Luxury Motors Orland Park Complaint - Bait and Switch! - Used Lexus

Posted by Hugh_Jorgen on 2008-12-12:

This is becoming a popular ploy with some dealers. You might try contacting your own bank or credit union and seeing if you can get it financed thru them - cut the dealer out entirely.

Posted by hubbard53 on 2008-12-12:

I would have just given the car back. This happened with the first new car I bought. I was stupid enough to say "OK". Then when I became a wise consumer I learned that this is a common tactic

Posted by cherpep on 2008-12-12:

What a sleazy tactic! I don't understand how they can do that, wasn't a contract signed prior to leaving with the car?

Posted by zzrokk on 2008-12-12:

This is a very old trick. It is called "tripping". They let you take the car home then , they can't find anyone to finance you on those terms. In the meantime, you may have traded in your old car and have gotten emotionally attached to the new one. They then offer a more expensive "deal" and if you turn it down they have been known to charge you a rental fee for the time that you had the new car.

Posted by Hugh_Jorgen on 2008-12-12:

Cherpep - what they do is slip in a piece of paper that basically says everything else you are signing that day is conditional, based on the ability for you to secure financing. Then when you suddenly don't qualify, that one document basically nullifies all the others.

Your best defense is to refuse to sign that document. Sure, you might have to wait a few days for the financing to be confirmed, but that's what they are counting on - you want that new car so bad you will take the chance rather than wait three days.

Posted by cherpep on 2008-12-12:

Ahhhh. Thanks, Hugh. I never heard of a dealer doing that. In my experience, we've always had the financing settled before taking the car. That would sound fishy to me from the get-go.

Posted by Aerocave on 2008-12-14:

Obtaining financing beforehand is a good idea, however, some customers push US to take the car that day. Some of the biggest problems with automotive finance right now is that banks and even credit unions have bought automotive loans very inconsistently...There is plenty of loans available, but a customer with a 720 credit score is not the "slam dunk" for approval that used to be the case...Yet you can have a 670 walk in the door and get that person approved no problem. The only pattern I see is that banks seem to be considering debt-to-income a higher priority than even payment history. And you can have a lot of debt but still be a 720 as long as you pay on the debt responsibly.

I'm guessing the dealer here "spot delivered" the vehicle without official credit approval after taking a look at the customer's credit bureau...and made a "call" based off of that. This normally happens on a Saturday or after "banking hours" and is definitely a risky decision on the dealer's part, especially with the current inconsistenties I mentioned above.

Cherpep, I've never heard of this being referred to as "tripping" (And I am very "up" on car dealer slang)...And true, the customer does become attached to the car and will typically just suck it up and keep it...its really just a poor decision on the manager's part in many cases then a "trick."

Posted by dontbuyakia on 2009-01-24:

Madam or Sir Evergreen Kia tried to pull this bait and switch on my daughter,we did return the vehicle in the time alloted, although the dealership was not happy, we still beat them at their own game.

Posted by FrankBank on 2009-03-07:

Orland Park is gone. New owners as of January 2009.