “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em”. Auto manufacturers have huge political lobbying clout and, when you add the car dealers and their associations’ money, state and federal politicians have no choice but to “play ball”. There are about 17,000 franchised car dealers. They have enormous lobbying power nationally through NADA, the National Auto Dealers Association, and they also have enormous lobbying power in all 50 state legislatures. The political donations that Big Auto and Car Dealers give politicians make the NRA look small by comparison.

Never Go Car Shopping Alone

I frequently get phone calls, emails, and texts from car buyers who have already bought a car. The “horse is already out of the barn”, and they want me to give them advice on how to get it back. Most of these car buyers went car shopping and bought their car alone. Most of the complaints are associated with verbal promises by the salesperson, not committed to writing. Bringing at least someone with you when you’re car shopping doesn’t negate the importance of getting all promises in writing, but substantially lowers the chances of a car salesman trying to pull a fast one. The salesman and his manager know that, in court, two people’s word trumps one.

A woman wrote me a letter in response to one of my columns. Her husband had recently passed away and this was the first car she’d bought on her own. The dealer didn’t have the model car with the accessories she wanted and was unable to locate one at another dealership. She didn’t want to decide without seeing the actual car she wanted to buy, but the salesman and manger talked her into signing a buyer’s order, assuring her that she was under no obligation to buy. They also included two accessories that she did not want because “the manufacturer required it”. I’ve heard of distributors ordering cars with certain accessories from the manufacturer which essentially makes them “standard”, but never “$250 floor mats” which was one of the accessories she mentioned. I get a lot of emails, phone calls, and letters from people who made a bad deal in their car purchase and want to know how they can get out of it. This is one of the less egregious, but I chose it because it was a simpler and shorter example.

There is strength in numbers when shopping and negotiating to buy a car. In fact, this applies to any serious decision in life. You might be the sharpest, shrewdest negotiator on the block, but your odds of striking a better deal and not get taken advantage of are enhanced when you have witnesses on your side. Personally, I make a habit of always having at least one partner when I am engaged in a serious, adversarial decision-making process. When meeting with those on the other side, I make it a point to arrive with at least as many people as they have present. One reason is the psychological factor. When you are in an office by yourself with 2 or 3 others, it can be intimidating. Another reason is that you always have people on your side to corroborate what was said. If a salesman or a sales manager makes a verbal promise that can be corroborated by a friend or two, it is far less likely to be broken. It will also hold up in court, if it must come to that. Of course, the better solution is to see that all promises are committed to writing.

Buying a car, especially a new car is often an emotional decision. Having a friend or two with you can help you make more of an analytical, logical decision. Another point of view is always useful when making an important decision. Also, having one or two friends with you slows down the process to a level more easily absorbed and understood by you. A friend will often think of a question you should have asked but forgot.

Ideally you should bring someone with you who is skilled in negotiation and experienced in buying cars. However, if you don’t know someone like that, somebody is better than nobody.

By the way, most car dealers are unhappy when prospective customers bring in advisors and friends. Naturally they feel that way because they recognize their chances of making a fast, very profitable sale are diminished.

DON’T GET FLIPPED TO A LEASE

One of the most popular weapons in car dealers’ arsenals is the infamous “lease flip”. This is car dealer jargon for switching a customer, who originally intended to buy a car, into leasing the car.

Of course the motivation to do this is more profit for the dealer and a bigger commission to the salesman. That’s not to say that leasing a car is always more costly than buying one, but it can be if you’re not careful. And not being careful is exactly what happens when a purchase intender becomes a lessee. You likely did all your homework and due diligence based on a purchase. Suddenly changing to a lease, puts you totally at the mercy of the salesman.

Here’s how it happens. You come into the dealership to buy a car. You may have seen the dealer’s advertisement in the newspaper or TV for a model. More than likely you are prepared to make a down payment and/or trade in your old vehicle. You have a monthly payment in mind because almost everybody has a budget and we usually translate most purchases into whether we can fit them into our monthly budgets. You negotiate the best price you can to buy the car, or maybe the sale price is good enough. Or, more and more often, the advertisement that brought you in showed a leasepayment, not a purchase payment. Dealers use deceptive language like “Drive this car for just $299 per Month” or “Take this Car home for Just $200 per month”. Notice the words buy, own, or purchase are never used.

Now the salesman, or more often the F&I manager/business manager tells you what your monthly payment will be. Let’s say that you have a trade-in worth $15,000 and aren’t going to put any cash down. The F&I [Finance and Insurance] manager tells you your monthly payment will be $427 per month. But that’s way more than you can afford, and you tell him you can’t buy the car because you can’t afford that big a payment. He asks you how much you can afford, and you tell him it must be under $350 per month. Now he has you set up perfectly for the “lease flip”.

“Mrs. Smith, I think I have just the right thing for you. What would you say if I told you that you can drive that new car home today for just $349 per month?” You say with glee, “we have a deal!” Guess what? You’ve just been flipped. If you had bought the car at the advertised price or negotiated a very good price, the dealer probably would have made about $1,000 profit, and the salesman would have made about a $200 commission. Not that you’ve let yourself be flipped to lease, the dealer could be making up to $15,000 and the salesman could be making a $3,000 commission!

I’m not exaggerating. I get calls weekly from victims of lease flips. Many of the callers are elderly and many of them are widows who never bought a car before but had relied on their husbands. There’s no law that limits the profit that a dealer can make when he sells or leases a car. $10,000, $15,000, and even $20,000 profits are made and usually on leases. The dealers can do this by using the trade-in as a capital cost reduction on the lease but allowing less for the trade than it is worth. In the example above, your trade-in may be worth $15,000 but you were allowed only $5,000 to reduce the capitalized costs of the lease. Also, the dealer could have raised the price of the car you negotiated or the sale price to MSRP or even 110% of MSRP which is allowable by the leasing companies.

By manipulating the number of months of the lease and the down payment [capitalized cost reduction], a dealer can give you as low a payment as you ask for and still make an exorbitant profit. Most buyers are so focused on monthly payments that they don’t carefully analyze what they are agreeing to and signing.

The shorter the number of months of a lease, the greater impact the down payment has on the monthly payment. A $5,000 down payment reduces the monthly payment on a 36-month lease by $139 per month, $208 on a 24 month lease, and $417 on 12 month lease.

Incredibly, many victims of the lease flip, never thought about the fact that after the 12, 24, or 36 month term of the lease, they own nothing. After 36 months, a car with a good resale value should be worth at least half of what you paid for it. Many people who have never leased before believe they can bring their lease car back early if they want. Leasing is not renting, and you can bring your car back early only if you make all of the remaining lease payments. If you had bought the car for $30,000 and financed it for 36 months, you would have about $15,000 in equity at the end of 36 months and no monthly payments. You were building equity with every monthly payment in the purchase, but you were building zero equity with your 36 lease payments.

As I said before, don’t let this frighten you from ever leasing a car. Leasing can be a good choice and sometimes the best choice. You can find six articles I’ve written at www.EarlOnCars.com : “Lease a New Car before You Buy It”, “Car Leasing Booby Traps”, “Be Very Careful When Leasing a Car”, “The Lease Acquisition Fee…the Bank’s Gotcha”, “Buy or Lease Your Car at the Right Time of Year”, and “Should I Buy or Lease My Next Car?”

