9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

Most other sales-based industries understand that it’s the 21st century and people aren’t stupid. Why haven’t used car dealers figured this out yet?
9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

I’ve spent much of my career in the auto industry, including six years at a used car dealership where I witnessed the best and worst sides of the car business. I was fortunate in that my dealership was pretty respectable - they only engaged in one of the cheesy gimmicks listed below. Meanwhile, the upstart company across the street did everything they could to distract buyers from the disaster on wheels they were about to buy.

The internet has changed how people shop for everything, including cars. Many retail industries have evolved with the times, but I’m consistently amazed at how most car dealerships - especially the used car shops - still carry on as though buyers don’t have an ounce of grey matter in their skulls. If any such dealership representatives are reading this, take my advice and ditch these ridiculous gimmicks. Not only will you sell more cars, customers might actually come back and buy another one from you in the future.

1. Balloons on everything

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

My dealership tried this for awhile, and the only thing it did was give our guys extra cleanup work when the balloons deflated. That could’ve been solved if we just cut them loose like all the slimeball places did, but we didn’t want to anger our neighbours by filling their trees with coloured balloons and party streamers.

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Nothing says class like pulling onto a car lot and seeing a 20-foot inflatable monkey, or my personal favourite, the wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men. Yeah, I’m sure to believe everything these guys say because, you know, monkey.

3. Gigantic “SALE” signs

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

Just in case the rows of neatly parked cars aren’t clear enough as to what’s going on, or balloons and the inflatables don’t get the message out, there’s always the flashy “SALE” sign fallback to make sure the place looks like a bargain discount outlet store selling crap tools. I’m particularly annoyed by the dealers who use individual SALE letters under the bonnets. Except when they put them in the wrong order to spell SLAE. That’s just hilarious.

4. “Guaranteed to win” mail promotions

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

Every week I get at least one spiffy postcard in the mail from a dealership telling me I’m guaranteed to win either a new car, a new TV, a $1000 shopping spree, or a “special” fourth prize. Of course I have to visit the dealership to see what I’ve won, where I’m grilled by a salesman for half an hour on everything from my current car to my underwear preference while they “find” my prize. Imagine my surprise when, after refusing to relinquish any personal information or answer their questions, I’m given the elusive prize number four: a self-adhesive “kick me” sign I’m obligated to stick on the back of the next person who walks through the door.

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Is there some kind of secret dealership school for the obnoxious where people are taught how to be as sleazy and condescending as possible? Telling people in your monster truck voice that you have too many cars and it’s making you crazy enough to give out beans is, in a word, pathetic. Perhaps this was acceptable in the past, but in today’s world of Craigslist, internet sales and instant information, buyers have no interest in being spoken to like children.

6. Weekly payments

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

Sadly, some people still fall for this classic bait-and-switch scheme because they can’t afford a $300 monthly car payment, but somehow think $80 a week is doable. Here’s a hint: any business that bases their marketing plan on people’s inability to do basic math is not traditionally a reputable establishment. With so much information at our fingertips, there’s no reason to even give these places the time of day.

7. The “good cop/bad cop” routine

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

Once upon a time (as in before the internet) people weren’t often exposed to the typical car buying experience. But times have changed; buyers know all about the process, and by that I mean there is no process. It’s just another gimmick designed to make buyers feel bad for the hard-working sales rep, in the hopes they will pay more for the car. The jig is up - the sales rep gets a commission no matter what, so either accept the offer and get to business, or just say no. Either way, spare us the dog and pony show.

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Today’s car shoppers are educated on what they want like never before, because they’re prepared for some crackpot sales dude to try and take advantage of them. And for the crackpot sales dudes out there reading this, it’s freaking 2015. Don’t be like our man Alex in the video above; nobody is impressed with a car that has power steering, power brakes and a boot big enough for a four-year old to play in. Whether you’re posting an ad online or trying to talk your way into a sale, bragging about features and options that have been standard issue for 30 years just makes you look stupid.

9. Ridiculously excessive fine print

9 Used Car Sales Gimmicks That Need To Go Away

It’s a given that not all deals will apply to every situation, and for legal reasons dealers should say that in their advertisements. That’s not such a big deal. If, however, an advertised deal requires paragraphs of fine print or a speed reader to cram it into a TV ad, it pretty much negates the advertised deal. I seriously can’t think of any other medium involving such expensive items where so much deception takes place. We’re in the information age - it’s time for prehistoric dealerships to get with the times.

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Comments

Anonymous

Buying a car in Eastern Europe is even better. Litteraly every used car dealer imports cars from Italy or Germany, or some other EU country. They buy the worst possible cars and once they import them detail the hell out of them and make the mileage around 120-150 kkm regardles of age. Do you really think I’ll believe you that a 2002 diesel sedan has 120 000 km? That’s not even the worst part. It’s fairly popular to import cargo cars such as the Corsa van or Polo van and then they reduce the mileage and buy a whole used interior to convert them into normal cars and sell them as well maintained one owner cars. All cars have “original” mileage and full service history which was accidentaly lost during the importing process.I know a guy who bought a Fiat Stilo 1.9 diesel with 180 000 km on the instrument cluster. The whole car was in good shape, there were no unpleasant squeeks and rattles, the engine was great and the suspension was tight, the interior was almost as new and he got it fairly cheap. He later went to reshearch the cars history to find out his “well maintained, low mileage” Stilo had 980 000 km before it was exported to Eastern Europe.The only way to not get completely ripped off is to buy a car from a private seller

01/02/2016 - 13:05 |
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Anonymous

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

Yeah, just go to Germany yourself and get it. Getting E30 in Poland is massive PITA, either rust bucket, abused by some wanna-be drifter, riced to hell, torn or no interior advertised as “future classic, great condition” for 1k€ or 4k€ for decent example with 4 cyl engine, while You can get rust free one 1,5k€, import and fees for 500€ and enjoy nice BMW for 2k€ with money left for a swap or what not.

