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Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

ftc.gov

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Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#21

Post by kcb »

rootusrootus wrote: post #18
kcb wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then continue the fever dream nightmare that is the car dealership.

Walk into a dealer and say "I will pay that price on the window, but on the condition you won't even try to upsell me in F&I." Aside from a minority of shady dealers, most regular car dealers will smile sweetly and tell you where to sign and who to make out the check to. Tesla just formalizes this by forbidding negotiation. Some people like that. But historically people like to negotiate on big purchases. It's a game…

>Walk into a dealer and say "I will pay that price on the window, but on the condition you won't even try to upsell me in F&I." Aside from a minority of shady dealers, most regular car dealers will smile sweetly and tell you where to sign and who to make out the check to.

Every dealership I've been to will nod their head then precede to upsell you in F&I. They'll make sure you don't actually get to F&I until you've been their for 5 hours where you're so tired, hungry, and agitated you just want to gtfo with your car. That's not to mention todays market where every dealer acts like and prices like its a privilege to be able to pay them $50,000+ for a vehicle.

Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#25

Post by lordofgibbons »

ourmandave wrote: post #20

What's sad is their Better Business Bureau rating is A+. The customer review rating however is 1.22 out of 5. https://www.bbb.org/us/il/oakbrook-terrace/profile/new-car-d...

The BBB is a for profit company who's customers are businesses not consumers so I'm not surprised by this rating.

Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#26

Post by function_seven »

ourmandave wrote: post #20

What's sad is their Better Business Bureau rating is A+. The customer review rating however is 1.22 out of 5. https://www.bbb.org/us/il/oakbrook-terrace/profile/new-car-d...

Serious question: Was the BBB always a joke? I remember 30 years ago it was generally regarded as a trusted and neutral entity. Much like Consumer Reports still is. (Yeah, people have their quibbles with CR’s methodologies and verdicts, but I don't see anyone question their integrity)

But now I wonder if we (or just I?) were all just too unsophisticated to see that BBB had been captured by the businesses they purport to review.

Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#28

Post by TheJoeMan »

ben1040 wrote: post #7

>According to the complaint, the dealerships would often wait until the end of the hours-long negotiation process to sneak junk fees for add-on products and services into consumers’ purchase contracts, which often run as long as 60 pages. These junk fees were often added despite consumers specifically declining the add-ons or having confirmed prices that did not include the add-ons. In other cases, the consumers were…

These ads for AutoTrader are so funny though because it's "we don't add hidden fees" instead it's "we bought Kelly Blue book so now our prices seem to be fair but are probably the same $2k higher anyways".

Glass prison or dirty prison? I suppose it depends on one's confidence in wading through the scammers but getting a better deal. Find cars that have been on the lot almost 30 days - they need to dump them before the dealer has to pay the bank.

Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#29

Post by mirceal »

kcb wrote: post #21
rootusrootus wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Walk into a dealer and say "I will pay that price on the window, but on the condition you won't even try to upsell me in F&I." Aside from a minority of shady dealers, most regular car dealers will smile sweetly and tell you where to sign and who to make out the check to. Tesla just formalizes this by forbidding negotiation. Some people like that. But historically people like to negotiate on big purchases. It's a game…

>Walk into a dealer and say "I will pay that price on the window, but on the condition you won't even try to upsell me in F&I." Aside from a minority of shady dealers, most regular car dealers will smile sweetly and tell you where to sign and who to make out the check to. Every dealership I've been to will nod their head then precede to upsell you in F&I. They'll make sure you don't actually get to F&I until you've b…

where are you people buying your cars?

(setting aside the pandemic)

you always want to do your research before ever going to a dealer, any dealer. after that you go and see the car + test drive it.

after that you talk $$$. if you drag this process for more than 30-40 min or try stupid stuff, as a customer I will get up and walk. Also for my last car the dealer had a guy that was assigned specifically for internet sales and I actually saw the car in person + worked out all the details through email.

again, as a customer (minus the pandemic shiftshow which will eventually die down) you have the power to decide what is and what is not acceptable.

Re: Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination

#30

Post by mirceal »

erdos4d wrote: post #23
kcb wrote: post #13

Buy a Tesla. Its the only way to put a stop to this.

Buy a 10 year old cheap Honda and drive it until it dies. Buy it from a person. Flash the $90K you saved at the Tesla owners as you drive by.

flash the public address of your bitcoin wallet. hahahahahaha
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