Post Sale Tactics at Dealerships

The deal is done. The contract has been signed. It's almost time to drive off into the sunset with your new car that you have just purchased from the dealer.

If you used your own money or a finance plan that you organised before buying, I'd like to say well done and congratulations. Good stuff!! I only wish more people did the same and I hope to spread this message with my blog.

After a sale, a dealer will try to get you to sign up to all sorts of crazy stuff you will not need. They will try to gouge more money out of your wallet if they were unsuccessful with the car deal.

The tactics they will try to "upsell" you on are -


**Extended Warranties** - Most cars come with a 5 year 100,000km (60,000 mile) factory warranty. Extended warranties in my experience are NOT worth the paper they are written on. Meaning, if something does go wrong after 5 years and/or 100,000km, the dealer will go to every extent to void your warranty claim which means finding ANY excuse, clause or condition to say no, we won't fix that for free and you will ending up paying for it anyway.

**Tinted Windows** - Some cars are fitted with tinted windows when they are assembled at the factory and the dealer will charge you a premium to get your windows tinted by an aftermarket supplier.

Go straight to the aftermarket retailer providing the product and service, DO NOT go through the dealer because you will be price gouged. The dealer will on almost all occasions go to the SAME retail supplier to get the tint done but wack on a premium on top when you could negotiate a better price with the retailer yourself.

**Paint Protection** - This is just a fancy way of selling a VERY expensive car wash, polish and wax which in my honest opinion, you could do easily, or go to a car wash place to do for you.

**Fabric Protection** - Again, the same as above, a fancy upsell on cleaning the interior of your car. If you really want to look after your interior or keep it clean as possible, I highly recommend buying seat covers. DO NOT buy genuine branded seat covers because they will be marked up and overpriced on most occasions.

**Electronic Rust Proofing** - Cars built since the late 90s onwards are rustproofed when they are assembled at the factory when they go through an electrochemical rust proof coated bath. Even if your car is exposed to salt air and water, it won't rust due to the chemical process it has been through already.


Now you know that the buying process doesn't quite end once you choose a car you like and hand over the money. You think you've bought your car and the dealer comes up with even more ways on how to get free money out of you. This shows how greedy and cunning they are and can be.

An informed consumer is a consumer who knows how not to be ripped off. I would prefer to give my money to charity for free rather than hand it over to a dealer and I hope you're the same.