Be Wary of Car Ads
The car industry is huge, with nearly 18 million new cars and trucks being sold on a yearly basis. Sometimes, people who are looking to buy a new car know exactly what they want; these people will go to a dealership to buy their new vehicles without having to be influenced by commercials or anything else. But this is not the case for most people. In general, most people who are even slightly thinking about buying a new car do not actually begin the process of doing so until they are motivated by another person or an advertisement in a newspaper, TV, or elsewhere.
Dealerships know that consumers often need a little push and, perhaps even more importantly than that, they know that advertising yields spectacular results! In fact, dealerships spend quite a bit of money on ads that they constantly aim at potential customers. A car is one of the most important and expensive things that most of us will ever purchase, but most of us do not exactly have the money for it just lying around so we resort to financing the vehicle…if we are able to get financing, that is; knowing this to be the case, dealerships will fine-tune their ads to highlight financing options that can make people jump at the thought of actually being able to get the car that they have been dreaming of. Of course, ads can be quite deceiving, so you have to read between the lines. When it comes to selling cars, a lot of shady deals are made. This is where a lemon law attorney can help.
No Money Down!
Most people who save up for a down payment know that it is not as easy as it sounds. There are always so many things to pay for that putting a little bit away for that specific purpose can be quite difficult. Dealerships are very much aware that one of the biggest things that hold people back from buying a new car is that they have so much difficulty coming up with a decent amount to use as a down payment.
The number 1 strategy that they use to deal with this issue is to offer “no money down” options. This strategy is great at getting people in the door; unfortunately, what consumers might not, at first, realize is that the lack of a down payment will only add more interest to what has to be paid later, meaning an overall higher cost in the end. Before accepting a “no money down” new car offer, consumers should consider the overall cost that they are getting into, whether they can actually afford it, and what better options they might have.
0% Financing
Another common strategy used by dealerships is to offer 0% financing options. These deals look too good to be true for one very specific reason: they usually are too good to be true! What usually happens with these kinds of deals is that they will only be approved for people who have an excellent credit record, meaning that even though they will attract people to the dealership, most of them will not even qualify. But once the auto dealer has you there, his battle is half-won because all he has to do is convince you to bite on any deal that you do qualify for. Yet another thing about 0% financing is that it will only be that way for a few short months, potentially going frighteningly high after that.
Bad Credit or No Credit? No Problem!
You have to be wary of anyone who offers you any kind of product or service even with bad credit or if you do not actually have any credit at all. One of the reasons that we all want to have a spectacular credit score is not simply because it opens more doors, but because interest rates get lower and lower on products that we finance as our credit rating rises. Dealerships know that bad or non-existent credit scores mean less paying customers and less profit, so they do everything that they can to get people in that situation to accept terrible deals; one of the ways that they do this is by altering the amount that customers will have to pay per month. Unfortunately, even if the monthly payments are low, the total still has to be paid and that means a longer payment period with much higher interest rates and a higher overall cost in the end. Analyze this well and you will see that it is a deal that you want to steer clear of.
Deals That Offer You a High Amount for Your Old Car
Auto dealers will go out of their way to get you to sign a contract that absolutely favors them; that is just the name of the game, as they see it! If you have a car that is not even worth $1,000 and you are seeing ads from a dealership willing to give you three times that or more for your car if you put it towards the purchase of a new car, you have to stop and think about that for a moment because something is not exactly right with that deal.
The dealership wants you to jump at the chance of getting rid of your old car and getting a brand new one but don’t believe, even for a second, that they are willing to lose even a dime! What they normally do in these cases is raise the cost of the new car so that you are giving them back the money that they “give” you for your old car. You end up losing no matter how you look at it. This is a bad deal and should make you realize that no matter what kind of deal you are looking for, it is a good idea to do some research and compare prices at different dealerships so that you know exactly how much the car that interests you is really worth, as well as your old car in case you do trade it in or sell it.
Deals That Offer Cars at “Below Cost”
The most important thing to remember when it comes to any auto dealer ads that promise to sell you a car at a price that is lower than what they paid for it is that auto dealers are not in the business of giving anything away. Those ads are certainly misleading, to say the least. Before even considering such a deal, you should do a bit of research so that you really know what the car that you are interested in is really worth it.
Legal Assistance
Above all, use your head when you are dealing with salespeople…especially car salespeople, they are not known as “sales sharks” for nothing! You want to have as much information as you can before entering into a new car deal; and if you run into any problem at all such as being sold a lemon, remember that you can always consult an attorney about the matter.
Check out our most recent blog post about Why Do Certain Cars Become Lemons? Your California Lemon Law Attorney Knows