That is definitely immoral
I’m no lawyer, but it even sounds criminal.
I’m undecided on this for the following reason. Both buyers are adults and made a conscious decision to buy the car at the price quoted. Maybe the son should have involved himself before the fact, not afterwards.
I
I’ve got mixed feelings on this. As a good business practice, a lot of dealers now offer a 30 day period to back out of the deal-especially on a used car. I agree the price was too high, but even if it was a good price, they still couldn’t afford it. So is the problem the price or the fact that the couple couldn’t afford it? Certainly the dealer did the smart thing and ended the deal but a little late after the problem had already become known. You don’t necessarily have to be right to do the right thing.
On the other hand, my Dad did a similar thing in his 80’s. He could afford it but I thought he paid too much for what he got and didn’t even know the interest rate he was paying. He just relied on his buddies at the dealership. He was happy as a lark though with the deal and the car so really what was a couple thousand difference if he was happy with he whole thing? He thought he had friends at the dealer and they treated him well and he was happy, so what was I to say? He would have been upset if I would have butted into the deal and caused a problem. I dunno, getting old is tough.
This is really interesting to me because my wife volunteered my services to a friend, a single woman in her late 60s to help her car shop. This woman’s car, a 1996 Ford Taurus was hit and called a total loss. The car still works just fine–the doors on the left side are dented, but open and close perfectly and the power windows still work. In fact, she settled for $1900 with the insurance company and kept the car.
I think we have completed step 1-- she has decided on a Honda Accord. I am going to go online and get prices (she doesn’t have a computer) for an Accord equipped the way she wants. Our local Honda dealer is known for high pressure tactics and our Toyota dealer is pretty laid back. I really wish my wife hadn’t involved me in this, but I will show the dealer real geezer negotiating power.
A good freind and stand up guy went from new car sales to used car sales, because there is more money in it, now he would not have done such a wicked deed, but it is a profit driven business, get what you can. How to change that? Million Dollar Question.
Look at the people who paid 5 grand over sticker on the Miatas or 10-20 grand over sticker on the new Dodge Challengers when those cars first hit the market. Did they get ripped off? No. Every one of them had their eyes wide open and signed their name repeatedly throughout the process.
Car sales is a brutal business anyway and the sword is dangling over the heads of the sales people every minute of the day. Not being aggressive usually means unemployed.
Now that a conversation started I can give my personal experience with the same dealership. About 10 years ago moved to the area and needed a car. I did not have any kind of credit history. Back then they wanted to sell me an used ford focus 5 door for $2000 more than a new costs at the same dealership.
Of course I left.
Fast forward 8 years and in a market for a new car. My credit score is above 860. I wanted to get a ford fiesta this time with no bells and whistles just a manual transmission. The msrp was about $15500. Only extra on the car was a ford sync something or another, worth maybe an extra $1250. By the time the sales guy came back the price on the paper was $22500 and they told me that they will loose money on the deal.
Of course I left. The next day I bought a Honda Fit accross town.
Two relatively recent experiences with used car salesmen:
-Looking at a Jeep for my gf: The salesman didn’t want to let us take a test drive. Why I really can’t fathom. I literally laughed at him and said “Do you really think we’ll even consider buying this if we can’t test drive it?” Eventually he relented and rode in the back seat making helpful comments about how wonderful it was as we drove along.
-The steroided-out freak of a salesman with crew cut that wouldn’t see reason when we were looking at a Pontiac Aztec. Yes, an ugly vehicle, but not bad inside, and a good value because no one wants them. I offered the blue book price in cash (which was generous, as the vehicle had faults), but was denied as this wonder of nature and chemistry wanted nearly 3K more than it was worth and would only unbend at all if we did financing through them. The vehicle also had problems with the steering that if they fixed, I said I’d consider the vehicle. This guy had the gall to say it would be cheaper if we took it somewhere else and got it fixed after buying it and offered the princely discount of $50 off the purchase price and a free oil change. He kind of glared at me when I giggled after he made this offer. Needless to say, we declined the generous offer.
The only place that didn’t try to pull . . . . on me was Hertz used car sales and Saturn.
