I was going to write a simple little piece about one particular car buying scam, but my research brought me to this awesome resource: CarBuyingTips.com. Now, be prepared, there are a lot of advertisements sneaking around in this website, but that doesn't make the information it presents any less useful.
The first page I found was Top 10 Car Dealer Scams. The very first one on the list was the scam I was researching, where you are called back days or weeks after purchasing your car and told that you didn't qualify for the loan that you thought you had gotten. This actually happened to my mother and it was a huge hassle to make things somewhere near right. However, the page is also full of all sorts of other tricky scams that can happen at car dealerships.
The website also has a ton great suggestions for the best ways to buy a new car, including financing and price negotiation. There are actually seven whole "chapters" on each part of the car buying process. The chapters include:
- the auto loan,
- how to buy a car online,
- dos and don'ts at the car dealership,
- determine the dealer's cost, make your buyer's offer,
- negotiating tips, dealer scams,
- close the deal, avoid needless dealer extras, and
- final tips, and how to read misleading ads
I think I've done OK in the car buying department, but there is still a lot of information that I wished I had known the four times I've bought new cars. It is overwhelming!
Again, please be sure to avoid any sales pitches in at this website, and you'll find lots of useful help.
Happy shopping!
