Car Dealerships: The Good & The Bad

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What model has the 300 cubic inch inline six, and four-speed? MANUAL.

And rubber floor mats. And...about two doors less.

"Every vehicle is tempermental." Of course...there used to be a rule, K-I-S-S.

Nothing is simple in this age of Obamacized cars and trucks.
 

Even after you think you bought a car, dealerships can 'yo-yo' you and take it back​


If you've ever bought a car, you know the feeling when you've signed all the paperwork, driven off the lot, and think, "Wow, this is my car now."

"I was excited," says Courtney Johnson. "I felt like I'd made a good decision as a mother."

Johnson had just had a baby when she and her husband, Darren, decided to buy a newer, safer car for the family. They live in a rural area outside Orlando, Fla. He's a fire sprinkler inspector; she's stopped working to raise the kids. And they bought a little used Hyundai SUV.

"It had the backup camera," she says, "and passenger and kid's airbags in the back."

But a full three weeks after they bought the car and took it home, they got what's called "yo-yo'd."

More here:


​

Car Dealers' Worst Tactic Under Fire​

Steve Lehto
Feb 6, 2023


By the FTC. 15:03
 
Last edited:
The last time I was in the market to buy a new vehicle and I knew exactly what I wanted, I used the "blast fax" or "fax attack" method:
...
Here's how the Blast Fax works. You send a fax simultaneously to fleet managers at a number of dealerships in your area requesting quotes on the car you want to buy. Your fax describes the car — and the options — you want, and it informs them you will be buying from the lowest bidder. Let me add that this approach works only when buying a car that is readily available at a number of different dealerships. A Honda Accord or a Toyota Camry are good examples of cars you could easily buy using a Blast Fax.

The advantage of this strategy is that you don't have to negotiate in person. You can state all your terms up front and provide them with a detailed description of the car you want. The fleet managers can check their inventory before contacting you. Furthermore, this process announces ahead of time that you are shopping for the lowest price. Those dealers that refuse to be "shopped" will simply ignore the fax.
...
Click to expand...

www.edmunds.com

Blast Fax Car Buying | Edmunds

Blast Fax Car Buying article on Edmunds.com
www.edmunds.com

I was looking for a White Honda Odyssey at the time and I sent faxes to about 30 auto dealerships with the specs that I was looking for. From those 30 dealerships, I got 2 replies. One of those two was just being polite in saying they didn't have what I wanted in stock. The other response was from a Honda dealership and they had a fully loaded Odyssey (more features than I was looking for) but it was black with tan interior (not the colors I wanted) and they offered it to me at a really great price. The guy at the dealership that negotiated with us was the manager of their fleet department who usually deals with corporate/wholesale customers and not the public/retail. The low response rate to the faxes was a bit discouraging, but it only took one hungry dealership to make the effort worthwhile.
 

How Odometer Fraud Became A $1 Billion Problem​

Feb 23, 2023


Odometer fraud is a stealthy and a lesser known form of fraud that is hard to detect, but can cost a car buyer thousands. Fraudsters will roll back odometers on cars to hide the vehicle's mileage in the hope of extracting a better price. And as used car prices rose during the pandemic, odometer fraud could've become a more attractive way to make some extra bucks. About 10.5 million cars on American roads have had their odometers tampered with in some way, and about 1.9 million individuals have had their odometers rolled back, according to Carfax. The average cost to those affected is about $4,000 in addition to higher taxes. It is enough of a problem that there is even a federal Office of Odometer Fraud Investigation at the U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) It is staffed by agents investigating these types of crimes. The department estimates that about 400,000 vehicles are sold each year with false odometer readings. 11:41

Chapters:
0:00 — Introduction
01:28 — Chapter 1: Fraud
03:10 — Chapter 2: Enforcement
05:03 — Chapter 3: Victims
09:56 — Chapter 4: The Problem of Technology
 
My cherry Toyota Tundra pickup, a 2006, had 99,000 miles on the odometer.

Do you think it was rolled back?
 
Search,
That was a good one.
I did not know of the affordable "mileage correction devices" or the mileage blockers.
This makes rolling back mileage available to any private seller as well as dealers.
Sigh...
 

Judge Orders Used Car Dealer to Buy Back AS-IS Car It Sold​

Feb 28, 2023


The judge found the underlying facts to be egregious. 17:33
 

Volkswagen reportedly refused to help cops track stolen car with toddler inside​


Volkswagen refused to help police locate a stolen SUV with a toddler trapped in the back until they were given an unpaid fee for use of the vehicle’s tracking device, Illinois cops said.

