As a percentage, the number of dishonest dealers has to be much higher though.
Maybe. I think a lot of people misinterpret dealers acting in their best interest with being dishonest though. There’s a difference between not being super forthcoming with info and actually being fraudulent.
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I really don’t think the percentages or numbers matter for the spirit of the discussion.
Most dealers act in the interest of making money. Most customers act in the interest of spending less money for the same product as the rest of the market.
I think these two ideals are naturally and inherently competing ideals and thus will have dishonesty on both sides.
When you encounter dishonesty or something you don’t like, move onto the next one. This was my original point.
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If you’re selling cars and you’re not hitting unit bonuses, making money, and feeding your family then you may want to alter your strategy.
If you’re buying/leasing a car and nobody wants to work with you then you may want to alter your strategy.
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This is definitely a matter of perspective. An uninformed shopper may feel the dealer was dishonest when they find out their neighbor paid $5k less for the same car, even though they had the same opportunity to score a deal. The dealer trying to maximize profits will leave a sour taste for many.
The dealer model works out well for unicorn shoppers, but it’s very understandable why many (most?) consumers don’t like the experience.
They’d be wrong though. They may feel that way, but they’re simply misinterpreting the dealer acting in the dealer’s best interest as dishonest behavior. That’s the point.
There are absolutely dealers out there that are actually dishonest and behave in ways that are ethically or legally wrong. Most of the time, however, when someone claims a dealer is being dishonest what they’re really saying is “I was ignorant to what was actually going on.”
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Before I was buying my own cars, I was accompanying my dad (20+ yrs ago) to buy cars. We never encountered salespeople who;s main goal was teaching us about the car. The salespeople have always made it clear that they are there to close a deal. Some are way more smooth and professional than others about it.
Before the internet, there were car magazines… And those writers did a way better job of teaching readers about cars than 99% of the stuff on the internet.
YMMV.
Dealer advertisements are completely misleading. That’s the first lie and pretty much results in all further issues with the potential transaction.
I understand the marketing theory, get people in the door. But when you start a relationship on a “lie” then the trust is immediately lost and results in the auto culture we have today.
Great documentary on propaganda aka marketing
I’ve never seen a dealer advertisement that was a lie (not to say that there aren’t some out there that are). I’ve see a lot of people ignorant to the fact that they need to read the actual details on the deal though.
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Ads which are purposefully designed to be misleading, with difficult to understand legalese fine print, are a form of lying.
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I think what @Jrouleau426 is getting at is that it creates the perception that the customer was lied to. It doesn’t really matter if they technically weren’t. Nikola technically didn’t lie to anyone when they rolled their truck prototype down an incline and said that it was “moving”, but the perception they created is a huge problem that has obliterated any trust in whatever they might actually be cooking up.
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There’s different forms of lying, and what Nikola did is ‘lying by omission.’
Absolutely. While dealers definitely don’t omit anything in their printed “specials”, they definitely are laid out in a way that is designed to be misleading and get someone in the door. If Nikola put a tiny disclaimer saying “this truck is rolling down a hill” somewhere that was hard to read, or made it difficult to understand what they were saying, they would probably still be in just as much hot water.
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I could have, yes, but I was trying to knock off dealer add ons. I made the drive prior to getting the contract as a sign of good faith and willingness to close the deal. Quite frankly, I would have still signed it if they refused to remove the dealer add on.
I learned a thing or two this time around 
Dealer add ons are one such instance of this. They’ll discount the car steeply and advertise it. However, when you get there, they tell you that the car has $5K in dealer addons and that they cannot be removed, effectively cancelling out the advertised discount. I don’t understand why this continues to be a tolerated practice in the eyes of the law or manufacturers.
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I never said that it should be their main objective. A salesperson should, however, be willing to try to sell the car to those who may not be as savvy or interested as you, to those who don’t spend hours on the internet or reading magazines to learn about the ins and outs of a particular car. And that means, they have to engage in some form of education of the consumer in order to reach their end goal. Apathy rarely works.
Unlimited High-Fives $795.
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I mean, who DOESN’T want the pinstripes and pro-pack too?
Listen if you don’t want the Ultimate Tire Package that’s fine however most customers do want to drive off with all four tires.
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And when they are pumped to the gills with Nitrogen, it’s like they’re not even touching the road!
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