Post by msdemos on Jan 22, 2020 2:28:30 GMT
This is fascinating.....and SO typical of the "joys" of the car buying experience....
Have you ever heard of the "new car radio scam"?
Don Shively, former English Teacher at Iewah Women's University, Kook Min University, Sam Sung Mulsan, Seoul Office. Luc...
Updated Apr 15, 2019
I got this bit of advice from the Clark Howard financial advice radio show and it worked. I used to drive 4 hours to work and back each day. As a result, I will not get behind the wheel without an audio book playing in the car. CA traffic demands it.
I was buying a brand new ’07 Toyota Corolla in white, the cheapest model. The only “extra” I wanted was the upgraded radio that played both CD’s and cassettes. I had a ton of both types of audio books. The car came with a CD only radio. In the negotiation room, I followed Clark’s advice.
#1 I took notes and hung on to them.
#2 If you order an upgrade radio, insist the original radio (that you paid for already) be placed in the trunk of the car in the upgrade radio’s box.
Most often, people will not miss the brand new radio their car came with until years later when the upgrade breaks and they have no radio to switch over to without great expense.
Also, that stock radio is a free $300 to the salesman. When some guy comes in with a car whose radio has been stolen, he has “just the thing” in stock. And he sells him YOUR radio!
Of course, I had to come back in a day to collect my car while they swapped the radio out. When I was just at the bottom line of signatures and hand shakes, I said “And my original radio is boxed up in the trunk for me, right?”
The guy’s face turned white. “Uh, what are you talking about?”
I reminded him about our conversation. “I am buying a second radio and had you install it. My wife also has a Toyota Corolla. That extra radio of mine might come in handy if the CD quits in either car.”
He said, “Uh, we never do that! That is not our policy.” I told him he had agreed to it the day before and asked what had changed.
“Nothing. We don’t do this!”
He could see his money melting away. He called the manager. The manager mimicked what he had said. Then I pulled out my notes.
“Original radio to be placed in upgrade radio’s box, in the trunk upon delivery,” was written plainly at the bottom of the page in the steno pad.
I pointed to it and he said, “That’s not a tape recorder!”
I asked, “How did I know you would try to cheat me like this?” He stuttered as I began to gather my wife and things from the table.
“Too bad, but I guess you don’t want to sell me this car today.” I walked out of the office with both of them in tow.
“Uh, it will take us a while to ….”
I turned sharply on him and in a loud voice said, “YOU MEAN, YOU HAVE ALREADY SOLD MY RADIO?”
“Sir! you don’t want the car?”
“Not without both radios I bought! Now just go over to the parts department and get me a new one off the shelf or I’m leaving right now.”
I got my radio.
Five years later my wife’s radio broke and we had a shiny new one that fit right into place. We never did business with that dealership again. I still have the car to this day.
Recently, I bought a rebuilt radio for it and had it installed. While they did this overnight, the scum stole my passenger side airbag.
Go figure.
www.quora.com/Have-you-ever-heard-of-the-new-car-radio-scam
SAVE FERRIS