Category: Car Dealer

When a Dealership Contacts Several Banks for my Financing, Does it Hurt my Credit?

3/25/2020

Often, when a person goes to a dealership for a new car, they let the dealer search for financing options. Most of the time, you have several offers to choose from. It is a known fact that inquires on your credit can cause your credit rating to drop, but does this type of inquiry have any impact?

Timing is Important

The most often used credit scoring systems allow people to shop for the best loan for their vehicle purchase without lowering their credit score. This is done by considering all inquiries for a car loan done within a certain time frame as one inquiry,

Be aware that the time frames may be different. To be safe, you should keep your inquires within a 14 day period. Within this time frame, your inquires should be counted as one or perhaps excluded completely by some scoring systems.

When a dealership sends your application to several lenders, those banks will check your credit score and compete for your business. Every lender that checks your credit will appear as a separate inquiry, but because these will happen in such a short amount of time, it should only count as one. So, you shouldn’t need to worry about dealerships sending your application to many lenders. These inquiries should not hurt your credit score, unless you shop outside of a short time frame.

Before you Shop for a Car

When you think you may be ready for a new car, you need to get a copy of your credit report and make sure there are no errors on it that may prevent you from getting a good deal on a car loan.
Besides checking it for errors, your report will also explain what is in your report that is affecting your score. If you have poor credit, this information will help you improve your score before you try to get a loan and will increase your chances for approval and a better interest rate on your loan.

You may also want to consider getting pre-approved before shopping for a vehicle. This will give you a rough estimate on how much you can spend on a vehicle before you get your heart set on one.

What should I do if I'm blocked in and feeling pressured to buy a car?

7/24/2018

When I started practicing, I heard about car dealers wanting to appraise someone’s trade in. When the dealer got the keys to the car, he would throw the keys on the roof [DC1] of the dealership. The idea was to make the customer feel helpless to the point he felt he had to buy a car.

In a yo-yo transaction, the dealer will require the return of the car if it cannot sell the retail installment sales contract. If a customer comes back to discuss the matter, the dealer may try to block in the car to keep the customer from leaving with it. In this situation, remember, the dealer may be the wrong doer.

Do not become the wrong doer. Don’t start yelling, throwing punches, or damaging cars. The first thing you could do is politely request that the dealership move the cars blocking you. If that does not work, move up the chain to a higher manager. If that does not work, keep moving up until you get to the general manager. I would expect all the managers to support their employees; however, you don’t know until you ask.

The next step might be to call the police. Understand that the police usually do not want to get involved in what they call “civil” matters; however, taking your property might be considered a theft. Hopefully, the introduction of the police will cause the dealer to do the right thing, but it is not guaranteed. If you still can’t get your car, you need to leave and contact a lawyer.

wHEN DOES A CAR DEALERSHIP START LYING TO YOU?

2/21/2017

It might start as soon as you click on the dealer’s website. I was working on a case the other day. I clicked on a dealer’s website. Up popped a dialog box.

“Hello, my name is Alexis. Have a question? I’m online.” Besides sounding like a 1-900 sex oriented ad, when I looked on the staff page, Alexis was no where to be found. I found the picture of the Internet Manager. “He” didn’t look anything like “Alexis’” picture. I felt like I was being “catfished”. What does that say about the ethics of a car dealer? Does it even make a difference to you?

Car Dealers and Dead Donkeys by Ronald Burdge

1/31/2015

We were asked the other day why a car dealer who lied to a customer should have to do anything more than merely take back the car and refund their money. Seems some car dealers and their attorneys think that's enough. Paying "more" means paying what the law calls "punitive damages" and there's a reason for them. I think it was my dad or older brother who first explained to me, years ago, why punitive damages are a necessary part of our society and legal system. It's because of Chuck. Let me explain.

Young Chuck moved to Texas and bought a donkey from a farmer for $100.00. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, "Sorry son, but I have some bad news, the donkey died." Chuck replied, "Well, then, just give me my money back." The farmer said, "Can't do that. I went and spent it already." Chuck said, "Ok, then, just bring me the dead donkey."

The farmer asked, "What ya gonna do with him?" Chuck said, "I'm going to raffle him off." The farmer said, "You can't raffle off a dead donkey!" Chuck said, "Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead."

A month later, the farmer met up with Chuck and asked, "What happened with that dead donkey?" Chuck said, "I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at two dollars apiece and made a profit of $898.00." The farmer said, "Didn't anyone complain?" Chuck said, "Just the guy who won. So I gave him his two dollars back." Chuck grew up and works for a car dealer now.

Punitive damages are necessary to punish those few business people who knowingly do something that's just plain wrong and is so bad that they need to be taught a lesson and made an example of. 499 people paid Chuck two dollars and never knew they were ripped off. When the one who found out complained, why Chuck just paid them off by refunding their two dollars.

Meanwhile, by lieing to everyone (okay, technically he just hid the truth) Chuck made $898 profit off the scheme.

That's why just making a con artist refund your money is not enough. You have to stop the scheme and as long as they make money off the scheme itself, simply making them refund your money won't be enough to make them stop what they are doing. You have to go deeper into their pocket because people like that only understand one thing: money. After all, if they understood right and wrong, they wouldn't be selling raffle tickets for dead donkeys.

Same thing is true of a thieving car dealer who you catch ripping you off. The average car dealer fights hard to keep from taking back a bad car. Why? Because there's an old saying in the business that goes like this "Once it goes over the curb, we don't take it back."

Nowadays, the smart car dealer will argue but then eventually give up and take it back. They argue hard at first to try to avoid taking back the defective car (that's probably a visceral reaction ingrained in the breed, frankly). But if you argue long enough, the smart car dealer will take the car back just to stop your complaining. After all, they know that they can just pawn off the dead donkey on some other guy or gal, who probably won't argue as long or as loud as you do.

And they get away with it. In fact, they make money off it.

Many courts have explained that punitive damages are intended "to discourage others from committing similar wrongful acts." They don't reward the victim for being a victim. They punish someone for being a thief. Why? Because punishment works.

Otherwise, they'll just keep selling raffle tickets for dead donkeys.

If you've bought a dead donkey from a rip off car dealer, we can help. Click here to email us right now, or call us, 1-888-331-6422 Toll Free. Helping consumers get their money back is what we do. Everyday since 1978. Oh yeah, lots of car dealers know who we are and what we do, and that doesn't bother us one bit.

Burdge Law Office
http://www.carsalesfraud.com/
Fighting Fraud Since 1978, One Car Dealer at a Time

When a Dealership Contacts Several Banks for my Financing, Does it Hurt my Credit?

What should I do if I'm blocked in and feeling pressured to buy a car?

wHEN DOES A CAR DEALERSHIP START LYING TO YOU?

Car Dealers and Dead Donkeys by Ronald Burdge

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