Florida Car Dealers BOGUS Option to Purchase Your Leased Car

As a consumer advocate for auto buyers and Lessees, one of my most frequent complaints is that the car dealer added their hidden fees (aka dealer fees) to the lessee’s option to purchase price granted by the lessor in the lease contract. Below is the verbiage in a typical auto lease contract:

"PURCHASE OPTION AT END OF LEASE TERM. You have the option to purchase the Vehicle “AS IS” at the scheduled termination of this Lease, provided all sums due under this Lease have been paid by you and you notify us 15 days prior to the scheduled termination of this Lease. The price you pay will be the Residual Value (see Section 10) PLUS a purchase option fee in the amount set forth in Section 23. You will owe any official fees and taxes, documentary fees, tag or title transfer charge or fees, or other amounts charged in connection with the purchase of the Vehicle."

When you lease your new car, the salesman tells you that you have the option to purchase that car at the end of the lease. This option price is the “residual value” which is the estimated WHOLESALE value of the car at the end of the lease. Leasing companies also add a fee to this amount, typically about $350, which they say is to cover their costs of allowing you the option. It’s just more profit to the leasing company like their “lease inception fee” and “lease disposition fee”. But the good news is that this phony fee is disclosed (albeit in the fine print).

What is NOT disclosed is the added profit to the car dealer when you turn in your leased car and purchase it back from the leasing company. All car dealers in Florida (except my dealership) add as much as they want to your contractually guaranteed purchase option price. Dealers will tell you that they are adding their dealer fees, which Florida law allows; But they don’t tell you that Florida law requires this added dealer profit be INCLUDED IN THE ADVERTISED PRICE. The only indication of the price of your purchase option is shown in your lease contract and there is no mention of hidden dealer fees. In Florida, there is no limit to the size of a dealer fee, the number of dealer fees, or what the car dealer chooses to NAME his dealer fees. I know car dealers in Florida that charge more than $2,000 in dealer fees and they will add that to your lease purchase option.

I’m not an attorney, but I do have a Juris Doctor degree (JD) from the “Legal School of Hard Knocks”. I know that car dealers are agents for the leasing companies, especially when the leasing companies are owned by the car’s manufacturer. As an agent for the leasing company, dealers have a responsibility to fulfill the intended terms of the lease contract. I also know that under Common Law, all contracts must be entered in GOOD FAITH. It isn’t good faith to surprise the lessee with a $1,000+ added profit to the car dealer.

My advice to you if you’re anticipating buying your leased car, is to check with other dealers of your make to find out if one might consider waiving their dealer fees. Speak to the “higher ups” in the dealership and the leasing companies. They know what they’re doing is wrong and might waive the dealer fees. As a last resort, consult with a real attorney and ask his opinion. I believe that this practice represents a great opportunity for a class action suit against Florida car dealers and leasing companies. If you’re planning on leasing a car, make it part of the “deal” that, should you desire to exercise your lease option, you will not be charged dealer fees. The dealership will agree to that “in a heart-beat” to lease you a new car.

Car Dealers Can Fool Some of the People All of the Time

Almost everyone has read Abraham Lincoln’s popular saying, “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” I think Abe meant this to be a positive assertion that government may get away with deceiving us for a while, but in the long run, truth justice and the American way will prevail…and I think he was right.



However, it doesn’t work that way with unethical car dealers and uninformed car buyers. It’s always been “caveat emptor”, or “buyer beware when it comes to buying or servicing a car. Unfortunately for a buyer to “beware” he must be “aware”…that is to say educated, mature, sophisticated and experienced. This excludes a very large segment of our population including the very young, the very old, the uneducated, those with low I.Q.’s and those not proficient in the English language. Is this one reason why our regulators and elected politicians don’t seem to care or act with respect to the rampant unfair and deceptive sales practices of a large number of Florida car dealers? Most elected officials and regulators are lawyers and are highly educated and sophisticated. They don’t have a problem buying or servicing a car. In fact, the car dealer that tries to take advantage of a lawyer, regulator, or politician is asking for trouble.



I’ve been writing this column/blog and broadcasting my radio show, Earl Stewart on Cars, for about 17 years. I sometimes feel that I’m “preaching to the choir” when it comes to advising people how to avoid getting ripped off by a car dealer. You, my readers and listeners, largely fall into the category of the educated and sophisticated, “aware” buyer. Most of you aren’t taken advantage of when you buy or service your car because you won’t allow it. Unfortunately, there are enough uneducated, naive, and otherwise vulnerable consumers to feed those unethical car dealers who prey on the defenseless among us. All you must do is read some of the car ads online, direct mail, or the newspapers. To the educated, sophisticated buyer, these ads are actually funny, if you can forget the fact that so many fall prey to them and are taken advantage of by the dealers. For example, it’s hard for you or me to believe that anybody would respond to an advertisement without reading the fine print. Many dealers today are advertising prices that, when you read the fine print, are understated by many thousands of dollars. When you or I see a dealer stating that the car price is plus “freight”, we are educated enough to understand that the law requires that the freight cost be already included in the price. A shrewd buyer knows that “dealer list” is not the same thing as MSRP and that a large discount from “dealer list” means absolutely nothing. We know that the “lowest price guarantee’ is worthless if the dealer reserves the right to buy the car from the other dealer that offers a lower price.



There are those who argue that all buyers have the responsibility to guard against unethical sellers, to take care of themselves. In fact, that’s the literal translation of the Latin legal term “caveat emptor” …let the buyer beware. That’s sounds good, but what about the elderly widow whose husband recently died and who never had to make the decision on a major purchase in her entire life? What about the young person just out of school with no experience in the real world? How about the immigrant who struggles with English? Should we be concerned about our underprivileged classes who often drop out of school because they must go to work to support themselves or their family? You and I know lots of good people who, for one reason or another, simply can’t cope with a slick car salesman.



My bottom line is this, since we can’t rely on our regulators and politicians to protect those who “can be fooled all the time”, maybe we owe it to society to protect these folks. If you know someone who is thinking about buying a car or has a service problem with her car and you feel she may not have the ability to fend for herself with the car dealer, offer your support. If you’re one of the people who needs support, ask someone who can go “toe to toe” with a car dealer to come with you when you are car shopping. By the way, nobody, sophisticated or not, should car shop alone. Two heads are always better than one and it’s always a good idea to have a witness to what was said during a negotiation. And, of course, if you don’t have the time to help a person or you’re that person, you can always call me…I’m always here for you.





Best,



Earl

Auto Manufacturers Mandate Dealers to Advertise Higher Prices

Honda was the first auto manufacturer to require their dealers to advertise prices above dealer invoice; in fact, they’ve been requiring this for over thirty years. The industry name for this is Minimum Advertised Price (MAP). This might sound like a good idea if you don’t understand what a car dealer’s invoice truly is and is not. It is NOT the true cost of the vehicle sold to the dealer by the manufacturer. The dealer invoice contains up to several thousands of dollars in profit to the dealer. The manufacturer intentionally hides various sums of money in the dealer invoice that are kicked back to the car dealer at the end of the month, quarter, or year. These amounts go by various names like holdback (typically 2% or 3% of MSRP), advertising, dealer incentives, floorplan interest incentive, and monthly-quarterly-annual incentive bonuses.