The car company has since admitted to a “serious breach of process” for the refusal to help cops, who said the foot-dragging led to a “delay” in their efforts to locate the tot, who was eventually recovered safely.

nypost.com

Volkswagen reportedly refused to help cops track stolen car with toddler inside

“The offender battered the woman, knocking her to the ground. He then stole her car with the child inside.”
nypost.com nypost.com
 

American Car Center Closes All 40 of its Dealerships​

Mar 6, 2023


9:24
 
Not a dealership. Sale of a used car between 2 private peeps, car had problems, resolved at a "civil resolution tribunal."

CRT Decisions | Search Now | Civil Resolution Tribunal

Search decisions for CRT claims | strata, small claims, societies & cooperative associations and vehicle accident claims | Civil Resolution Tribunal
decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca
 
searcher said:
Not a dealership. Sale of a used car between 2 private peeps, car had problems, resolved at a "civil resolution tribunal."

CRT Decisions | Search Now | Civil Resolution Tribunal

Search decisions for CRT claims | strata, small claims, societies & cooperative associations and vehicle accident claims | Civil Resolution Tribunal
decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca decisions.civilresolutionbc.ca
Click to expand...
Jesus...
for an oil leak?
3 out of 4 of my vehicles live with a sheet of cardboard under the engine.
I don't consider a problem.
Not a $5000. problem anyway.
 
From the link:

A Ford dealer in Charlotte, North Carolina, is facing a lawsuit after one customer alleges it used falsified signatures to increase the financed amount of their vehicle by nearly $43,000. Alex Gallardo claims Mark Ficken Ford didn't provide him or his wife with copies of the relevant paperwork until days after driving home a new Super Duty pickup. Upon receiving them, he supposedly spotted a drastically spiked interest rate that, along with other add-ons, would result in paying $117,000 for the truck over the course of the loan term.

 
Dealer offered to buy the truck back, and the "victim" said he wasn't interested.

That's a tell, right there...something is not kosher in the story.

There's always three versions: His side, his side, and the truth.

Sounds to me like there was a bit of extra-signatory add-ons, but not to the level alleged. If I had been jobbed the way this guy alleges, and the dealer offered to void the sale, I'd have been on it in a New York Minute.

I could always get the same truck through another dealer - they swap inventory all the time. It's more of a nuisance, but for the huge amount of fraud he's claiming, it would be cheap at the price.
 
Private sale here. The issue is the failure of the seller to deliver good title.

Craigslist Car Sale Goes to Court​

Mar 18, 2023


11:23
 
From the link:

Buying a car through a dealership can often feel like the financial equivalent of being strapped to a wooden chair in a basement somewhere surrounded by a group of intimidating men, while on particularly sadistic-looking individual grabs a pair of pliers and begins to separate your toenails from your feet.

It's no secret that people hate going to the dealership. The overly-drawn out theatrics of negotiation, salesmen walking to the back room to "talk to their manager," going back to the showroom to discuss said developments with the customer begins to feel like an endurance test meant to whittle down people to accepting a crumby deal on a car that they didn't exactly want in the first place.

 

RV Dealer Folds w/o Paying for Customers' RVs It Sold​

Apr 16, 2023


The dealer was in Colorado and simply closed up shop. 12:38
 
searcher said:

RV Dealer Folds w/o Paying for Customers' RVs It Sold​

Apr 16, 2023


The dealer was in Colorado and simply closed up shop. 12:38
Click to expand...

There's crooks everywhere.

We see plenty in government.

We saw plenty more, in years past, when that Chinese scooter/small motorcycle fad swept the land. American drop-shippers, like Tank, proudly sold direct.

And good luck with your warranty. And you'd NEED it. Now, with that craze over, and the data in...a Chinese small motorcycle or scooter is good for about 3500 miles before major repair.

That's what these people did with no dealers. Had they a dealer network, the dealers would have stopped carrying them and would have advised the public not to buy them (after giving up the franchise). Instead, people had to buy, get ripped off, and hope that most other prospectives would see their online forum posts on Reddit. IF they were not censored.

Nope, it's not being a dealer that makes for a crook. Crooks are everywhere...just ask Sam Brinton.
 
SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. (Inside Indiana Business)—Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Friday announced a lawsuit against a car dealer in LaGrange County. The suit claims Flexible Auto Sales LLC and its owner, John Allen, rolled back odometers on vehicles sold to at least 43 customers.

www.wowo.com

Car dealer facing lawsuit for allegedly rolling back odometers

SHIPSHEWANA, Ind. (Inside Indiana Business)—Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita on Friday announced a lawsuit against a car dealer in LaGrange County. The suit claims Flexible Auto Sales LLC and its owner, John Allen, rolled back odometers on vehicles sold to at least 43 customers. Flexible...
www.wowo.com www.wowo.com
 

Dealer Finance Mgr Takes Cash But Delivers NO Cars​

May 17, 2023


10:30

The man was arrested - they say he did this with 11 "sales."
 
There are criminals everywhere.

Ever get jobbed on a purchase of a used car by a private seller? I have. I got a judgment out of it in Small Claims Court, but - as happens - I wasn't dealing with an amateur. He's managed to game the system to where I couldn't touch his income (unverified; some woman, relation unknown, is paying his real-estate taxes) until the Statute of Limitations ran out.

I thought about burning his house down, but then I thought about sweating an arrest for arson for the next five years.

But criminals are everywhere. Some are car dealers. Some are bums. Some are teachers, and some are Presidents.

The failure here is that the law isn't protecting persons who have been taken advantage of. It's a version of Regulatory Capture.
 
When purchasing a vehicle, you expect everything to be squared away once you drive off the lot: You sign an agreement on the purchase, the dealer gets money, and you get a car. The worst case scenarios you might encounter after that usually entail breaking down, getting into an accident, or having to bring the car back because you’re not approved. But as Georgia ABC affiliate WSB-TV reports, one man got an even bigger post-purchase surprise.

Demetrius Howard purchased an Audi A6 from Evolution Cars in Conyers, Georgia in late 2022. Seven months later, police showed up at his home to question him about said Audi A6. In body camera footage reviewed by WSB, it shows police questioning Howard about the vehicle.

 

Car Dealer Just Barely Avoided Prison After Clocking $375,000 Worth Of Cars​

Clocking cars, or the act of rolling back a vehicle’s odometer to make it seem as if it has less miles than it really does, is super illegal. But apparently one London-based car dealer didn’t get the memo that doing it is a crime. Car Dealer Magazine reports the dealer got by without prison time after clocking over $375,000 worth of cars.


Imran Behroozi Garaei was a north London car dealer. That is until his scheme of rolling back odos came to light. His grift first caught the attention of the Council and Trading Standards (the British equivalent of the FTC) back in 2017. A customer purchased a BMW 3 Series from Garaei’s dealership with what he through was 35,000 miles on it; turns out the car really had 93,000 miles. Soon after, an investigation found out what Garaei was really up to:

Read the rest:

jalopnik.com

Car Dealer Just Barely Avoided Prison After Clocking $375,000 Worth Of Cars

The dealer rolled back the odometers of 46 cars over a period of a few years.
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
 

For Proof That Corporate Greed Is Driving the Inflation Crisis, Look to the Car Industry​

Yesterday 9:52 AM

The supply chain disruptions caused by pandemic lockdowns have been a leading cause of the economic chaos of recent years, feeding the rage of consumers paying sky-high prices for suddenly scarcer goods. But they’ve also been a bonanza for the firms making those goods, who have outright admitted to using the headlines about inflation to tack on added price markups to their products, whether it’s eggs, airplane tickets, or electricity.

Maybe no product has embodied today’s inflationary pressures quite like cars have, as shortages of parts coupled with continuing strong demand for vehicles has sent their prices soaring. While we’ve been told that firms are simply passing along higher production costs to consumers, car dealers have also been making record profits, with Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond president Tom Barkin telling the New York Times that carmakers and dealers had “discovered that a low-volume, higher-price model was actually a very profitable model.” A Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) study from this past April determined that dealer markups contributed majorly to inflation in the price of new cars.

More:

 
From the link:

New York, New Jersey and other big cities in the U.S. are currently dealing with a new crime phenomena: Ghost cars, which are not registered with the state’s DMV or have their license plates obscured, have proliferated throughout urban areas since the COVID-19 lockdowns. One way of keeping your car off the books is by buying temporary license plates from unscrupulous used car dealers. Vice has an in-depth look at the criminal enterprises that makes this shady underworld tick.

It all starts with a young man named Kareem Ulloa-Alvarado being duped into performing some very illegal acts in exchange for a gig-economy worker’s dream: $50 per delivery.

 

Stolen Ford F-150s sold with clean titles in million-dollar ploy from Michigan to Arizona​

A string of new Ford F-150s stolen directly from holding lots in recent months has triggered a cascade of misfortune for customers, dealers, title companies and others across the western United States, the Free Press has learned.

