Awful dealer add on stickers on new cars

[Hall]

Originally Posted by SirTanon
I told them I'd put down $8,000 cash as long as they gave me the car at $50 over invoice and offered me the really good (at least for Honda) interest rate, which I think was 1.9% for 60 months. More smiles when the "sales manager" came out, trying to convince me that they were doing me a favor helping me to "work on my credit". Now, I don't have the BEST credit, but it wasn't bad...

I got a funny look from the sales manager when he saw the 'counter offer' I had written on their deal sheet - ( put down $8,000, you give me the car for $50 over the invoice, and I get the 0.9% financing ) - but there was no push-back. They were selling the car, making a little money, and setting up a new loan with Nissan financing, so they agreed to my terms.

I may be wrong, but I didn't think a dealership sales manager or finance guy can override the credit terms. If Honda or Nissan financing comes back with "x" % based on given conditions (down-payment, length of loan, credit rating, etc), no one can make it lower. Change the term, change the down-payment, yes, it can changed, but on the finance company's terms. Now, this has nothing to do with a dealer's "partner" bank offering a loan at 6% and the finance guy congratulates you on obtaining a loan with "only 9.5% interest rate!" (where they pocket the add'l 3.5%).

 

[csandste]

I have done deals by email and said-- "I'll be down with a $14,000 cashiers check. You want to charge me $13,800 and $200 for a title processing fee that's great, I'll pay less sales tax. Want to make it $13,200 and a $500 processing fee plus $200 for sealant, that's even better, but the total amount I'm paying your dealership is $14,000 and only $14,000." Always good to get an agreement on paper before proceeding. And, I've walked out on numerous almost done deals-- never get attached to a car.

 

[AZjeff]

None of those add-ons matter if you focus on the OTD price only. You can cause yourself aggravation fighting every line item or just go straight to the bottom line and get it where you want. If you get the price you want who cares!

 

[opus1]

Originally Posted by grampi
For the last brand new vehicle we bought, I told the dealership I wanted NO dealer stickers on the vehicle, not even a license plate holder...they complied...

On the Cobalt, the only advertising the dealer had on it was the license plate frame. No sticker. The car was on the lot for several months and other models (including the non-SS Cobalts) had a sticker on the back as well as the frame. The guy also sells a lot of Corvettes so I'm guessing that maybe they don't sticker the performance vehicles so they don't have to un-sticker them as I'm sure a Vette owner won't want stickers?

Whatever the case, I still have the plate frame on the car. Since I didn't have to tell them to take off a sticker, I figure I'll toss them a bone and give them a little advertising.

 

[SirTanon]

Originally Posted by hallstevenson
Originally Posted by SirTanon
I told them I'd put down $8,000 cash as long as they gave me the car at $50 over invoice and offered me the really good (at least for Honda) interest rate, which I think was 1.9% for 60 months. More smiles when the "sales manager" came out, trying to convince me that they were doing me a favor helping me to "work on my credit". Now, I don't have the BEST credit, but it wasn't bad...

I got a funny look from the sales manager when he saw the 'counter offer' I had written on their deal sheet - ( put down $8,000, you give me the car for $50 over the invoice, and I get the 0.9% financing ) - but there was no push-back. They were selling the car, making a little money, and setting up a new loan with Nissan financing, so they agreed to my terms.

I may be wrong, but I didn't think a dealership sales manager or finance guy can override the credit terms. If Honda or Nissan financing comes back with "x" % based on given conditions (down-payment, length of loan, credit rating, etc), no one can make it lower. Change the term, change the down-payment, yes, it can changed, but on the finance company's terms. Now, this has nothing to do with a dealer's "partner" bank offering a loan at 6% and the finance guy congratulates you on obtaining a loan with "only 9.5% interest rate!" (where they pocket the add'l 3.5%).


The situation you're talking about with the 6% vs 9.5% interest is kind of what I suspected. I didn't see all the details that the Honda dealer's sales manager saw. For all I know, he DID get an approval for 1.9% but also checked with some shady finance guy he knew and got another one which would have netted the dealership (and likely him) some nice kick back money.

When I was a car salesman, years ago, I saw quite a few of those "6% vs 9.5%" shenanigans.. always using "sub-prime" 3rd party financing. Saw lots of other stuff too.. Buyer gets quotes a monthly payment of $295, but the actual REAL payment that he would have gotten with the rate quoted was more like $250. The dealership buffered it by $45/mo so that when he checked out in finance, they had $45 of wiggle room when trying to tack on all the 'Dealer Adds'. Don't want to pay $50 / mo for the extended warranty? Well, what if I could get you in it for only $5/mo?.... that kind of thing.

 

[edwardh1]

find a dealer that does not add on that stuff, they usually exist

 

[dbias]

I dont care what is on the window. I walk in give them the amount I will pay out the door, and my phone number on a piece of paper and walk out.

 

[pbm]

I walk out of a dealership who pulls that BS....

 

[Hall]

That is definitely a real thing with dealerships padding the interest rate. It's hard for a car-buyer to know too because you can shop for a loan directly and get varying interest rates so how do we know how many finance companies they inquired through ? They will always push for financing even when someone suggests paying up-front for the total price of the vehicle. They did it to my Mom when she bought her '18 CR-V but just suggested she pay it off through the finance company after a few weeks or a month. Makes me think the finance company cuts them a check for the entire amount of added-on interest almost right away and if the buyer pays it off after that, there's nothing the finance can do about the money they paid the dealer. Of course, what they also did to her was add an extended warranty and gap insurance into her loan. My brother and I got that sorted out and removed. They never told her about these but slipped them in.

