7 Tricks Your Car Dealership Uses To Rip You Off

There are plenty of monetary minefields that often come from dealing with certain dealerships. Some inflict bogus fees on their customers, while others recommend products, services, and maintenance regimens that have nothing to do with the well-being of you or your car. It doesn't even stop when you buy the car: Some dealerships service departments are just as bad as the sales teams themselves.

As a dealer myself, I've seen 'em all. Here are just seven of the worst strategies that are commonly used by unscrupulous car dealers in an attempt to separate you from your savings.

1. The documentation fee is BS

There are only three real costs when it comes to documenting the purchase of your vehicle: the cost of a few sheets of paper, the ink used to print the contract on those sheets, and the labor involved in handing you a pen, so that you can sign off on everything. That's it. Everything else? It's covered under the state mandated cost of tax, tag, and title registration.


2. Beware botched paperwork

This one really ticks me off. The amounts on the paperwork are perfect to the penny, and yet, they aren't the amounts earlier agreed on by you or the dealership. Your response should be simple: if a dealer does this, walk and never look back.

3. Never get additional warranties

Arguably the biggest scam in car business, dealerships offer a warranty from a third-party company—not them or the manufacturer. These warranties are generally riddled with legal loopholes designed to limit or reject any future big ticket repair issues that would've otherwise made the warranty worthwhile to you. Then, these firms purchase tons of industry data to handicap their warranties so that they win and you lose. You're basically betting against a casino with rigged dice.

4. "Engine cleaning" is not a thing

Manufacturers don't ever recommend using this, and any dealer that pushes it is selling you a downright false recommendation. If you're offered this at a dealership, be warned: you're in a snake pit. The same can be said for any other service not stipulated by your owner's manual.


5. Don't get aftermarket add-ons

The list of add-ons like etching the VIN on your windows or applying a Fargo-esque "Tru-Coat" to your vehicle is as endless as it is bogus. Still, some distributors and dealerships conspire to make this an added-on cost.

6. Disingenuous trade-in offers=scam

Your phone rings, and the dealership offers you a certain amount for your car. When you get there, the offer turns into a low-ball offer. Assuming your car's not a complete mess, you're dealing with a so-called "bait-and-switch" tactic that is filled with just enough loopholes to be legalized. Run. Fast.

7. Unnecessary service department fees are a lie

The dealer is charged as little as one cent per quart of oil in state fees, and it gets to turn around and sell it to a recycler, because used oil's actually worth something on the open market. Those disposal and recycling fees are bogus. So is any claim that more diagnostic time is needed: most issues are found in just fifteen minutes thanks to advanced diagnostic equipment that comes directly from the manufacturer.

Steven Lang is the co-developer of the Long-Term Quality Index, a study designed to give the average car buyer a picture of the long-term reliability of different makes and models based on real-world used vehicle data. You can find the results of that study here.