Do men and women generally view cars and car sales differently?  (Okay – here come the posts.)  One article suggests that they do.  I express no opinion about assertions in the article, mainly because I am not in the mood for controversy on a Monday.  Take a look -

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/catherine-lutz/why-your-car-dealer-may-b_b_616670.html 

Do you remember your first set of keys?  Were you fortunate enough to have keys to your own car, or were “your” car keys really your parents’ keys for their “not so cool” car?  Whichever was the case, your car keys represented a lot of things.  Freedom.  Mobility.  The ability to “get away.”  Car dealers understand these things, and they can use them to your disadvantage.

The longer a car dealer keeps you at the lot, the more likely it is that you are going to buy a car.  You begin to feel committed to the salesperson.  You feel like you have invested so much time in the buying process that you should complete it.  These are valid feelings, but they do not help you make an intelligent, economic decision.  Nevertheless, car dealers play into these feelings.  If a car dealer cannot use more subtle ways of keeping you at the dealership until the deal is closed, they might “throw your keys on the roof.”

If you have driven to the dealer a vehicle that you might trade, a car dealer might ask for the keys to the vehicle.  The salesperson will tell you that she needs to get an appraisal of your trade-in.  She will then hand the keys off to an unknown employee, who in turn disappears.  If it seems to the salesperson that negotiations are not going well, your keys will be magically “lost.”  The car dealer has effectively thrown the keys on the roof, so that they cannot be found.  There was a time when some dealers would literally throw the keys on the roof in order to “lose” them.  Now, dealer employees might say to each other “put them on the roof” as a way to say, “Let’s play keep-away with the keys.”  At this point, the dealer will pull out every sales technique in the book to sell you a car.  You continually ask for your keys only to be told, “We are still looking for them.”  You are stuck.  Your car is at the dealer, and you have no way to leave.

How do you avoid this situation?  Do not give your keys to anyone until you have a written deal, including terms for your trade-in.  This might seem cumbersome, but you need to avoid allowing a dealer to control when you can leave.  Otherwise, you might make a car-buying decision that you will later regret.

There was actually a case in the Dallas-Fort Worth area years ago in which a hearing impaired person was allegedly treated this way.  Here is the Fort Worth Court of Appeals opinion (later reversed by the Texas Supreme Court) -

881_S_W_2D_843_1-23-10_1042

You purchase a car or truck from a car dealer.  The dealer tells you that that vehicle is in great shape.  It has never been wrecked.  You, like most people, are excited.  You can’t wait to show the car or truck to friends and family.  Your vehicle, whether new or new to you, looks great.  Then, things change.

You might take your vehicle to a mechanic for repairs, and he asks you about the prior wreck.  Or, your uncle Fred, a lifelong car buff, notes a discoloration in the paint on a portion of the car and asks when the car was wrecked.  Or, you begin to notice that a door on the truck does not close correctly.  You begin to believe that you have been defrauded.

Aside from the anger, shame, and mental anguish that arises, what are your economic damages?  You might need to pay to have certain things repaired as a result of the prior wreck.   However, even if the damage from the prior wreck has been fixed, your vehicle’s value might be less as a result of the wreck and repair.  This economic loss is known as “diminished value.”

You can probably perform some research on your own to get an idea as to the diminished value.  However, it is preferable to hire an expert.  Here are links to a few companies who purport be be experts on diminished value.  I don’t vouch for any of them.

http://www.autoloss.com/

http://www.collisionclaims.com/index.asp

http://www.mycarlostvalue.com/

Source: Wikipedia

Car sellers sell hundreds of thousands of rebuilt wrecks to unsuspecting consumers every year.  Aside from the safety concerns with potentially shoddy repairs, rebuilt wreck can have a significantly diminished value.  Take a look at this short news story -

Source: Wikipedia

If you like high-end cars (Porsche, Ferrari, Lamborghini, etc.), here is a great discussion site -

http://www.teamspeed.com/forums/

Dream on -

A Miami-Dade County jury assessed $50,000.00 in punitive damages against local dealership Bull Motors, Inc. d/b/a Maroone Ford of Miami.  The plaintiff in the case was represented at trial by attorney James M. Loren, with Loren & Mercer, P.A.  The consumer sued for alleged unfair and deceptive practices, as well as for other causes of action.  We have no knowledge as to the truth or falsity of the plaintiff’s allegations.  We post below the third amended complaint (with attachments removed) and the verdict forms (with a juror’s name redacted).

third-amended-complaint1

verdict-form1

verdict-form-punitive-damages

It is now common to purchase a car online, sight unseen.  The portion of Ebay devoted to vehicle sales is thriving.  However, as with any consumer transaction, buyers must be wary.  One car dealer recently plead guilty to grand theft and passing bad checks related to his online car business.  A link to the article (active as of this post) is here -

http://www.limaohio.com/news/shin-39103-prison-years.html