 

[WylieCoyote]

Add-ons have become common practice due to the profit margin involved. $399 for "paint sealant" and "fabric protection" is a good return for them considering it's just a wax job and maybe some 3M sprayed on the seats. Window and panel etching cracks me up....like any of that means a hill of beans when your car parts hit the black market after it's been stolen and stripped. But it's $299 in their pockets. Pinstripes are just too '70s for me. They paid to put it on. I'm not paying for it. So they can pay to take it off, or keep the car. Service plans, wheel damage coverage, extensions to the B2B warranties are all a big "No" from me, as they're heavily padded with profit. But these are usually optional at checkout time. Window tint is HUGE in Texas, and they're charging heavily inflated prices for it considering the volume discounts they're getting from the installers. What ticks me off most about the tint bend-over is they rarely put my desired darkness of tint on the back window, but I've paid for it just the same.

However, you aren't forced into any APR unless your credit sucks. You have all the tools you need available on the same computer on which you're reading this post.

Have a credit card with a solid payment history? Apply for an auto loan from the same company. Have a solid check account history? Apply for an auto loan at that bank. Have a credit rating of 720 or better? Apply at your local credit union. Most of these sources can give you your APR in 30 seconds.

I typically walk into a dealership with my printed loan pre-authorization and tell them if they can beat it, they're welcome to try...and most often they do, by .5% at most. If they can't, you're perfectly within your rights to spring an alternate lender on them after you've struck a deal on price. If they want to give you lip about it, walk. They're not the only game in town...or in your county, anyway.

 

[Propflux01]

What does everyone use for the true bottom dollar cost of a car? Items Like dealer kickback, invoice etc.? KBB NADA Edmunds, etc all seem like they are in cahoots with dealers. You quote a dealer one of their prices they will jump on it faster than you can club seals in a barrel.

 

[Bud]

Really can't complain about dealerships. The buyer always can walk out the door.

 

[Triple_Se7en]

Originally Posted by callbay

Any tactics that you have used to not pay for the extra unwanted items?

Tell the dealer what options you want on your vehicle - negotiate a price and order it - having it built in the factory to your specs. Just be patient because the wait can be a few months.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Originally Posted by WylieCoyote
They're not the only game in town...or in your county, anyway.
.... unless you live out in the Indian Ocean, 300 miles to the east of Madagascar ... https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4907168/1

 

[KD0AXS]

 

[mahansm]

The one I hate, and that the local dealers have taken to with a vengeance, is the document preparation fee. 15 years or so ago it was $50, now its more like $500 to $600. They have it pre-printed on the sales ticket so that it's automatically added to the bottom line after the negotiations on price have (supposedly) ended. This is flat money to the dealership as all the sales tax and license fees are invoiced separately.

I just say give me the manufacturer's certificate of origin and I'll take it over to the tag office myself; I'm not paying $600 for your clerk to spend 5 minutes at a computer.

I've also seen second stickers with $2000 for the line item, "ADMU". When queried, the salesman admitted that it stood for "Additional Dealer Mark-Up". A variant of this is "ADP", Additional Dealer Profit.

 

[JLTD]

One called "Advertising Fee"....asked the salesperson what that was and "it's to offset the cost of our advertising"

Told him that we were not paying for their advertising, that was part of their cost of doing business. Went back and forth they told me it was not negotiable etc etc. I told them what my final out the door price was and was ready to walk; the manager came out and they adjusted some of the other items including the price of the vehicle so that they could keep the advertising fee in there and get to my number… Win win I guess, but this is yet another example of hiding a simple charges from the buyer.

 

[oil_film_movies]

Doesn't everybody pay doc fees, dealer markup fees, and advertising fees, above the marked price, after buying an apple at Walmart?

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by mahansm
The one I hate, and that the local dealers have taken to with a vengeance, is the document preparation fee. 15 years or so ago it was $50, now its more like $500 to $600. They have it pre-printed on the sales ticket so that it's automatically added to the bottom line after the negotiations on price have (supposedly) ended. This is flat money to the dealership as all the sales tax and license fees are invoiced separately.

I just say give me the manufacturer's certificate of origin and I'll take it over to the tag office myself; I'm not paying $600 for your clerk to spend 5 minutes at a computer.

I've also seen second stickers with $2000 for the line item, "ADMU". When queried, the salesman admitted that it stood for "Additional Dealer Mark-Up". A variant of this is "ADP", Additional Dealer Profit.


Concentrate on the out the door price. If a vehicle is in high demand, the dealer can get over MSRP so they, being proper capitalists, charge as much as they can. Shop around. Some dealers will negotiate more than others.

 

[Leo99]

Originally Posted by Propflux01
What does everyone use for the true bottom dollar cost of a car? Items Like dealer kickback, invoice etc.? KBB NADA Edmunds, etc all seem like they are in cahoots with dealers. You quote a dealer one of their prices they will jump on it faster than you can club seals in a barrel.


What difference does true bottom cost matter? Some dealers get a large allocation and sell a lot of cars and make their money by volume. Others sell less cars and make a higher profit margin per car. The dealer is under no obligation to pare their profit margin down to what you think is acceptable. Go to several dealers and see what they can do for you. Shop around. It's the only way.