Has anyone ever actually bought one of those “One at this price” autos that are advertised in the newspaper? You know what I’m talking about, I mean those car ads that come out in the Friday newspaper which advertise cars at (seemingly) super low prices. The thing is, in small print, the ad reads: One only at this price.
A couple of years ago, I was in the market for a new car. I tried at 3-4 dealers to try to get that “One at this price” car, only to be told that it was already sold. One time I even went to the dealer before they opened on a friday morning, with the friday car ads in hand. When they opened their doors I asked the salesman if that particular car was still available. He told me it was already sold. I then asked him how, being that the sale first came out in that mornings paper, and here I was the first customer of the day. He told me that someone had phoned in just a few minutes prior and bought the car(yeah right).
Whats the deal with those ads? Aren’t they false advertisement intended to hook customers into the dealership and then persuade them to buy a more expensive car?
I don’t think this relates, but when my gf was looking for a car, she found a “great deal” on a car that she liked. She went to the dealership and we checked out the car. It wasn’t noted in the paper that the car had no auto transmission, no cassette/cd/RADIO, no AC, no power windows, no power locks. It was quite the stripped down model! The dealer told her that when the paper has a inventory number listed with the AD that means it’s only for one car.
This is what’s refered to as the “Bubble Car”. The main point of the ad is to get people in the door. Then when the ad car is unavailable, they switch to something else. And I thought working in the auto buisness would amount to nothing…
That’s simply a come-on to get you in the door, where the real fleecing can take place. For whatever reason, car dealers seem to think it’s OK to extract maximum profit, using any and all tactics. Your only defense if to be an INFORMED buyer.
Jim
As you already seem to have guessed and everyone else has pointed out, this seemes to be the case. I suppose you could always report them to the local Better Business Bureau.