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My favorite thing is the documentation fee. Yeah, we're going to charge you a fee because we're selling you a car and we have to put in some information. Tax? T
by post_break 3y ago
My favorite thing is the documentation fee. Yeah, we're going to charge you a fee because we're selling you a car and we have to put in some information. Tax? Title? License? Don't forget the bullshit documentation fee. How about the fee just because we can fee. Nitrogen in the tires? Window tint that we install on every car that touches our lot no matter what that we up charge 100% on?
And then how about an extended warranty? Want to finance through us so we can double dip?
Buying a car in America is one big show and dance as to who can screw the customer the most. And then god forbid you need to get service on the vehicle, they will do everything they possibly can to make sure it's not covered under warranty.
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoThis is why buying a used car from a private individual is a much nicer experience and probably how I will buy any future car.
- RankingMember 3y agoYeah, with some rare exceptions, I think I agree: even if you happen across an untrustworthy person in person-to-person sales, at least they don't have the additional benefit of a whole infrastructure around them set up specifically to aid in screwing you.
- antiframe 3y agoRight. People tell me "but how can you trust a perfect stranger?" To which I reply most people selling cars are honest. Most car salesmen are dishonest. I trust private sellers more than I trust car salesmen.
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoGet the car checked out by a trusted mechanic or shop before buying it (a mechanic or shop that you've used before). They charge less than $200. Yes, they can miss problems, but they're not going to miss obvious problems. i've done this and the buyers never had a problem with it. If the buyer pressures you, "I've got 3 other people lined up to buy", then walk. You don't need THAT car THAT badly.
- PreachSoup 3y agoIt's also generally nicer to have a check up before using anyway. Even for a new car
- TedDoesntTalk 3y agoI've never heard of getting a new car checked out before driving it. Interesting. What would you expect to find? That the car might have been abused at the dealership before it was sold?
- sandworm101 3y agoLots of new cars have been damaged. It isn't every car, but enough that one should look. Sometimes it is little things like dents done during shipping and fixed by the local dealer. Then there are occasional major repairs done if something went wrong at the factory during assembly. And we cannot forget that Tesla that was delivered "new" but missing a brake pad.
- Arrath 3y agoQC/QA isn't an infallible process (see: Boeing) and defects or even missing parts may well slip by as the vehicle leaves the factory. Though, I haven't gone so far as to have a new car inspected by a mechanic, personally.
- throwaway2203 3y agoare sellers normally willing to drive to your mechanic/shop? or do you have to find one that will meet you somewhere?
- JohnFen 3y agoEvery time I've purchased a used car from a real person, getting it to my mechanic for a once-over has never been a problem. Usually, they've let me take the car there myself pre-purchase, sometimes wanting me to leave some sort of collateral (such as the car I drove to them in). They already know where I live and what my phone number is, so if I steal their car, the cops won't have any problem finding me. A couple of times, I've been fine with buying the car first, but with a clause in a sales contract saying that I have the right to return the car within 3 days for a full refund (basically replicating the effects of my state's lemon law. The lemon law only applies to new car purchases). But the mechanic's check has never actually revealed any issues that the seller hadn't already disclosed to me. People tend to be pretty honest about those sorts of things.
- post_break 3y agoExcept it would be a complete dud, have spun bearings masked with thick oil, any number of issues. Oh and then you get to pay tax on that purchase again.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- Broken_Hippo 3y agoYou can get it looked over by a mechanic before you buy. You can take it on a test drive - I thought this was standard practice. And I'll mention that your likelihood of major horribleness is much less if you are buying a newer car rather than an older one. And yes, you might have to pay taxes, but you get that with the dealership as well. Dealerships aren't immune to taxes.
- post_break 3y agoMy point about the taxes was just frustration. Buy and sell a car 100 times, pay taxes on it 100 times. It's theft.
- gwd 3y agoOne could also say that ownership is theft: you're putting up a fence and preventing other people from using a resource, backed with a gun. More reasonable people acknowledge that there are obligations both ways: Society has an obligation to the individual (private rights and ownership), and individuals have an obligation to society (taxes and limitations on what you can do to private property). I do agree that sales taxes seem kind of weird and arbitrary way to collect society's obligations. Personally I prefer something along the lines of Georgeism, where only property is taxed. This makes the ownership / taxation thing symmetric.