Brands with voluntary MAP pricing policies include Subaru, Honda, Acura, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Mazda, and Mercedes-Benz. Interestingly, GM has a MAP pricing policy for its Chevy Performance Parts line, but not its car brands, which are Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC. Historically, for most car dealers, more than half of the vehicles they sell are sold for below invoice. This fact is based on supply and demand. Having a rule that a vehicle must be advertised for more than the average expected markup, simply means that the dealer cannot advertise a competitive price.

When, for many years, Honda was the only manufacturer that required their dealers to advertise higher prices, Honda dealers were the envy of the industry. Dealers of all other makes wished that their manufacturers would invoke the same rule. The reason was that setting a floor on how low advertised prices could be raised their profit margins on Hondas far above the average profit margins on almost all other makes (except luxury cars like Mercedes and BMW).

The manufacturers’ official reason for this rule is to prevent their dealers from advertising prices lower than they will sell the car for. In other words, bait and switch advertising. This sounds like a good and noble reason, but the facts are that bait, and switch advertising exists as prevalently today as it did before the rules for Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) advertised were established. What this rule accomplishes is to decrease price competition between car dealers which has the predictable consequence of increasing the price paid by the consumer.

All the manufacturers have data available to them which compares the advertised prices with the actual transaction prices. They used this data as their reason for MAP; I don’t have access to this data, but I’d bet that there has been no narrowing in the discrepancy between the advertised prices and actual transaction prices since MAP was introduced.

What this all means to you, the car buyer, is that you cannot trust advertising by either the auto manufacturers or dealers. My advice to you is to totally ignore all car dealer and auto manufacturer price advertising. They both are stacking the deck against you in their advertising. The best way to get the lowest price on a new vehicle is by shopping and comparing several dealers’ OUT-THE-DOOR price. An out-the-door price is the price you can write a check for and drive the car home…no hidden fees and no extra charges for dealer installed accessories.

2020 New Year’s Resolutions for Florida Car Dealers

This blog is addressed to Florida’s car dealers, as well as those in the other 49 states. I don’t expect most of you to take these suggested resolutions in the spirit in which they’re intended, but I hope some of you will.

I’m a car dealer and I’ve been in business longer that most of you, since 1968. I began as a Pontiac dealer in West Palm Beach, and I did business back then just about the same way you do business today. I advertised cars for less than I knew I could, or would, sell them for. I added hidden fees to the prices I quoted my customers. I added overpriced accessories to my cars like undercoating and paint sealant. I negotiated the highest prices I could with those least capable of understanding how to get the best price. I even rewarded my salesmen when they made a profit of $4,000 or more on some unsuspecting, defenseless customer…a $500 bonus in addition to a $1,000 commission and his name on our revered SLAM DUNK BOARD. Bear in mind that I would also sell cars to smart, sophisticated negotiators for $100 profit of even less. This way of selling cars is unfair, immoral, and unethical. It took me a long time to figure this out.

When the Internet and World Wide Web became a reality in 1990, who could have guessed that it would change the world more than any invention in the past. What has transpired from this spark at the end of the 20th century, is the KNOWLEDGE EXPL0SION of the 21st century. With Big Data, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing giving us tools like Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Netflix, the sum-total of human knowledge is doubling in less than every 12 hours. I was born in 1940 when human knowledge was estimated to be doubling every 12 years. The bottom line is that everybody is getting a lot smarter, especially the consumer. If car dealers want to survive, you must begin dealing intelligently with their customers. Before you know it, you won’t have any more customers you can deceive into buying cars they don’t want and paying higher prices than they should. 

1. Display your lowest price on every new and used vehicle you sell.


2. Add no hidden, bogus fees to your quoted or advertised price.


3. Never pre-install dealer accessories to your vehicles, especially if they’re not included in the advertised or quoted price.


4. Don’t deprive your prospective customers of their American, inalienable right to shop and compare your lowest price with the competition. Capitalism, competition, and the free market place are American attributes which make our country the greatest on the Planet.


5. Do not switch a customer that wants to buy a car to leasing because you can make a lot more money leasing. If leasing is the best alternative for your customer, your profit should be equal on the buy or the lease.


6. If your customer wants to finance his car with you, offer him a fair, competitive interest rate. Offer to sell him “products” like extended warranties, maintenance contracts, GAP insurance, road hazard insurance, and emergency road service only with thorough disclosure of real cost and benefits. Never add anything to the finance contract that the customer does not know about or understand. Never say or imply that the lender requires that he buy an extended warranty or any other product.


7. Never sell a used vehicle with an unfixed dangerous recall. Most car dealers are doing this today, wantonly, and in most cases not even disclosing the recall. Some of these recalls have no fix available.


8. Never display conditions that increase the real price of the advertised vehicle in the unreadable fine print of your advertisements. All car dealers do this and so do their manufacturers. Where is the honesty and transparency in advertising a new car that you can supposedly lease for $299 per month when the unreadable fine print requires a $5,000 down payment?


9. Don’t falsely give hope to prospective customers with bad credit by understating the conditions that they must meet to obtain financing. For example: “ANY CREDIT APPLICATION ACCEPTED” or “WE FINANCE GOOD PEOPLE WITH BAD CREDIT”.


10. Don’t trick customers into believing that you will pay off all the money owed on their current purchased or leased car and sell or lease them a new one…” WE’LL PAY OFF THE MONEY YOU OWE ON YOUR PRESENT CAR, NO MATTER HOW MUCH IT IS”. More and more car drivers owe more on their cars than they’re worth…often many thousands of dollars. You’re tricking them into thinking you are paying off their old loans, when the truth is, you’re adding what you paid the bank to the price of the new car you sell or lease them.

Open Letter To: Governor Ron Desantis, Florida House Speaker Jose Oliva, Florida Senate President Bill Galvano, Attorney General Ashley Moody

Subject: Enforce Florida Statute 501.976 (16);

Dear Ron, Jose, Bill, and Ashley,

You may know of me, I’ve been an auto dealer in Palm Beach County for over half a century. I currently own a Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach/Lake Park, but I’m more known for my activities as a consumer advocate for car buyers. You can Google me and learn about my platforms…radio show, blog, newspaper columns, book, and public speaking.

I’ve been mystery shopping car dealers weekly for more than 17 years. I’ve learned that very few car dealers in Florida are abiding by the Florida law requiring them to include all profits and costs to the dealers in their advertised prices. Last week, for example, I mystery shopped H Greg in West Palm Beach, part of a 20-dealership chain. Their online advertised price excluded $1,298 in hidden fees. You can access this shopping report and hundreds more just like it by going to my blogwww.EarlOnCars.com. I estimate that the dealers in Florida that abide by this law to be less than 1%.

Because of the lack of enforcement of this law, dealers have been emboldened, and they have become more aggressive and ingenious in their ways to profit by deceiving the car-buyers in their advertising. You should know that Florida has the least regulated hidden fee laws in the USA. No other state allows car dealers to charge as much as they want, NO CAP, in hidden fees, name the hidden fee anything they want (tag agency fee, electronic filing fee, doc fee), and Florida dealers can charge as many different hidden fees as they like. Two or three fees is common place.

