In
a perfect world, people would be unquestionably honest in every aspect of their
lives. There would be no need for things
like safes and security, as there would be no threat to a person’s lifestyle or
finances. In a perfect world, there
would be no such thing as automotive fraud.
Unfortunately for us all, this is far from a perfect world. As a result, the safeguarding of one’s assets
is an absolute necessity. While it is a
stretch to say the world is inherently dishonest, it is not bold to admit that
fraud is a familiar mechanism in the business machine. The sly but suited methodology involved with
duping an uninformed consumer has been considered artistry for most
con-men. The ability to present
something faulty as something fair has infected every industry in the
world. The automotive market is no
different.
The
perpetual public perception of automotive dealers as being silver tongued thieves
out to cope a feel on customer’s pockets is but one example of how society
views fraud in the automotive world.
While a larger portion of dealers and car salesmen are simply people
trying to support a family, there are those who wind their watch to a crooked
clock. The reason behind most sorrow
stories involving fraud has to do with basic lack of knowledge on the consumer
end. Not knowing what is standard and
what is a scam can lead most buyers down a dangerous path of being misinformed
and mistreated. The first line of
defense to avoid such a woeful fate is to know what to look for.
Fraud
in terms of automotives generally exists in the pre-owned market. Yes, buying new from a dealership can still
set you up for a contractual robbery, but most automotive fraud happens with
used cars sold through dealerships and private sellers. The reason being is it is much easier to
unload a shoddy, busted car that has miles on it than a brand new one. People buy used and scam artists know this,
so they can manipulate the system to make it appear as though they are selling
a legitimate steal of a ride, only for the buyer to find out later that what
they actually bought was a lemon. A lemon car is the universal term for a
vehicle that is found to be defective only after being sold. They can be new or used, with the new side
usually coming off the production line with defects in the mechanics or a
specific part that has either been overlooked or ignored by manufacturers. If this is the case, these cars will usually
be recalled by makers to replace any hazard.
For used lemons, they can be rundown and disguised by the selling party
in order to pawn it off on an unsuspecting victim. They may run fine for a stretch of miles or
at a certain speed, but given time and distance will fall apart. There is much legislation regarding lemon
vehicles that protect buyers from dishonest sellers, but pre-owned vehicles are
mostly outside the law as it is more of a case of buyer beware.
There
are countless other ways one can be tricked into buying a lemon car. Dishonest dealerships have a bag of methods
that play into this. Replacing the VIN
number of a car, failure to disclose the vehicle history and rolling back the
odometer are a few of these. Most of
this can be countered by getting a vehicle history report from such providers
as CarFax and AutoCheck.com. These
companies will provide anyone with the accident history of any given VIN
number. If the report comes up as salvage
and the seller doesn’t mention this, which should be an alarm that the vehicle
may be a lemon.
The
importance of a test drive is everything.
Knowing what to look for in a test drive is more than kicking tires and
starting engines. Smoke and sound is a
huge factor. It is always recommended
that you contact a trusted mechanic in regards to any vehicle you are thinking
about purchasing. They know better than
you and having them at your disposal is the same as having a seat belt in a
snow storm. Still, something as simple
as asking why the seller is selling the vehicle can set off alarms as well. Watch and listen to their responses as you
rifle through questions about the engine, the history and previous
maintenance. You don’t need to be a
detective to tell if someone is trying to hide a crucial defect from you. All you need is awareness and understanding
to turn a potential fraud mistake into a well informed decision.
Check
in with us regularly as we bring you more advice regarding automotive fraud
prevention. As always, you can find us
at One Stop Motors!
Tyler
Baker; OSM Writer
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