The problems center on 14 such vehicles stolen late last year in metro Detroit, but a trove of police documents and court records, along with a private investigator, suggest the overall scheme could be bigger, ensnaring unwitting victims and prompting criminal probes and lawsuits.

It all began when an estimated $1 million in pickup trucks were stolen off lots from metro Detroit between mid-October and mid-December. How the trucks disappeared remains a mystery.

More:

www.freep.com

Stolen Ford F-150s sold with clean titles in million-dollar ploy from Michigan to Arizona

A ripple effect of litigation and criminal probes paralyzes small businesses out west over Ford F-150 pickups stolen in Michigan.
www.freep.com
 
"How the trucks disappeared is a mystery."

TRANSLATION: We're not telling you the whole story, because we have a Narrative to push.

I have no idea what it was, but a dozen trucks don't just "disappear." They're serialed. Parts are numbered. Product is signed for in lots and access, and egress, is controlled.

It's well-nigh impossible to replace VIN tags on modern vehicles; and a counterfeit title does little good. All title and registration data is now stored electronically.

Product isn't built until it's ordered by a dealer; and even with the MSO certification, the VIN is tracked.
 

FedEx Named In What Could Be One Of The Largest Odometer Fraud Schemes In U.S. History​

Odometer fraud is big business in the U.S. Estimates say the scheme costs consumers over $1 billion a year. And while it’s largely been relegated to sketchy dealers and private sellers on Craigslist you probably shouldn’t buy from, it apparently isn’t just there. On Friday, Automotive News reports that FedEx and Holman Automotive have been accused of rolling back the odometers of old delivery trucks in a new lawsuit.

Companies like FedEx ordinarily get rid of their delivery trucks when they hit their operational limit, usually around 350,000 miles, but, in the suit, plaintiffs say a scheme involving old trucks started over a decade ago, when FedEx decided to stop scrapping the trucks and sent them to auto auctions instead.

More:

jalopnik.com

FedEx Named In What Could Be One Of The Largest Odometer Fraud Schemes In U.S. History

The company, along with Holman Automotive Group, has been accused of rolling back the odometers of thousands of old delivery trucks.
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
 
What, you mean my truck has 350,000 miles on it, instead of 250,000?

Knock me over with a feather.

Anyone who buys one of these trucks and DOESN'T think it's been run into the ground, doesn't have the sense God gave seafood.
 

Customers Of A Closed Georgia Car Dealership Have Been Receiving Collection Calls About Accounts That Aren’t Late​

Buying a vehicle at a dealership that offers in-house financing can be tricky. Usually it’s because the rates at which the dealer offers financing suck. But what happens if that dealer closes or goes under all of a sudden? A mess, as Atlanta’s WSB-TV reports.

Georgia-based U.S. Auto Sales suddenly closed all 39 of its dealerships a few months ago, leaving behind unpaid employees and nearly 500 cars in its inventory. The company also left behind hundreds, if not thousands, of customers who had purchased vehicles from the dealers and financed them in house. Many of these customers were in good standing, with all of their payments made on time.

jalopnik.com

Customers Of A Closed Georgia Car Dealership Have Been Receiving Collection Calls About Accounts That Aren’t Late

U.S. Auto Sales closed earlier this year. Now customers who have accounts in good standing are being bombarded with collection calls.
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
 

Dealership that sold customer a stolen car challenges judge’s order to pay up​

A metro Atlanta man was served with a summons to Superior Court by the car dealership that sold him a stolen car.

“It’s like pouring salt on an open wound,” his mother, Tamika Graham, said.

Back in May in a Channel 2 Action News investigation, we told you how police suddenly appeared in Demetrius Howard’s Covington driveway six months after he purchased a car from Evolution Cars in Conyers. Police said the car was stolen and they repossessed it.

More:

news.yahoo.com

Dealership that sold customer a stolen car challenges judge’s order to pay up

a magistrate judge ordered the company to pay $4,500.
news.yahoo.com news.yahoo.com
 

OB man says dealer sold his custom-ordered truck after waiting a year for delivery​

Although more people have been custom-ordering vehicles online since the pandemic, dealers say that doing so comes with risks, which is a lesson two NBC 7 and Telemundo 20 Responds viewers learned the hard way.

Both are now very upset.

After a year of waiting for his Ford Maverick, Ocean Beach resident Andrew Gierz experience ended with someone else driving the truck off the lot.