Governor Desantis, Speaker Oliva, President Galvano, and General Moody, you were elected by the voters (who are also the car-buyers) of Florida because they believed that you would uphold your oath of office and enforce our laws. When they voted you in office, they believed that you would be concerned about their ability and right to respond to car dealers’ advertising without fear of being tricked into paying car dealers thousands of dollars more than the advertised price.

I’m very much aware that car dealers are an important part of Florida’s economy and employ thousands of Floridians. Dealers’ profitability is a valid concern and I know that the Florida Auto Dealers Association and most individual car dealers supported your elections. However, the good things that car dealers do for Florida’s economy and providing jobs don’t grant them immunity from its laws.

I’m inviting each of you to appear on, or call into my radio show, Earl on Cars, any Saturday morning, 8-10 am. You may call me anytime on my persona cell phone 561 358-1474 to set up a date and time.



Sincerely,

Earl Stewart

Recovering Car Dealer

How to Get the Lowest Price on Any New Toyota from Any Toyota Dealer

My Toyota dealership in North Palm Beach, Florida may be the only car dealership on the Planet that posts online its lowest out-the-door price, on all new and used cars.

If you doubt my word on this, ask yourself when a car dealer has quoted you a price that you can take home and shop and compare with other car dealers’ prices that represents the total out-the-door price of the car you want to buy . By the way, the definition of an out the door price is one that you can write a check for, hand it to the salesman, and get in your car and drive home. There can be no extra charges for dealer installed accessories or hidden fees, also known as Dealer Fee‘s. My guess is that your answer to this question is you’ve never had an out the door price quoted you by a car dealer (that he would honor).

FYI, this article is not an advertisement or commercial to try to sell you a new Toyota.www.earloncars.com reaches readers all over the United States and the world, as do my newspaper columns, podcasts, Twitter and YouTubes. The odds that you live close enough to my dealership to be able to buy a car from me are very slim.

What I’m giving you in this article is the way to find a very low, out-the-door price on any new Toyota that you might want to purchase from any Toyota dealer anywhere. Here’s a link to the out-the-door price on a new Toyota RAV4, https://express.earlstewarttoyota.com/express/2T3H1RFV0KW056087?deal_type=cash. The out-the-door price is $27,927. You write me a check for that price and take the car home. There are no hidden fees and dealer installed accessories (like nitrogen in tires and paint sealant). You can click on my website, www.EarlStewartToyota.com, and get out the door prices on every new Toyota model (and all used cars too).

Remember, I’M NOT TRYING TO SELL YOU A TOYOTA. This article is to empower you with something you already have for buying all other retail products, except cars. By showing another Toyota dealership my lowest price on the new Toyota of your choice, he has no honest choice (if he wants your business) but to match or beat my price. However, he has lots of dishonest choices and PLEASE EXPECT THE DEALER TO TRY THEM. The most obvious choice is to lie about matching my out-the-door price and add hidden fees and dealer installed accessories. The dealer can also attempt to undervalue your trade-in allowance. If you’re financing the car with the dealer (usually a bad idea), he’ll make over $1,000 in the financing. If none of these tricks work, he’ll try desperately to switch you to a different vehicle so that you can’t compare prices. If all the above fails, he may, in total frustration, tell you that “Earl Stewart won’t really sell you the car at that price”. Or, another favorite is “Earl Stewart really charges hidden fees, but he hides them in the price of the car!”. I laugh every time I hear that one. 😊

I’ll not only sell you any car at my out-the-door price, but I’ll sell everyone (even the dealer that’s saying I won’t) at that price. The most important thing is that the prices are my lowest prices and I will not sell any car for 1 penny less to anybody…not the Governor of Florida, President of the USA, or Queen of England. If did cut my price for certain people, I wouldn’t be true to my word that my prices are my LOWEST prices. Just because the prices are my lowest prices doesn’t mean another dealer can’t sell you the same car for less. They can, but they just don’t want to. I’ve never advertised (like most other dealers) “Nobody will sell you a new Toyota for less!”. Of course, they will! If you force them to, they don’t have a choice. All car dealers are insanely competitive and they’d rather make a small profit (or even no profit) instead of lose a deal to Earl Stewart or any other Toyota dealer.

If the Toyota dealership that you’re buying from doubts my claim, please ask the dealer (or salesman) to feel free to call me on my personal cell phone, 561 358-1474. I’m sure I’ll be able to convince them; if not, I’ll put it in writing and have it notarized.

Good luck and I’d love to hear back from any Toyota buyers in the USA* that give this a try.

*If you’re buying a new Toyota outside of the Southeast USA (Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina), take into consideration that all other Toyotas have an average cost of about $775 less. This is because Toyotas in the Southeast USA have an average of $775 added to the cost by the independent Toyota Distributor that resells new Toyotas to me and all other Southeast Toyota dealerships.

COMPETITION: Car Dealers’ Achilles’ Heal

The retail and wholesale auto industries are highly competitive. Toyota desperately wants to outsell Honda, Chevy desperately wants to outsell Ford, and Mercedes desperately wants to outsell BMW. The auto manufacturers “live and die on the 30-day sales cycle, month to month. This desperation is passed along to the retailers of their products, the car dealers. Car dealers have short term contracts (franchises) with their manufacturers, typically 6 years. If a car dealer doesn’t meet his performance goal in the number of new vehicle sales, his franchise can be canceled. This literally puts him out of business and the millions of dollars he has invested in his buildings, land, equipment, and inventories can virtually vanish.

The auto manufactures assign quotas to their dealers. These quotas are based on intensive market studies of the geographic areas surrounding each of their dealers. The manufacturer tells each of their dealers the minimum number of new cars he must sell each month. If he falls short, his existence as a car dealer is in danger. The dealer must sell his assigned number and percent of vehicles sold within his market area. These market areas vary but are typically about a 20-mile radius from the dealership. Within that radius are representatives of most other makes of cars and the same make as the dealer’s, because markets usually overlap.

The major competition to the auto manufacturer is different from the major competition to the auto dealer. A Mercedes dealer is far more likely to lose a sale to another Mercedes dealer than to a BMW dealer. The Mercedes manufacturer doesn’t care which Mercedes dealer sells the customer; the manufacturer is worried about BMW, Infinity, and Audi dealers. Thanks to the Internet and the information explosion, most car buyers today have decided which make car they’re going to buy before they enter a car dealership. When the customer visits Mercedes dealership A and leaves without buying, that customer is probably going to buy a Mercedes from Mercedes dealership B or C.

Now you’re beginning to understand why car dealers’ desperate competitiveness is your friend when buying a new vehicle. Car dealers pass along the quota assigned to him to his sales managers and salespeople. A manager that doesn’t hit his quota loses his job just as does a salesman that doesn’t sell a certain minimum number of cars per month. Adding to this desperation is that EVERYBODY in the auto industry is paid on commission. Mercedes management, from the CEO all the way down is paid on performance. The car dealer is paid by profits, not salary, and sales managers and salespeople are paid a commission based on profit on each car.

As hard as this may be to understand or believe, car dealers will sometimes sell cars at a loss in order to not lose a sale. Your awareness of this desperation is your “ace in the hole” when buying a new vehicle. By “working” at least 3 car dealerships against each other, you can buy your new car at the lowest possible price. Unfortunately, this is easier said than done. It’s not for the timid or faint of heart. You’re going up against seasoned professional salespeople and their managers. You’re playing in their “game” that they play day in and day out.