At both of these places, the salesmen were friendly and didn’t exert any pressure. In fact, the guys even looked normal. They had on decent slacks and a summer sweater. They did not look like they wanted to be on the GQ cover. Unlike most of the other places.
I once bought a used Benz at the dealership I was working at. It had literally just been traded in and company policy was that I could buy it for a very nominal “surcharge.” The slimy salesmen knew I was an employee and still tried to gouge me. They even fraudulently signed my signature on a phony sales contract which had a much higher price.
I heard it on good authority that the reason they tried to . . . . me was that they realized they could make much more money by detailing it and offering it up for sale at regular price. It was a pretty clean car with fairly low miles for its age. Their underhanded tactics were meant to discourage me and cause me to walk away. This went on for weeks. My service manager finally had to get involved before they finally let me have it for the original agreed upon price. This was a 10 year old car, not some top of the line roadster!
Some states have “right to recision” (rescind) laws of the books that define how long a consumer has to change his/her mind. Typically it’s three days. not 30, but it’s an avenue to be aware of.
My opinion is that they got robbed by a completely unethical shyster. I hope the local news media blasts the story everywhere, and I hope the dealership goes under.
Or perhaps this salesman used to work in the financial services industry. Perhaps he sold derivatives.
I tend to agree with @thesamemountainbike.
My own story proves that unscrupulous people will try to . . . . anybody, even those they work with!
When someone gets taken advantage like his illustration by a local “small business”, it’s disgraceful and as indicated by others, borderline criminal.
When the exact same thing happens to the elderly here in the North East with cold weather heating oil price gouging by “oil corporations” and retirees are forced not by choice as in buying a car but out of absolute necessity to choose in the winter between food and freezing, it’s called capitalism.
The first situation happens occasionally which is much too often. The second happens all of the time but few care or find out because it happens to the poor of us and often never gets publicized, except when “our govt.” decides to cut back on winter aid to balance a budget, then it’s called good economics.
So, it happens all the time to the elderly, perhaps to “you and I” and we are in the same situation… then it will be too late regardless of what it is called.
That really sucks,but it happens all the time(time for ethics 101).Kind of reminds of these value added fees and so on-there is another disturbing tactic called flirting,some of these folks act like you buy this you might have a good chance at this-really?
Was looking at a supercharged Nissan Frontier one day ,noticed a $7-800 dollar"hard to obtain fee" on the sticker,just kept on walking.I realize that this is these peoples lively hood,but I cant help that-Kevin
I hear you. Hard to find model ? How about offering the dealer serveral thousand less and telling him it’s your "no one else wants it " offer.
Were they all adults???..Sure they were…but that doesn’t mean that someone can’t be taken advantage of. I know that business ethics is a thing of the past in many companies…but gee - wouldn’t it be nice to have a company that you don’t need to take a long shower after you’ve done business with them. I’ve walked out of a few dealerships that were just plain scum.
@Dagosa,the trouble is some people seem to have more money then sense( what amazes me is that people will buy something like this at a premium,then are to cheap too run premium gas in it)-Kevin
I was surprised when we were car shopping last fall. It was surprisingly all right at all six dealerships we visited. OK, most of the salesdudes were clueless about their product, but they weren’t at all pushy and were genuinely helpful about finding a properly equipped example for us to check out.
I guess what made it easiest is that we saw a few cars, went home, and handled the remaining negotiations via e-mail. We didn’t see anyone again in person until the deal was done. I feel so much better about car dealerships after that. Maybe the lousy sales of recent years made dealerships more appreciative of potential customers, but they treated us like fellow humans. That was often not true in the past.
@markm - Salesmen size up the buyers. Because they weren’t pushy with you doesn’t mean they won’t be pushy with someone else.
@kmccune
You’re right…if it didn’t work with some, they wouldn’t be doing it. What 's funny( strange not ha, ha) is how people have emotional attachments to cars. Cars they just have to have because of the color, brand or “hard to find”. Dealers know the foibles.
I have sold vehicles through Uncle Henry’s ( NE ers know it) one in particular, where the buyer REFUSED to even try the car out, as much as I begged him, and paid me cash on the full asking price, on the spot just because it was the model he was looking for. Should have charged him the “hard to find price”.