“They told me there was a mistake and they had sold my vehicle to a preferred customer,” said Gierz, who described the call as a punch to the gut.

More:

www.nbcsandiego.com

OB man said dealer sold his custom-ordered truck after waiting a year for delivery

“Unfortunately with Mr. Giertz, it was a mistake that we made,” admitted Cole Lownfield, general manager of Mossy Ford in Pacific Beach
www.nbcsandiego.com www.nbcsandiego.com
 
So, a butt-head dealer.

Don't do business with that dealer.

Go public, as he's done. If Ford won't make it right, or at least yank the dealer's franchise...don't do business with Ford, either.

This is how Toyota got so big in this country - American-brand dealers were ROUTINELY doing this and worse crap, and Toyota's people tripped over themselves, begging to help customers.

No lie. My whole family has had experience with Toyota dealers, in the Midwest and Rocky Mountains...it's all been similar. This included a serious failure for a newish Camry, well out of warranty...the incident was 20 years ago. WITHOUT prompting, the dealer found a service bulletin and related policy that had the company paying for repair - parts and dealer's labor. NO CHARGE to remove engine, remove flywheel, replace ring gear on flywheel (starter motor engages it) and replace it all.

So Ford dealers think it's still 1965, huh. This guy needs to find another brand and dealer.
 
This one's a bit different.

W. Va. to Offer Car Titling in All 50 States​

Aug 9, 2023


6:55

They claim it will be faster.

transportation.wv.gov

West Virginia DMV’s National Digital Titling Clearinghouse now signing up businesses nationwide

Gov. Jim Justice announced today that businesses all across America that rely on vehicle titling as a critical component of their operation can now sign up...
transportation.wv.gov transportation.wv.gov

NDTC

Real-time vehicle title clearinghouse for car dealers, fleet operators, and insurance carriers. Simplify interstate title transfers across the United States more quickly, securely, and inexpensively using this fully digital process.
transportation.wv.gov transportation.wv.gov
 

Shelby car dealership employees hit with 400+ criminal charges​

SHELBY, N.C. (WBTV) – A dozen current and former employees of a local car dealership are facing a total of more than 400 criminal charges.

The charges stem from an investigation by the N.C. DMV’s License and Theft Bureau into Nissan of Shelby. The dealership itself was not charged.

A press release from the DMV announcing the charges said the investigation started as one centered into the process the dealership used to rebuild the titles of salvage cars but expanded after investigators began gathering evidence.

More:

 
From the link:

The very first “lemon law” passed in Canada now makes Les Québécois the best-protected consumers in the country, or even North America. Indeed, compared to lemon laws in the United States, the first “anti-lemon” law adopted on Canadian soil is particularly generous.

driving.ca

Quebec just passed Canada's first 'lemon law'

'La Belle Province' is broadening consumer protection legislation for car buyers — and the new laws are some of North America's strictest
driving.ca driving.ca

 
This one's a bit different but I don't feel like starting a new thread. Seems an insurance company cancels car policy after accident.

jalopnik.com

Insurance Company Retroactively Cancels Man's Policy After A Crash Because He Has Teenagers At Home

When San Diego resident Sergio Preciado caused a fender bender exiting the 805 freeway last July, he was relying on his car insurance company to make the situation right. Preciado admitted fault in the incident, having crashed his old Ford F-150 into a much newer Acura MDX, and causing around...
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
 
searcher said:
This one's a bit different but I don't feel like starting a new thread. Seems an insurance company cancels car policy after accident.

jalopnik.com

Insurance Company Retroactively Cancels Man's Policy After A Crash Because He Has Teenagers At Home

When San Diego resident Sergio Preciado caused a fender bender exiting the 805 freeway last July, he was relying on his car insurance company to make the situation right. Preciado admitted fault in the incident, having crashed his old Ford F-150 into a much newer Acura MDX, and causing around...
jalopnik.com jalopnik.com
Click to expand...
Insurance companies are absolutely, irredeemably, FUBAR.

I spent a LOT of time dealing with them this summer - my own, and the other party's. How they handle claims is farked. They have one overloaded adjuster on a claim, who farms out medical, medical liability, medical payments, property damage, property liability, and other divisions. Seems like people were working at Progressive Insurance for the day, maybe off Manpower Temporary Services. Often they sounded, and spoke like, they were teenagers.

In SPITE of a clear-cut liability of the other party, I still have not gotten my deductible repaid. The case progresses.

But they sure have time for Woke things, like primers for children on homosexual sodomy.

That tells me their priorities; and their priorities tell me they're copulated in the head.
 
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