By Forbes.com
Of the top 10 industries that received the most consumer complaints last year, three were auto-related.
New-car dealers, used-car dealers, and auto service and repair shops registered almost 54,000 complaints in North America, according to the
Better Business Bureau. They were Nos. 4, 7 and 10, respectively, among the most complaint-ridden industries of 2009. It's enough to make anyone blanch at the thought of buying a car.
"Difficult times lead to creativity," says Bill Gerhard, AAA's director of financial services
. "People come up with sensational hooks to try and get you to the dealerships, and once they lure you in, the goal is to sell you something and generate as much profit for the dealership as they can."
It helps to know what you may face before hitting a showroom. That way, you'll be prepared to avoid the stress of being ambushed by a team of salesmen or accosted by a loan shark. And you'll have more confidence in the face of undue pressure to seal a deal.
Pay attention to the little things
There are roughly 10,000 new- and used-car dealers in North America accredited by the
Better Business Bureau and an additional 15,000 that provide repair and service.
Though the total number of consumer complaints in North America was up 10% last year -- cellular phone companies, television stations and banks topped the list -- complaints at new-car dealerships declined 2.4%. More than 84% of those complaints at the dealerships were resolved, according to BBB data.
"Our stats show that complaints against car dealers are kind of a wash from the previous year," says Alison Southwick, a BBB spokeswoman. "It's when you see sudden sharp increases, like 42% for banks, that you know you've got a problem."
Still, complaints about used-car salesmen and repair shops were up 2.5% and 9.5%, respectively, last year. The used-car industry has been doing especially poorly as of late: Complaints about used-car dealers increased 18% from 2007 to 2008. What's more, one in five shoppers who leaves a dealership without buying something leaves because of poor treatment or problems with "pricing games, sales pressure tactics or discourteous treatment," according to a 2009 report from J.D. Power and Associates.
And dealer traffic volumes are expected to decline by 20% by 2013, causing a 25% drop in revenue that will force car dealers to adapt to an "increasingly difficult environment and try new methods to keep customers coming back," J.D. Power says.
Female buyers are particularly important to dealers. According to data from Ward's Auto, an automotive industry news and analysis firm, 85% of all purchase decisions are made or heavily influenced by women. But CNW Marketing Research reports that just 8% of U.S. dealerships are female-owned.
Expert advice
To determine which car-sales tactics can be the most harmful, we culled advice from the experts at the Better Business Bureau, J.D. Power and AAA to come up with the best strategy to avoid getting ripped off. One important note: These scams aren't huge conspiracies that take buyers for thousands of dollars. Instead, they're small corners cut, intimidation applied or minor untruths told that add up to toxic car-buying experiences.
Hidden fees, for instance, could mean a difference of a couple of hundred bucks, at most. But a couple of hundred dollars is a lot for many consumers. These fees are easy to avoid: Just read carefully over any invoice or contract before you sign it (alarms, extra cleaning, "prepping," rust-proofing, fabric protection and paint sealant are all common but unnecessary add-ons that sometimes appear on the invoice unknown to the buyer). And consider doing VIN (vehicle information number) etching yourself. Dealers charge hundreds of dollars to do it, but a home-etching kit costs as little as $20. VIN-etching kits post a specific, individualized number on a car, which makes it easier to locate and identify if it's stolen.