Regulations.gov "The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC” or “Commission”) seeks comment on this notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) related to the sale, financing, and leasing of motor vehicles by motor vehicle dealers. The proposed rule would prohibit motor vehicle dealers from making certain misrepresentations in the course of selling, leasing, or arranging financing for motor vehicles, require accurate pricing disclosures in dealers' advertising and sales discussions, require dealers to obtain consumers' express, informed consent for charges, prohibit the sale of any add-on product or service that confers no benefit to the consumer, and require dealers to keep records of advertisements and customer transactions. This NPRM invites written comments on all issues raised herein and seeks answers to the specific questions set forth in Section VIII of this document."
Sounds like the FTC is proposing to eliminate the business model used by the overwhelming majority of car dealers.
Take a spin through the comments. Consumer protection rules should be applauded. However, the comments are what’s wrong with the blanket GOP talking points. The Right screams “No Regulations” or “Over-regulated”. The voters parrot the talking points. Yeah, Regulations are bad. Then you see an FCC type rule and everyone is on board writing regulations.
Some people are gonna get very mad that car sales people can't outright lie to people and charge them for useless stuff.
I have never understood how something so necessary and easy to sell has always included screwing the customers as hard as possible.
That whole man over in the booth they go talk to and of course getting your keys to "assess your trade in" aka hold you hostage for hours while they do the bait and switch routine and tack on extra crap is for the birds. Eff em.
You aren't thinking like a capitalist, if its something you basically need to get to work or almost anywhere, they already have you over a barrel. Its prime gouging season at that point.
To be fair, it isn’t THAT much different from other types of sales. It’s not like you have transparency with a homebuilder or electronics retailer as far as what their “invoice prices” are. Even places like Best Buy has tried some of these “car salesman” shenanigans too. I recall once I picked out the model laptop out I needed (it was an advertised deal) and wanted to buy in person from a store instead of risking getting it shipped, get to the store and ALL of the ones they had in-stock were bundled with some $199 “Geek Squad” bundled add-on. The manager actually gave me the same line of BS as Lundergaard there, that they were bundled and couldn’t be undone. I was like… so what happens if I order this laptop online for store pickup at the advertised price (as it was showing in-stock both for shipping and store pickup). To which he said “Hold on, I’ll see what I can do”. 5 minutes later I was checking out with just the laptop. Needless to say the whole thing with the “Geek Squad bundle” was complete bs to take advantage of idiots and senior citizens who wouldn’t know better.
Car dealerships claim that selling cars is a break even thing. (I think this may be an accounting thing). They say they make most of their money overcharging people for repairs.
What business doesn’t claim their margins are paper thin when people start talking regulation or benefit/wage increases?
Put it this way, I'll never buy a new vehicle again and haven't in a long time. Let someone else take the depreciation hit and deal with the nimrods at the dealer. Very happy that my vehicle is long since paid for and runs great.
Same experience with best buy with TVs. Also lowes trying to sell warranties on yard equipment that have manufacturer warranties already. Most electric yard equipment manufacturers have pretty good warranties yet they still try to sell you store warranties that are completely unnecessary.