Here are a few simple rules that, if followed to the letter, will result in your buying your next new vehicles at the lowest price possible:

1. Choose the exact make-year-model vehicle you will buy and the exact accessories. Do not change your mind after you begin gathering competivive prices. Car dealers’ favorite tactic is to “switch” you to a different vehicle from the one you initially planned to buy.                           
2. Make your lease or buy decision before you begin shopping and stick with your choice. Car dealers’ second favorite tactic is to switch buyers to leasing. This greatly enhances their profits and makes it more difficult to be compared to their competition.                                                   
3. Insist on an out-the-door price from each dealership. This will be your most difficult task. An out-the-door price, strictly speaking, is the amount of money you pay the dealer permitting you to drive the new vehicle home. It’s acceptable to be quoted the full price with only government fees of sales tax and license and registration added. Be clear that you will not pay for any dealer installed accessories not installed and included in the current price. Also you will not pay for non-government fees aka “taxable fees”. Here are links to my two blogs that will assist you in this most difficult task. http://oncars.blogspot.com/2019/11/earls-suggested-word-track-for-no.html and http://earlstewartteam.com/pdf/outthedoorpriceaffidavit.pdf.

Earl’s Suggested Word-Track for No Hassle/No Haggle Car Buying

You can use this word track to buy a car online, via regular mail, over the telephone, or in person. I strongly recommend that you use it online, but I know that some car buyers, seniors like me, are not as comfortable with buying over the Internet. Using this word track in person can work, but it will be much more difficult and take a lot longer. Only a person with a very strong will, stamina, and a very thick skin should attempt this face-to-face. I strongly recommend that you don’t.

(1) Dear Car Salesman, “Within the next two weeks (enter your own time frame), I will be purchasing (leasing) a (fill in the specific make, year, model and optional accessories).” You should carefully research the vehicle that you decide to purchase using all sources of information available such as Consumer Reports. You should also test drive the car to be sure it feels and drives the way you want it to. It is vital that you not change your mind during the purchasing process. If you do change your mind, you must begin all over again. Never let a car salesman change your mind for you.Switching the type and price of the vehicle you’re buying (bait and switch) is one of their favorite ways to charge you more money than you had anticipated paying.

(2) “Please quote me your lowest price on (your specific car). This price must be an out-the-door price with only state sales tax and the license tag fees paid to the state. To be sure there is no confusion, please understand that the only dollar amounts that I will pay in addition to the price you quoted are taxes and fees actually paid to the state government. I will not pay dealer fees by any name such as electronic filing fees, tag agency fees.”

(3) “I understand that my request may not be one you wish to comply with because you are concerned that I will shop and compare your price with other car dealers. Your concerns are valid because this is exactly what I will do. You may be asking yourself, ‘why should I do this if I know that my lowest price may not be low enough and that I will show it to your competitor to get an even lower price?’ My answer is quite simple; you may have only a small chance of winning my business if you do give me your lowest price, but you will have ZERO chance of winning my business if you do not, because you will never hear from me again.”

(4) “I will sell my trade-in to the highest bidder, just like I will buy my new car from the lowest bidder. I will also finance my car at the lowest interest bid by a bank or credit union. If you can meet or beat other dealers and banks, I will trade my car into you and/or finance with you.”

(5) “If you quote me your lowest out-the-door price and I come to your dealership to purchase my car, please don’t even think about: (A) Telling me that the car I specified was sold and that you would like to show me other cars just like it. (B) Telling me that the car I specified has some accessories/options that you installed like nitrogen in the tires, glass etch, pin stripes, floor mats, paint sealant, etc. (C) Telling me that you priced in rebates and incentives that I don’t qualify for like college graduate, military, customer loyalty, customer conquest, etc. (D) The price you quoted me is only valid if I finance my car through you. If you do any of these things, I will not only not buy from you, but I will report you to the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles, BBB, the County Office of Consumer Affairs, Florida Attorney General, and your manufacturer. “ Furthermore, I will expose you on Facebook, Google, Yelp, Twitter and any other form of social media I can think of.

(6) “If everything goes well with no shenanigans, I will write a letter of commendation to your owner and manufacturer. I will also tell all my friends, neighbors, relatives, work associates, and club members about my wonderful experience with you and your dealership. I will also post recommendations on Google, Yelp, Facebook, and Twitter.”

(7) “The choice is yours and I hope that you see the benefits of selling me a car at the lowest price you can afford to give me. I also hope you can see the dangers of giving me a dishonest price so that you can get me into your dealership and try to charge me more than we agreed.”

(8) “I wish you the best of luck and I sincerely hope we can do business and have a long car buying and servicing relationship.”

Hidden Fees and Accessory Charges Defeat Buyers’ Online Buying Advantage

For years I’ve advised car buyers to go online to get the lowest price on new or used vehicles. Online, you can avoid the haggle and hassle of dealers’ game-playing when you’re inside the dealership. Online, you can even maintain anonymity by not giving them your real phone number and giving them another email address. Car dealers know that they have just one chance to sell you a car and if their price is too high, they may never hear from you again.

As the percent of cars bought online has soared, car dealers have had to “adapt” in order to maintain their profit margins. This “adaptation” amounts to lying about the prices they give you online. They give you a very low price, lower than their competition’s, to which they later add thousands of dollars in hidden fees and dealer installed accessories.

I use the word hidden fee rather than dealer fee because dealers learned long ago that car buyers were becoming more aware of the hidden profit named “dealer fee”. Some dealers advertise “No Dealer Fee” because they renamedtheir dealer fee something else. Dealers name their hidden fees whatever they choose…usually something that sounds like an official government fee. Some commonly used examples are “tag agency fee”, “electronic filing fee”, “e-filing fee”, dealer services fee, “administrative fee”, “documentary (doc) fee”, “dealer prep fee’, etc. Most car dealers employ multiple fee of this nature totaling at least $1,000 and some over $3,000.

Dealer installed accessories are added to the vehicles but not included in the price you get. These accessories cost the dealer very little and they mark them up as much as 1,000%. Examples are nitrogen in the tires, pin stripes, window tint, floor mats, paint sealant, fabric protection, road hazard insurance, emergency road service, etc. The total extra profit to the dealer for these averages at least $1,000.

Third party buying services can be the best way to buy a vehicle. Consumer Reports, American Express, GEICO, True Car, AutoTrader, Car Guru, and Cars.com are all legitimate companies that try to obtain the lowest prices for their members and users. However, all of these companies are deceived by their dealer members when they quote customers their supposedly low price. A buyer can go on AutoTrader to buy a specific year-make-model vehicle and sort by lowest price. The car dealer that comes out first should have the lowest price. But what the buyer doesn’t know is that this car dealer is adding thousands of dollars to the price in hidden fees and dealer installed accessories. TrueCar advertises that their TrueCar price includes hidden fees and dealer installed accessories, but that claim is only as good as the honesty of their dealers. Third party buying services deal with well over 10,000 car dealers and it’s impossible to inspect and be sure that they all are playing by the rules. The fact is that most car dealers do not play by the rules.