- Broken_Hippo 3y agoNo, it is just tax. Tax is part of a person's contribution to society. If you aren't getting much value for your taxes, perhaps elect better people to handle that tax money.
- JohnFen 3y agoI have always preferred buying used cars from real people over used car companies because the companies tend to be sleazy. I've never been burned or disappointed buying from a real person. I've bought two cars from used car dealers and deeply regretted both of those purchases.
- MikeTheRocker 3y agoIn contrast, buying my Tesla new was about as easy as any Amazon order. I don't know why other car manufacturers don't make D2C a bigger focus for their business.
- qmarchi 3y agoMy Polestar purchase was essentially the same way. PS put restrictions on what the dealership could actually offer as addons (tow-hook, overhead rais for skis, and all weather door mats; all official addons), which meant that I walked in, signed the deal, and was out in about 30 minutes. Still not as ideal as other countries, but cest la vie.
- Anechoic 3y agoI don't know why other car manufacturers don't make D2C a bigger focus for their business Because in most cases it's literally illegal. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_dealerships_in_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Car_dealerships_in_the_United_...
- ranger207 3y agoIIRC dealerships were required because manufacturers were screwing over customers before. So much of modern society is ultimately due to path dependence
- AnthonyMouse 3y agoDealerships were required because the carmakers started consolidating and dealing with incumbents in a consolidated market is terrible. But it doesn't actually work because you're still ultimately dealing with them indirectly. The actual solution should have been to break up the Big Three, though of course that happened anyway as foreign competitors came into the market and the argument for continued bans on direct sales has essentially evaporated. The exception is service, because that's actually a separate market and not just a middle man on sales in the original market. Prohibiting manufacturers from operating service centers and leaving it to independent mechanics is essentially a ban on vertical integration and still makes a lot of sense. Because service for a particular model of car is in many ways back to being a consolidated market, since that model may need specific parts or tools and you still want to maintain a competitive market for service for customers with that model of car. You also want to make sure mechanics can service cars of multiple makes, since that fosters competition too.
- mmvasq 3y agoThat is an old trick from companies exposed to a great deal of liability to cover the legal and administrative costs of perfection.
- immibis 3y agoIt's fine for them to cover the costs. They just have to include all the price (except sales tax in the USA for some reason) in the price tag just like every other company. You don't go to McDonalds, order some food that says $5, and then pay $5 for the food, $3.99 for being allowed to eat it, and $0.99 for processing the transaction.
- LiquidSky 3y agoYet!
- singleshot_ 3y agoTo the dealership’s credit, McDonald’s is probably not selling you a McDLT on credit and they probably don’t have to file a UCC-1.
- gigel82 3y agoI've leased 3 Nissan Leafs from the same salesman because he has a no-bs pricing model. What he advertises is exactly what you pay, no additional fees or anything. He earned a bunch of #1 salesman of the year in the world awards precisely because of that, so maybe others have something to learn. Last renewal, the Nissans were out of my budget so I had to go with a different car, and I was brutally reminded of how absolutely awful the experience is: after seeing an ad online and emailing the salesguy to confirm the complete pricing, once I got there he started the dog&pony show of "let me talk to my manager", "that was actually just for one specific car which we already sold", "but that doesn't include these 7 fees we're adding to all cars", etc. It was disgusting.
- rootusrootus 3y agoThe way to do it now is entirely by email. If they won't take the time to write up an actual sales agreement and sign it, stop talking to them. Never ever go into a dealership with just a promise to act in good faith.
- AnthonyMouse 3y ago> I've leased 3 Nissan Leafs from the same salesman because he has a no-bs pricing model. What he advertises is exactly what you pay, no additional fees or anything. He earned a bunch of #1 salesman of the year in the world awards precisely because of that, so maybe others have something to learn. This is what Saturn did in the 1990s across the entire brand and customers loved it. Then they stopped making their own cars. The Saturn Ion was a Chevy Cobalt with a Saturn badge. But that doesn't work because they can't set the Saturn price in a way that saves both the customer and the dealer the trouble of haggling or customers wouldn't go to the Chevy dealer, whereas if they set the same MSRP for the same car then customers go to the Chevy dealer so they can haggle for a discount. And you can't split the difference or customers self-select and nobody pays MSRP at the Chevy dealer. Then when that didn't work they discontinued the brand instead of going back to the original model.