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This is a series of articles to appear daily on what occurs while purchasing an automobile. Not all dealers are guilty of consumer abuse. Maybe 5% are not. If you have experienced any of the occurences written about contact your State Attorney General and report them.

After 25 years retailing cars for both major automobile conglomerates (the largest in the USA being AutoNation which boasts of more than 400 dealerships nationwide) to the "mom and pop" dealers (those who have one or two stores) I have long concluded that dishonesty and manipulation are at the forefront of most operations. I base this on my experiences and sadly to say my participation in activities that knowingly abused the retail consumer and leads them down a path that as one Finance Manager so aptly defined as "changing their lives forever". There are so many areas in which this manipulation occurs that in order to be forthright and complete in my testimonial it needs to be broken down into the stages of a sale. This first stage is Marketing.

Marketing is what brings you through the door of any particular establishment. One sees a sweater or pair of shoes advertised and if they have interest they visit their local retailer with the expectation of purchasing that particular product. On some occasions if the product is sold out they receive a "rain check" to purchase that product when available unless advertised "while supplies last". Not so in the auto industry. In my last gig working for a luxury car pre-owned center I was directed to advertise popular non-existent units in order to get consumers in the door. Once they were notified that the vehicle was sold (a premeditated lie) they are then promptly shown other units in stock. Now the average consumer knows this as bait and switch, but they are not aware of how calculated this is. Another method is to advertise a certain price on a unit, say $19,995, only for you to find that in the small print the price is based on a down payment of say $2000 or trade of equal value. So what then is the price? $21,995 of course. But the ad read "Buy Now" for $19,995. Another method is to advertise monthly payment. "Buy Now" for $199 per month OAC (on approved credit). The disclosure mandated by the Attorney General's office to be outlined within the ad lists the down payment, but not the interest rate. so how did they arrive at that payment? By using an interest rate that cannot be obtained by most consumers and with all liklihood couldn't even be

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