The Four-Square Scam

Who’s involved? – New and Used Dealerships

What is it?  - The four-square scam is a common tactic used by dealerships to convince you into making a bad deal.  The trick is, they do all of this right under your nose.  With a single sheet sectioned into four squares, they can manipulate you to the point where you are paying them exactly what they want, maybe more and you come out thinking you’ve gotten everything you’ve asked for.  By breaking the sheet up into the four sections (value of trade-in, price of new car, down payment amount and monthly payment) the salesman can get a good gage for your concerns and re-work the numbers to reflect this.  If you’re worried about over paying monthly, they’ll find a way to adjust this to your liking, but sublimate this price on one of the other three squares.  They play this game in rounds, constantly taking the “new” numbers back to the sales manager for approval.  In the end, you’ll be locked into a contract and you’ll feel good, but you will have been squeezed like a Florida orange on a Sunday.

How to avoid? – If you walk into a dealership that uses the four-square method, you should highly consider walking out.  Even if you play the game, there is too much time and effort spent and not nearly enough result.  If you really must play, the best thing is to start by leveling with the salesman.  Tell him you know how the method works and then lay out the price you do want.  Make him work around you, not pretend to.  You won’t get the exact deal you want, but you can find common ground.  Either way, make sure you pay attention as the salesman powers through his routine.  Don’t let him act as if he is there to be your friend, he’s there to make a deal.

Terms & Trigger words to avoid? – “Let me take it to my manager” is the primary trigger term to keep an ear open to.  When a salesman says this, they don’t have to take it to their manager because the manager already knows.  It’s a shadow game and the manager is the one calling the shots from a back room.  They already know what you want and what they’re going to give you, it’s a matter of you taking control back without them realizing.

Take it from One Stop Motors.  Don't let them play their mind games on you, your pocketbook will appreciate it!

One Day Only Scam

Who’s involved? – New and Used Dealerships

What is it?  -  The one day only scam isn’t as much a scam as it is carefully orchestrated tactic used by car dealers.  The idea of offering a “sale” for one day on a lot vehicle is simply set up to nudge potential buyers into actual buyers.  By only offering the sale at that current time, they put a sense of urgency on you into making you believe if you walk you will miss out.  The truth is, if you walk you can probably find a similar or better deal.  If you can’t, don’t worry, incentives and promotional cycle through a dealership like a revolving door.  Odds are, you will make a much better purchase, with a better deal, if you do your homework and don’t submit to impulse.

How to avoid? – The best way to avoid this is by simply understanding that the one day sale is a strategy.  If you know this, then you won’t feel the pressure of having to make a quick decision.  You can wait it out, you can seek out other dealerships and offers.  If you’re bold enough to call a salesmen on his bluff, do so and flex your comprehensive car buying knowledge.  This might get the dealer to rethink any dastardly devised ways to squeeze money out of you.  After all, if they know you’re keen on them, they won’t have much play at all. 

Terms & Trigger words to avoid? – The trigger words here is “one day only”.  No dealership is only going to have a sale for one day only.  That’s just bad business.   Proposing that you do, however, is a good way to catch those uninformed consumers that don’t realize this.  If you hear the trigger words stumble from a salesmen’s mouth, take a walk, see how they enjoy that. 

Take it from One Stop Motors, the #1 car advertising company online.  

Disappearing Trade-In Scam

Who’s involved? – New and Used Dealerships

What is it?  -  This scam happens when buyers bring their current car into a dealership with aspirations of making a good deal to get top value for trading in their old for a new one.  Dealers can very easily alter text and phrases to make your trade-in disappear from your contract.  Another way this works is when they advertise that they will take any trade-in, even if the vehicle doesn’t work.  The reason they implement this strategy is because they can buy your car from you for almost nothing.  While this doesn’t seem so bad, it’s the fact that the money they paid for your car is money you are already entitled through a rebate or incentive.  Most dealers don’t want you to know that and so they advertise accordingly by appealing to your willingness to get a deal on your beat up car.

How to avoid? – Avoiding any trade-in scam is easy; don’t trade your car in.  Sell it privately or through a selling agent.  Take the profit you made of that car and put it towards payments on your new car.  If you must trade your car in, do not expect to get the best value for it.  No dealership will offer you top dollar for a trade-in.  If you do go this road, make sure you see the savings from your trade-in in the contract before you sign it. 

Terms & Trigger words to avoid? – “Push, Pull or Tow”  This is the type of advertising slogan dealerships use to convince you to trade your car in with them.  While not all dealers who do this are out to rob you, a vast amount more than you may think know this trick and use this ploy to play consumers.

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An Introduction into Auto Fraud

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