This all means that the responsibility for getting an honest price lies with you, the car buyer and it’s BUYER BEWARE, CAVEAT EMPTOR. Whether you’re dealing through a third-party buying service or directly online with a car dealer, burn this term into your brain, OUT-THE-DOOR-PRICE. Never set foot into a car dealership without previously obtaining a written document stating the full, complete out-the-door price of the vehicle you’re buying. The only legitimate, honest fees that should be added are government fees of state sales tax and license plate/registration. To be absolutely safe, ask that all fees (including tax and tag) be included in the price they give you. A good way to clarify this and be certain they can’t pretend like they misunderstood…tell the dealer you’re bringing a check from your bank or credit union marked PAYMENT IN FULL.

Negative Equity

(aka "Upside Down" & "Underwater")
You’ve probably seen a lot of car advertisements claiming, “WE WE’LL PAY OFF YOUR OLD CAR, NO MATTER HOW MUCH YOU OWE”! This is a lie, because no car dealer every pays of your car for you; you pay off your car because the dealer adds the payoff amount to the price of the car that he’s selling you.

The Wall Street Journal recently (11-11-19) featured a front-page story, “Car Debt Traps More Drivers”. The article begins “John Schricker took out a loan to buy a car in 2017. Then he took out another. And then another. In two years, the 40-year-old electrician signed up for four auto loans, each time trading in the previous car and rolling the unpaid balance into the next loan. He recently bought a $27,000 Jeep Cherokee with a $45,000 loan from Ally Financial Inc.”

This practice has been going on as long as there’ve been car dealers, but it’s worsened in recent years due to sharply increasing car prices with sharply reduced dealer profits on new cars. Car prices are soaring from the revolution in digitalized electronic safety features, but dealers’ profit margins have shrunk from the increasingly educated 21stcentury consumer, armed with the Internet and online buying. 33% of new car buyers that traded in their old car so far in 2019 owned more on their trade-in than its actual value, compared to 28% five years ago and 19% a decade ago, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Due to car dealers’ reduced ability to make large profits on the sale of new cars, they are focusing on their finance profits. Finance profits are enhanced by the sale of extended services contracts aka warranties, pre-paid car maintenance, GAP insurance, road hazard and roadside assistance insurance, and a litany of other overpriced and usually unnecessary services and products. Car dealers make more money in their F&I (Finance and Insurance) departments than their new car sales departments. Adding the negative equity from car buyers’ trade-ins to the loan on their new cars further enhances the dealers’ profits in their Finance and Insurance Departments.

Many new car buyers with negative equity in their trade-ins are not aware of it, and car dealers don’t bring it to their attention for fear of losing the sale. The facts are revealed in the sales and financing contracts which most buyers don’t read carefully or understand. Most car buyers are focused on one thing…their monthly payment. If a dealer can offer a monthly payment close to their current payment, this usually satisfies the buyer. Dealers can often do this by extending the terms of the loan to a much as 72 months, surprising the buyer with a large down payment, or “flipping” the buyer to a lease.

All the above is why new car buyers should make a point of completely understanding all the numbers of their purchase or lease transaction. This is best done by separating the new car purchase into (1) establishing the actual value of the trade-in compared to the payoff to the bank, (2) knowing the out-the-door selling price of the new car, and (3) the best interest rate, down payment, and terms usually obtainable from their bank of credit union. Car dealers finance most of the new cars they sell through kick-back arrangements with their banks. These interest rates and terms are usually not best for the buyer.

Should I Buy a Car or Have a Colonoscopy?

If you’re over 55, you should have had a colonoscopy. If you haven’t, call a gastroenterologist, because this could save your life; It did mine, but that’s another story. I had another colonoscopy (about a half dozen, so far) a few days ago, and I must tell you that it’s a very unpleasant experience, mainly from the mental anguish, anticipation and the discomfort of the “preparation” the previous day. I had a lot of time to think about my procedure and I started thinking about how this experience parallels that of buying a car. It’s something you must do and has a very good benefit, but you dread the process.

If you need further proof that buying cars is an unpleasant experience, just read the latest Gallup Poll entitled HONESTY AND ETHICS IN PROFESSIONS. The Gallup organization has been taking this poll every year since 1977. Car dealers have ranked last, or nearly last, in every poll…FORTY-THREE YEARS! For the latest full year poll in 2018, click on
https://news.gallup.com/poll/1654/honesty-ethics-professions.aspx.

My newspaper columns and blog consist mainly of suggestions and inside information that can make your new or used car buying experience less of a fearful one. Some of the titles/subjects are “Always Get an Out the Door Price”, “Bait and Switch Advertising”, “Beware of Deceptive Internet Car Pricing”, “Beware of Direct Mail Car Advertising”, “Buying a Car When You Have a Credit Problem”, “Eight Steps to Ensure You Are Buying the Best Car for the Best Price”, “List Price and MSRP Might Not Be the Same”, “Negotiating to Buy a Car”, “Open Letter to Florida Car Dealers” (I, II, III, and IV), “Shop Your Financing and Trade”, “Should I Buy My Car at the End of the Lease?”, “Should I Lease or Buy my Next Car?”, “Should I Pay Cash or Finance My Next Car?”, “Should I Trade in My Old Car or Sell it Myself”, “Tell Your Car Dealer to be Nice”, “The Right Used Car is a Better Buy than a New Car”, “Translating Misleading Car Ads”, “What is the True Cost of that New Car?”, “What to do if You Are Treated Badly by a Car Dealer”, “When is a Car Sale Not a Car Sale?”, and “The Internet Price is the Lowest Price for a New Car”. You can read all my articles (hundreds) at www.EarlOnCars.com. You’ll find links there to listen to my live, weekly radio show (Saturdays 8-10 AM EST), my YouTube videos, Podcasts, Facebook, Twitter and a wealth of other information on “how not to get ripped off by a car dealer”.

Almost every one of these articles originated from readers of my column, callers to my radio show, and others’ experiences when buying cars from car dealers. I get a lot of calls from people who’ve never bought a car from me. They call to tell me of their bad experience with another dealer and, when I get several calls on the same subject, I write a column on it. People often call me asking for advice or assistance after they’ve already bought, which is “closing the barn door after the horse is gone.” On more than one occasion I’ve called car dealers asking them to consider undoing a wrong they have caused one of their customers. I must confess that my batting average on this effort is “below 300”. I won’t give up, however. One of my most recent calls was from a customer who was charged nearly a $1,000 in service work performed on her car when she had brought it in for a routine service that should have cost her less than $100. She called me for help and was forceful and diligent in following my advice. She got a complete refund on the “unasked for, unnecessary charges”.


One thing that amazes me about these weekly columns and my radio show is that I have been writing and airing for nearly 14 years is that no car dealer has ever called me to complain, or for any other reason. I’ve not been sued either. I think that says something about the truth of my articles. I’m not a lawyer, but I do know that you can’t successfully sue somebody for libel or slander if they write or say the truth. I’m puzzled why not one single dealer would call me just out of curiosity. I don’t have a secretary and I don’t screen any of my calls…nor do any of my employees. They do know how successful my dealership is and how fast my sales are growing. They know that I’m selling a lot of their former customers. Many of these new customers tell me how they told the other dealers why they chose to take their business elsewhere. I believe that before too much longer we will see some changes in the way other car dealers do business even if they refuse to call me, as I have repeatedly invited them to do. Sooner or later they will understand that treating your customers with courtesy and integrity is just plain good business.

