Auto dealer Napleton fined $10M for illegal fees and discrimination
ftc.gov
ftc.gov
I’m happy to see this.
The customer review rating however is 1.22 out of 5.
https://www.bbb.org/us/il/oakbrook-terrace/profile/new-car-d...
But now I wonder if we (or just I?) were all just too unsophisticated to see that BBB had been captured by the businesses they purport to review.
The F&I office at a car dealership is just such a terrible place. Even if they're not outright trying to cheat you like this, they flood the zone with fast talk about options and numbers, with a healthy dollop of scare tactics to get you to buy "protection plans" you don't need. It's this bizarre mix of complimenting you and insulting your intelligence -- "you seem like a smart guy so I'm sure you're looking at the extended protection plan!"
Everything else aside, buying a Tesla was refreshing because I was able to buy a new car on the internet like I'd buy a new blender on Amazon. No "the price is this if you finance and that if you don't," no push for warranties or prepaid service plans, and no obfuscation around finance rates and payments, etc. I ordered and paid for the car online, went to the store to unlock it with my phone, and drove off.
Yeah, my reaction to that rap sheet was, "wait, that's illegal and actually enforced"? Um FTC, you've got a realllllly long list ahead of you. (Not that it's a bad thing to actually enforce this stuff.)
I have had pretty good luck laying on my don't give a shit demeanor extra thick.
Out of 7 car purchases in 10 years I have had one instance where I should have walked out because the extended warranty BS was insulting (Honda) and once I threatened to walk if they didn't Due Bill a replacement second key - he didn't like that at all... (BMW).
Glass prison or dirty prison? I suppose it depends on one's confidence in wading through the scammers but getting a better deal. Find cars that have been on the lot almost 30 days - they need to dump them before the dealer has to pay the bank.
NGL I actually laughed at the last one. It wasn't intentional, just as they made a specific comment about part of the drivetrain, I couldn't take them seriously anymore.
They didn't really know what to do about that, which helped things out.
> Everything else aside, buying a Tesla was refreshing because I was able to buy a new car on the internet like I'd buy a new blender on Amazon.
Saturn did this. I think Scion did too, but could be wrong on that. My first 2 car purchase experience were at Saturn dealerships and TBF it left me ill-prepared for the 'typical' dealership experience.
I will say that Truecar was pretty helpful in purchasing one of my cars; at the time I wound up getting invoice on a custom order without a bit of haggling about price. They did do the F&I bit but honestly it was fairly low pressure, (helped it was late in the day and the end of the month so they wanted it on the books.)
My last purchase, I was referred by a friend, the salesfolks were up front and didn't upcharge. Yeah they did the F&I thing but were otherwise as close to the Saturn experience as I ever could have wanted.
> with a healthy dollop of scare tactics to get you to buy "protection plans" you don't need.
Some of them are kinda useful, but case dependent.
- My WRX, I opted for the special windshield coat due to my work route at the time being -terrible- for windshields (I went through 2 in one year on my previous car...) And sure enough that crap worked. Between coating applications you could see the dimples. I also opted for Rim protection on that car. In my case it paid for itself, because #PureMichigan
- I've -never- opted for an enhanced warranty. I typically take the cost of replacing the most expensive component that could fail within 5 years (and/or the mileage I'd expect to drive in that time) and not be covered within the provided warranties, and compare to what they want for an extended plan. It's almost never worth doing.
> "the price is this if you finance and that if you don't,"
Finance/incentives are weird on the surface, but If you think about 'X$ cash back OR Y% APR through <financing arm>' (where Y is better-ish than common rate,) It's really just buying off the extra interest, like points on a mortgage. Depending on where your credit is at, that financing-arm option may be a better one than others anyway (always shop around though.)
Incidentally my first new car was a Scion and the sales process wasn’t nearly as smooth as they’d like you to think it was.
The extent of the ”Pure Pricing” system was that a dealership posted a menu of the vehicle and service prices, and that was the price you paid. It wasn’t a nationally set price — the dealer could price the car as they wished, and everyone who walks in pays that price.
All that really changed about the dealership experience was that once I picked a car on the lot, there was no price negotiation to do, so they handed me right off to the Toyota dealership’s F&I guy and it was the standard slimy F&I experience from there.
It certainly was not an experience where I was able to go to Scion Dot Com, choose the car, arrange financing and trade-in online, and the delivery appointment is a quick thing where you drop your trade and go. That was the experience with Tesla; I spent all of 15 minutes physically at the store on delivery day and 10 of it was just me adjusting the seats/mirrors and logging into Spotify.
But, especially in cases where civil enforcement is on behalf of and recovers money for harmed individuals, it's often higher priority as well as being faster because their is a lower barrier to initiation.
According to 815 ILCS 505 there are only three defined instances that warrant a felony charge and this is only if there is a previous conviction(misdemeanor).
I'll leave it to you to show me where in the U.S.C. there is an opportunity to charge them with a felony.
Those people are nearly immune from criminal wrongdoings.
The number one cause of micro plastics near waterways comes from car tires.
I don't think you have to buy a Muskmobile to avoid rapacious dealers.
Tesla just formalizes this by forbidding negotiation. Some people like that. But historically people like to negotiate on big purchases. It's a game, how close to invoice can you get, etc. Can't really have it both ways.
And frankly, most people like to pick from inventory, too, and have options. Tesla doesn't carry inventory nor do they really have much in the way of options. They're catering to a niche. People who are okay with a limited selection and are willing to wait.
Every dealership I've been to will nod their head then precede to upsell you in F&I. They'll make sure you don't actually get to F&I until you've been their for 5 hours where you're so tired, hungry, and agitated you just want to gtfo with your car. That's not to mention todays market where every dealer acts like and prices like its a privilege to be able to pay them $50,000+ for a vehicle.
(setting aside the pandemic)
you always want to do your research before ever going to a dealer, any dealer. after that you go and see the car + test drive it.
after that you talk $$$. if you drag this process for more than 30-40 min or try stupid stuff, as a customer I will get up and walk. Also for my last car the dealer had a guy that was assigned specifically for internet sales and I actually saw the car in person + worked out all the details through email.
again, as a customer (minus the pandemic shiftshow which will eventually die down) you have the power to decide what is and what is not acceptable.
In this car market they’d be crazy to give up a car without upselling, given manufacturers’ prohibitions on raising prices.
Buy a Tesla.
Don't just go make Elon richer.