01/02/2016 - 13:45 |
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youknowwhothisis18

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

We had sort of a scandal where I live: a local dealer had bought every single car from a bankrupt leasing company in Italy. All opel astras, all over 200.000 km. He cleaned them, “serviced” them and sold them as “previous executive cars” with 80k km!!

01/02/2016 - 18:01 |
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J Nez

Several years ago I was in the market for a used car so started visiting a few dealerships. My favorite trick was when the salesman had to go talk to his boss for 10 minutes about the deal (a.k.a have a smoke out back), another salesman would sit at the desk behind us listening to our conversation. We were aware and didn’t talk about anything specific. I didn’t buy a car from there and the guy called me a week later and asked if I was still interested. I told him I wasn’t and I already bought a car from a different dealership.

01/02/2016 - 13:16 |
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Anonymous

I was looking for a new truck as my car was getting old and worn out. So we stopped at a dealership. Said I wanted x truck with a, b, c, d, e, and f, for options. I really wasn’t in the mood or position to buy that day. They didn’t even have a truck close to what I was looking for. So they said lets go talk and let me see what I can find. So we go to talk and i mistakenly give him my cell number. After refusing to sign anything for 3 effing hours that day we just get up and walk out. That mfer called me 20 times a day for the next 3 weeks. Even after I told him I would never buy a car or truck or a damn turd from him or his dealership he kept calling. I even said if you call me again I am going to drive my butt to the dealership and break your damn hand so you can’t call me. Dude still called me. I blocked his number and 3 months later when my daughter totaled my car by hitting a metal 25 mph sign I went to a different dealership and got the top of the line truck for less than they were trying to sell me a just about base model. I hate car dealerships. They can all SUCKIT.

01/02/2016 - 14:21 |
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Anonymous

I went to a VW/Skoda dealer for my mum a good few years back to have a look at a 2000 VW Polo they had and she wanted to trade in a 2002 Skoda Fabia that she had they tried to sell me a new Golf GTi but I kept going over to the Polo saying that’s what she need its the right engine size ect and after a while I got to take it for a test drive on my own I just have to give them are car keys I saw nothing wrong with that. So I took it for a drive making sure everything worked and I was happy with it but on returning to the dealer ship I saw my mums car was a tad bit smaller by a tad I mean the hole back end was crushed in and when I asked them about it they told me “what do you mean that’s the way they look” and then told me to in a not so nice way to go away and never come back. I stayed there asking them nicely to sort this out and in the end they called the police on me once they came it got sorted out very fast. Not long after that my mum and I went to Ford which is a car brand we knew well having many in the past and we picked up a 2 year old Focus Ghia with 2 year warranty on engine and body 2 years later we went back to Ford and got another Focus Ghia with 2 year warranty. Did that again 2 year after that and on the 4th time we went back we got another Focus but this time they gave us a massive discount on a new one so we took that that was 2 years ago and now my mum needs a bigger car so I went back again to look at a 2013 Ford Mondeo Style estate they had and the dealer showed me it and told me all about it the good and bad then he told me he could do me a deal on the new Mondeo cause I keep coming back so I took home the booklet showed it to my mum and she as picked a new Mondeo Vignale estate with almost all the extra ticked

01/02/2016 - 14:26 |
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Mr.PurpleV12

Also getting the customer drunk is not a good idea…

01/02/2016 - 14:27 |
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Zguy

I had quite the awesome experience buying my last vehicle. I walked on the lot, build them what I was looking for, saw the Z in the back, band stated the paperwork. They ended up appraising my 09 eclipse gt at 8500, but have me 11,200 for it. Good experience, and they had no issues fixing a pre-existing issue with the car for no cost to me.

01/02/2016 - 15:37 |
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aelfwyne

In reply to by Zguy

One of the tricks dealers play is increasing your trade value above appraisal. The secret is, the $2700 they appeared to give you extra on your Eclipse basically gets tagged back onto the Z. Inotherwords, it was already profit in the deal somewhere. If you hadn’t had a trade, they could have knocked that much off the price of the Z in the first place, had they wanted, and still been in profit.

Of course, knowing that, the ultimate question is - was the bottom line, out the door price something you were happy with for what you bought. If so, then just play the game and be happy.

01/02/2016 - 23:01 |
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Anonymous

The first thing I tell a used-car salesman.

01/02/2016 - 16:10 |
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Dat muscle guy (Sam Stone)(Camaro Squad)(Die augen leader)(E

Damn man you should make more of these articles they real good

01/02/2016 - 16:59 |
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David Ramos

“Nissan Titan”… forgive me if im wrong, but isnt that a Nissan Frontier?

01/02/2016 - 17:14 |
2 | 0

Yeah it is

01/02/2016 - 18:43 |
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JRDesign

‘it’s freaking 2015’ erm, about that…

01/02/2016 - 18:28 |
4 | 0

Yes.

01/03/2016 - 08:41 |
0 | 0