Ten Tips on Buying the Right Used Car

I sell new and used cars, but if I was not a car dealer and I needed to buy a car, I would buy a used one instead of a new. This is because a used car is a better value. You get more for your money due to avoiding the initial rapid depreciation of a new car. I use the term “used car” in this article because I despise mumbo jumbo euphemisms like “pre-owned”. A used car is a used car is a used car.

(1) Never buy a used car without a CarFax report. The dealer should provide you with one at no charge because any dealer worth his salt runs a CarFax report on every used car he trades in or buys to protect him. Simply don’t buy a used car from anybody that does not give you this report. CarFax reports now have, not only the information about collision damage, floods damage, previous odometer reading, and title issues, (all obtained from insurance records) but also the mechanical repair history (obtained from dealer records). The CarFax report also shows outstanding safety recalls, but I also recommend that you double check this with the NHTSA, National Highway Traffic Safety Association at www.SaferCar.org. In my experience, CarFax misses safety recalls about 30% of the time. Unfortunately, there is no law requiring car dealers to even disclose an unfixed safety recall and most dealers are willingly selling their customers cars with dangerous safety recall like Takata airbags.

(2) Have your car inspected by an independent mechanic. Insist on having the used car you are thinking about buying inspected by your mechanic, not affiliated with the dealer. This should cost you no more than $150 and will be money well spent. The mechanic should look, not only for mechanical issues, but body and flood damage. If the mechanic finds some minor things that need fixing, insist that the dealer take care of these and include it in the price he already quoted you. If the dealer won’t allow this, don’t buy from him.

(3) Consult Consumer Reports, www.KBB.com, and www.Edmunds.com. These sources have complete information on the safety, reliability, maintenance cost, and even what a fair price is to pay for any used car. Consumer Reports lists the “Best and Worst Used Cars”. This is great guide and don’t ever buy a used car that’s on the “worst list”.

(4) A Certified Used Car is only as good as the dealer who sold it to you. Most manufacturers don’t even require that the dealer fix open safety recalls to call the car “Certified”. All manufacturers sponsor “certified” used cars of their make. The main reason for this is that they like to sell the dealer warranties that the dealer then marks up and sells to you. A secondary reason the manufacturers do this is to enhance the resale value of their make car. This helps them sell more new cars because of the higher trade in value and the higher residual values on cars they lease enhance their profits. You can buy a warranty for used car even if it’s not certified, but in a certified used car it’s usually included in the price (which makes the price higher). One good thing about manufacturers’ certified programs is that sometimes the manufacturer will offer you lower financing rates. Certified used cars require that the dealer inspect all critical parts of the car and fill out a checklist that is anywhere from 75 to 150 items. That’s all well and good but how carefully is this inspection being done and by whom? You should ask to see a copy of the check list and ask about the qualification of the mechanic who performed and signed the inspection. All too often, the dealer assigns the lowest priced mechanic he has to perform these checks. It’s questionable whether he even performs all of them. A red flag is if you notice a straight line drawn through all of the check boxes instead of them being checked off individually.

(5) Money Back Guarantee. A lot of dealers advertise that if you change your mind about the car you bought you can bring it back and exchange it for another. This is a worthless guarantee. You can be sure that they will pick the car and the price of the car they will exchange it for and will end up making an additional profit. CarMax has a reasonable guarantee which refunds all your money within five days with restriction that the car is returned in the same condition that it was sold. CarMax is a good place to buy a used car.

(6) Contact the previous owner of the car. The previous owner of the used car should be happy to talk to you. Insist that the seller provide you with his telephone number. If the dealer sold the car to that owner as a new or used car and serviced it, ask if you can see the service file.

(7) Test drive the car just as you will be driving it later. Simply taking the car for a spin around the block with the salesman is not enough. I recommend that you drive the car in the manner and places that you will be driving it when you own it. Take it out on the expressway if you do a lot of higher speed driving. You should drive the car for at least a few hours at all the same speeds, conditions, and on the same roads that you normally experience. Park the car, back it up, and take a friend for ride to get their opinion. You don’t want to have any surprises when you bring it home for keeps.

(8) The Internet is the best place to shop for your used car. Most dealers today display all their used car inventory right on their website along with the prices. These prices are close to the real price you will pay. The dealer knows that he won’t get many responses if he overprices his used cars. Shopping on the Internet give you ample opportunity to compare the same or similar used cars with lots of different dealers. As always, call the dealer before you come in to confirm the Internet price is an out-the-door price without a dealer fee, doc fee, dealer prep, etc. www.TrueCar.com and www.CostcoAuto.com are good choices to buy a used car.

(9) Commit all of the dealer’s promises to writing. Take notes of everything the salesman and sales manager promises you such as “we’ll fix that CD player if you’ll bring your car in next week” or “if you ever have a problem with the car we’ll give you a free loaner when you come in for service”. Make those notes part of the buyer’s order and be sure that a manager signs it. It’s also a good idea to always shop with a friend. In a “He said she said” situation, two people trump one.

(10) Get at least three bids on financing. Know what your lowest interest rate is for the year, make, and model car you’re buying. Get quotes from your bank or credit union and at least one other bank in addition to the rate your dealer offers you. If you do use your dealer’s financing, be sure you know and understand everything that’s included in your finance contract. You will be offered products like warranties, GAP insurance, maintenance, road hazard insurance, etc. It’s illegal for a dealer to tie your acceptance for financing or interest rate to your buying a warranty or any other product.

If You Can’t Find an Honest Service Department, You May be Able to Find an Honest Service Salesperson

Servicing your car is just as scary as it probably was buying it, but you only must buy a car every 4 or 5 years, maybe even longer. During the time between buying one, you should bring it in for service at least a dozen times, and that doesn’t even count repairs.

Car dealers make more money servicing your car than they do selling you one. The more service they sell you, the more money they make. Today’s automobiles are of far better quality and require far less maintenance than those of 20 years ago. Requiring less maintenance and repairs is a threat to the car dealers’ most profitable department. One way they can overcome this is to simply sell you more service than you really need by convincing you that it’s necessary.

Did you know that virtually every employee in a service department gets a percentage of the total amount of service he sells you? The guy that writes up your service order when you drive in is on commission. They are service “salesmen”, but they don’t like to be called that. Their title is usually “service advisor” or “assistant service manager”. The mechanic that fixes your car is on commission. The service manager that supervises the mechanic and the service salesman is paid on commission. After the service salesman sells you as much service as he can, the mechanic’s role is to find anything that needs to be fixed on the car that the service salesman or you were unaware of. He then calls the service salesman and tells him about the additional repairs you “need”. I recommend that you stick to what your car’s manufacturer recommends for maintenance in your owner’s manual. When your service salesman tells you what he recommends, be sure that the manufacturer recommends it too. There are some exceptions to this, based on certain local environmental conditions, but very few. Always question any service not recommended by your owner’s manual. When a repair is recommended that you were unaware of, get a second opinion from another service department, especially if it’s an expensive repair.

