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Always ask questions and remain skeptical when buying a car…
A news story out of the Raleigh, North Carolina area of a woman suing an auto dealership over a private party sale seems confusing at first. However, as you dig into the details, what you get is a good warning of some of the shady practices used car lots might engage in to sell a problem vehicle.
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According to the local report, a woman found an alleged private party Toyota Solara for sale. When she met the salesman, the man asked her to follow him to a car dealership, but she insisted that she would buy the vehicle from him, not the dealership. This is a red flag.
Also, the Toyota had a salvage title, something the seller explained away as only minor damage. This is another red flag. It appears that the woman let herself be pushed into the sale when she should have just walked away. Whenever a deal presents red flags like who’s actually selling you the vehicle, a salvage title, or unexplained damage, it might be best to find something else.
We could ask everyone to share stories of shady dealership practices they’ve experienced firsthand and would have enough material to fill a whole series of articles. There are so many jokes out there about crummy used car salesmen that it’s just become a part of popular culture. Yet there still seem to be many members of society who don’t understand that they need to be on their guard when interacting with drug dealers.
To be fair, you still have to stay frosty when buying from a private party. Not only are there curbside dealers and auto pinball machines out there, some private parties are pretty deceptive and know how to hide the big problems in a vehicle.
Your best defense is always to ask lots of questions and don’t let anyone push you into buying a car. Dealerships will try to create urgency by shoving a sales contract in your face, offering a big discount if you buy then, or saying someone else will be coming to see the vehicle shortly. Buy the car at your own pace, not the seller’s.
If you discover that the car you bought has serious problems that have not been disclosed before, you can do what this woman did and talk to an attorney. She was successful in her case and now she has the money to fix all the problems with Toyota. But it’s best to avoid these problem vehicles whenever possible by observing the red flags.
Source: WRAL
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