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Car Advertising
There is an old saying in the car business that goes something
like "you can't sell them a car in an ad. You've got to get them in the door." In the competitive business
that is automobile retailing, dealers will get very "creative" in their efforts to bring you in their
doors. The problem occurs when the creativity that brings you into the dealership carries with it requirements
that are unacceptable to you--e.g., down payments that are too high, or limited or no inventory of the model advertised.
Knowing what you can expect in car advertising prepares you to sort out the good ads from the bad ads.
Ploys to avoid
 "Big Sales" Big, heavily advertised sales, tent sales, "factory authorized sales"
(the only thing the factory authorizes the dealer to do is sell the car to you) and such. Special mailings promising
you huge savings or enclosing a special "rebate" check. Our experience has been that those who buy a
car at these "big sales" generally pay more than those who do their buying at "normal" times.
Why? The atmosphere of the sale makes it appear that if you don't buy the car now you will lose out, that the price
will go up or someone will buy the car out from under you. Car business adage: "It's not the deal the customer
gets, but the deal they think they get, that matters."
"Ad Cars" You probably do not want to buy the advertised specials. Why? New cars will generally be
lacking some equipment that may be very important to you (e.g. an automatic transmission or air conditioning).
Advertised used cars may not only lack some equipment, but will likely have much higher mileage than normal. Dealers
will special order new cars (and buy used cars at the auction) that will make good "ad cars." If you
see a price that looks exceptionally good, call the dealership to confirm equipment and/or mileage. If they can't
give you a straight answer or tell you that they don't know the answers to your questions, move on!
"The Fine Print" Read it. All of it. The asterisk after the price and the fine print that
it leads to is there for a reason. Better to know in advance that there are requirements to get the "special
price" that you can't live with rather than to arrive at the dealer and find the requirements out. Beware
of such ploys as "prices good only until 9:00 PM day of publication" or "only 1 at this price. Hundreds
more at similar pricing."
Finance and Lease Specials Knowing that a large number of car buyers are interested only in the monthly
payment (the worst type of buyer to be!!), dealerships will often play to this weakness by highlighting payments
in their advertising. This can be a double whammy--they can grab you on the price of the car and then grab you
again on the financing of the car. Watch out for large downpayments or long finance or lease terms to get to the
"low payment" that is advertised. Read up on pricing and financing before you respond to a payment advertisement.
"If it seems too good to be true..." You know the cliché: "If it seems too good to be true,
it probably is." There are few places where this applies more than in automobile advertising. Remember, with
new cars you are dealing with some pretty established factors: the M.S.R.P. of the car is the same everywhere,
and all dealers pay the same prices for their new cars. Financing is really just a case of 2+2=4. It never varies.
If an ad seems unusually good--whether in price or payment--look a lot deeper look into the ad. (See "the
fine print" and "ad cars" above).
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