disclaimer, this is just my experience, I don't know that this happens at all dealerships, but I suspect it does CC, it's actually a little more insidious than

disclaimer, this is just my experience, I don't know that this happens at all dealerships, but I suspect it does CC, it's actually a little more insidious than that; dealerships have always survived on the asymmetry of information between dealer and buyer. Not to sensationalize, this happens in roughly 30% of sales, (usually by the sales person without actually thinking about it)... 1. A person has seen a car online that they want. They may do the legwork and research the car. 2. The walk into the dealership looking to buy the car. The 1 thing people don't think about (generally) is the financing. 3. They find out that they don't have the credit, income, etc... to actually finance that car. 4. The sales person "places" them on a new car, one that they haven't researched. 5. The buyer gets caught up in the moment, falls in love with a car etc... They buy the car for way more than its worth. This is why Dealers hate companies like TrueCar. It destroys the asymmetry. It's also why dealerships are getting squeezed; the average deal takes a few hours, in that time, people can use their phones to check the car they're buying. It's an interesting dynamic.