Now, don’t get me wrong; just because people are paid on commission doesn’t make them dishonest or uncaring. However, if there’s a “rotten apple in the barrel” he will take advantage of a commissioned pay plan to maximize his earnings. There are very few companies with zero “rotten apples”. A good company does its best to ferret out the rotten apples but it’s a constant battle. In fact, there are companies that have more rotten apples than good. When you have a department or company where everybody is on commission, it takes an awfully altruistic manager to fire a top-producer. The more his “rotten apples” sells the more money the supervisor earns. This applies also to the “supervisor’s supervisor, all the way up to the guy that owns the company. The higher up the ladder you go, the harder it is to identify these more passive, unseen rotten apples that “aid and abet” the front-line apples. The head guy usually has what many CEO’s insist on…DENIABILITY. You hear a lot about that in government scandals. The press always wants to know, “Who knew what and when did they know it?” Everybody remembers Watergate where the rotten apples extended from the bottom of the barrel all the way to the top. It took Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein over several years to follow the tracks all the way to the top of the barrel.

More often than not, there are people in all companies that are honest and caring for their customers. The point of this article is that you’re better served to look for that good person than only for a good company. There is no surefire way to do this, but I can suggest a few methods. Clearly, you’re more likely to find a good service salesman in a company that has a good reputation. You find good companies by personal experience, recommendations by friends, and ratings by various services like Google (most reliable), Yelp, Dealer Rater, and BBB. If you read the reviews, often the individuals are mentioned. If you’ve dealt with this company before, others in that company, like the salesman sold you the car, can refer you to a particularly good service salesman. All manufacturers measure the customer satisfaction index of every service salesman. Insist on seeing these scores and find out how the service salesman ranks among his peers, both in the company and the entire region. Finally, always make an appointment to see that service salesman you’ve chosen. If he’s on vacation or not available for other reasons, wait for your service until he can see you.

Finally, when you find yourself a “good apple” for a service advisor, don’t keep it a secret. Tell all your friends and tell the service manager and the owner of the dealership. When you do this, you’re doing your friends, the service advisor, the service manager, and the owner a great favor. You’re also spreading the word that treating customers with honesty and compassion is good for business.

Buying a Car When You Have a Credit Problem

There are fewer things more sensitive or embarrassing than having to share your personal credit problems with a stranger. Having credit problems can also put many buyers in a weakened and defensive position when buying a car. Many people with bad, or too little credit believe the car dealer is somehow “doing them a favor” by selling them a car and getting them financed. Make no mistake about it. A car dealer is probably making more money selling a person with bad credit a car than one with good credit. If you have a credit problem, go about buying a car with the same care and due diligence as if you had the very best credit. Shop and compare your financing, your interest rate, and your trade-in allowance. Get at least three quotes on each of these.

Lenders who specialize in lending to those with bad credit are known as “special finance” lenders. Many of these lenders charge the dealer a large upfront fee, as much as $2,500. Legally, the dealer is not supposed to add this fee to the price of the car you buy but, in the real world, the price of the car is usually higher as the result of this fee. In addition to an upfront fee, the interest rates are very high from special finance lenders. Because they anticipate a much higher amount of repossession losses, they must make more on each transaction. Don’t automatically accept a dealer’s opinion that you must finance through such a lender. There are many conventional banks that loan to people with bad credit. Their interest rates are lower than special finance lenders, and they don’t charge large upfront fees.

There is much fraud in special finance lending. Credit applications are falsified to show more time on the job, higher incomes, etc. W-2 forms and check stubs are counterfeited. Buyer’s orders show accessories and equipment that do not really exist on the car. Hold checks or promissory notes are misrepresented as cash down payment. Co-signers signatures are forged. Confederates pose as employers, answering pay phones to verify employment. These falsifications are performed by finance managers, salesmen, brokers for special finance lenders (who are paid on commission) and the customers themselves. If you sign a credit application, be sure that you know all the information on that application is accurate. Be sure that you understand and agree to all parts of the transaction including down payments, accessories on the car, etc. Never be a party to falsifying information to a lender to obtain a loan. This is a criminal offense.

Advertisements aimed at people with bad credit usually exaggerate with claims like, “We finance everyone”, “Wanted, good people with bad credit”, “No credit, no problem”, and, my favorite, “No credit application refused” (it doesn’t say your loan won’t be refused, just your application). My advice is to ignore these kinds of ads and these kinds of dealers. Their strategy is to take advantage of people with bad credit who they believe will buy any car, pay any amount of interest, and any profit to the dealers as long as the dealer can get them a loan.

It is common practice in Florida to encourage the car buyer to drive the car home immediately upon signing all of the papers. In some states like New York this is not permitted until all the car has been registered with the state in the new owner’s name. The reason for this immediate delivery (commonly referred to as the “spot delivery”) is to discourage and possibly even prevent the buyer from changing his mind. Taking possession of the car is a legal consideration making the purchase more binding. I recommend that you not rush the purchase or the delivery. For one thing you want to be sure that the car is exactly the way you want it…clean inside and out, all the accessories properly installed, no dings, dents or scratches, and that you have a complete understanding of how to operate all of the features of the vehicle.

I mention the risk of the “spot delivery” in this column on buying a car with bad credit because it can be especially harmful to someone whose credit is denied after the car has been delivered. You will most likely be required to sign a “Rescission Agreement” before you drive the car home. This is a legal document which requires you to return the car if your credit is denied. You will probably be told that your credit will be approved, but sometimes the dealer is wrong. The rescission agreement will have a charge for time and mileage that you have put on the car you are driving. Usually this is a very high charge from 25 cents per mile plus $50 per day and higher. It can take weeks for a special finance lender to rule on a credit application. If your credit is denied you could owe the dealer thousands of dollars which the down payment you made might not even cover.

As frightening as all of the above may sound, the one single thing you can do to prevent bad things from happening when you purchase a car is to choose your car dealer very carefully. How long has he been in business? What is his track record with the Better Business Bureau, the County Office for Consumer Affairs, Google ranking, Yelp ranking, and the Florida Attorney General’s Office? Ask friends, neighbors, or relatives who have dealt with this car dealer what their experiences have been like. Choosing a good dealer with integrity will resolve 95% of all your concerns.

Profiles of Car Dealer Victims

There’s a mindset among many Americans that, “The best government is that which governs least”. I understand and largely accept that thought, but I do believe governments have a duty to protect those that cannot defend themselves. When I advocate passing laws to prevent car dealers from adding hidden fees to their advertised prices, or selling cars without disclosing dangerous recalls, I’m often attacked by those who say car buyers have a responsibility to discover these deceptions on their own…without government interference. It’s like saying, “If you were more careful, you wouldn’t have been cheated; you deserve what you got!”

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: The elderly; the very young; Those who don’t speak or understand English well; The uneducated; People with bad credit; and 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. Husbands usually predecease their wives. Women’s role in the American culture is a great deal different than in the 1930’s and 1940’s. Often, the husband was, not only the breadwinner, but the decision maker in the household. Widows of that era are often buying 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 78 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 Alzheimer’s 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 did 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 were didn’t 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 and online advertisements have you seen that you laugh at, knowing that they’re 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 credit who must buy a car, especially 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 (1) through (5), 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 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 Big Dog Ranch Rescue. You can buy at book on Amazon by clicking onwww.EarlsBook.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 on this at www.EarlOnCars.com.