Even if you get the so-called agreement for something at the dealership, they will still find a way to extort a little more money from you to make up for the fact that you made said deal. See how Hyundai coped engine replacement for my car, but the salesman still said I had to part with $800 for fresh hoses and belts. The main place where this sort of thing happens at dealerships is the CFO’s office. When reviewing these final contracts, dealers often try to sneak in things like extended warranty plans and gap insurance. Take, for example, a dealer who tried to smuggle $20,000 worth of extras from a customer.
This latest dealership scam is on its way to us tweet on X via site friend Zach Shefska of CarEdge AND Ray and Zach on Youtube. In the tweet, Zach says they recently helped a customer with a Lexus deal at Lexus of Englewood, Recent Jersey. Except when they reached out to the CFO and tried to throw in thousands of dollars in extras. Wanting more information, I contacted Zach for more details.
He informed me that they had helped a customer purchase a Lexus and negotiated a sticker discount on the $7,000 vehicle. Apparently, the dealership’s finance manager may not have liked the fact that the customer received a $7,000 discount. Zach claims they were made aware of what the manager was trying to get out through a message from one of the employees working on the deal. “Are you kidding me,” read the message. Shortly after the customer shipped them as part of the vehicle contract.
As you can see, the total price of the vehicle is just over $90,000. However, the manager tried to add almost $21,000 in crappy extras. An extended warranty for almost $9,000 on top of a $5,000 service contract, another $5,000 for “tire wheel and product,” additional Toyota insurance for $1,200, and most egregious of all, $1,240 for “optional sales commission.”
Surprisingly, Zach says they were able to cut out all the extra nonsense and the transaction went ahead. Personally, this would be a deal breaker for me, I would break the contract and leave. But I’m sure whoever buys this Lexus is a better person than me.
What about the sales manager who tried to get a quick quote? I asked Zach if he knew what happened to them, he said he wasn’t sure. But I’ll bet you money that nothing happened and that person is still sitting nicely in their office.
This is just another example of why it’s significant to read every line of your car sales contract. Dealers will hate you for this and try to explain it away as “Mumbo jumbo. Just sign on the dotted line.” However, these types of additions often sneak in thanks to people NO review the contact carefully. Oh, if only the government would do this some rule they could pass a law that would put an end to this type of thing.
