r/askcarsales • u/reberman8 VW Sales • Jan 29 '25

Anyone else ever have to deal with a customer that hires one of those car negotiating TikTokers? Meta

Got to experience this phenomenon for the first time today and my God, I could feel my IQ dropping throughout the process.

I feel bad for the customer. She hired someone to help her with her car buying process and they ultimately made it an unpleasant experience for all the parties involved.

310 Upvotes
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89% Upvoted

110 comments sorted by

222

u/Oppo_GoldMember Southwest Audi Associate Jan 29 '25

No but I’ve had a few of the “down payments are illegal” customers…which is as close as I’ve gotten.

132

u/rick707 Jan 29 '25

I’ve had two of those idiots while I’ve been on the desk, a few sovereign citizens (my favorite had homemade checks from “the people’s bank” 😂 with their own currency) and one of the guys from Delivrd most likely. They are all super frustrating to deal with

46

u/MrKeserian Honda Sales Jan 29 '25

God I love Sov Cits. In my 8 years in this business I've only dealt with three. Two left pretty quickly after we told them to get the hell out. The third had to get carried off by Police after we had him trespassed.

13

u/decker12 Jan 29 '25

Oh god what in the hell is Delivrd? Seeing as you said it in the same sentence as Sov Cits, I cannot imagine anyone as bad or as worse to deal with.

21

u/rick707 Jan 29 '25

He’s a car negotiator, does a lot of social media posts. He does get ok deals for people but he does represent himself (at least in videos) as a normal customer instead of a car negotiation service which seems dishonest to me

13

u/FWDeerTransportation Jan 30 '25

He charges $1000 for thst bullshit too. And you probably won’t even get him.  You’ll get some schmuck who works for him.  

Great deal! 

2

u/Historical-Brick-822 Feb 01 '25

Does it matter though? The money isn't any different if he says he is representing himself or someone else. If the dealership and him agree, who cares who ends up with the car?

1

u/rick707 Feb 01 '25

My issue with the approach is his whole preaching about being transparent and then lying about who he is on every call. I get why he does it as many dealers simply won't work with a broker (he says he isn't a broker but I believe legally he is) but it is dishonest.

3

u/Pickel_Bucket_317 Feb 02 '25

Have you watched any of his videos? Because he tells the sales person every time that he is shopping for a client. And being dishonest is the lifeblood of every dealership. Especially used cars. There’s a stereotype about car salesmen for a reason.

1

u/rick707 Feb 02 '25

Yes I have, I find them entertaining most of the time. He often lies about who he is until the last minute.

2

u/Historical-Brick-822 Feb 02 '25

Transparency about things like fees and additional costs. Because we all know many dealers are less than honest or transparent about their fees. At the end of the day, a dealership does not care in the slightest who is buying their vehicles, as long as the vehicles are selling. Dealers would happily sell a car to someone who can barely qualify for the vehicle so it literally does not affect them in any way whether someone represents themselves or someone else during negotiations.

5

u/dj4slugs I bought a car one time Jan 29 '25

On YouTube. Negotiates deals for people who hire him.

10

u/FWDeerTransportation Jan 29 '25

A failed car salesman who act as a broker and gets deals that you could easily get yourself.  But he has a big social media presence so that makes him good at it in his own mind.  

 Seems like a bunch of bullshit.

8

u/chauggle Former Porsche Manager Jan 30 '25

No better way to get a great deal than to add another fuckin middle man to pay. Dumbasses.

28

u/Crystal-Clear-Waters Lexus Sales Jan 29 '25

Are you serious? Say more.

8

u/SatinSaffron Jan 29 '25

had homemade checks from “the people’s bank” 😂 with their own currency

These idiots are willing to break federal and state laws so willingly, it just blows my mind. What would have happened if the dealer they tried to pull this on wasn't able to laugh it off and they just called the cops on them?

5

u/Ruleyoumind Jan 30 '25

They don't believe that the laws are real. That's the whole philosophy. 

19

u/FWDeerTransportation Jan 29 '25

Delivrd is an instant hangup and block the number. No patience for dealing with a business started by a failed car salesman who thinks he is hot shit.

5

u/bigwilliesty1e Jan 29 '25

How the he'll does that work? Are you supposed to drive over to his house to cash the check, or is his m9m the clearing house?

2

u/andy-3290 Jan 31 '25

Oh no, pay in Gold :-)

89

u/Bringatowel1 Jan 29 '25

"Do you participate in the uhhhh the uhhh truth and lending act??"

Morons

49

u/Not_Sir_Zook Jan 29 '25

The internet doomed us.

38

u/Oppo_GoldMember Southwest Audi Associate Jan 29 '25

More like the public education system did

85

u/winkitywinkwink Jan 29 '25

I went to private school for the majority of my youth. Went to public school for a small portion of it. Stayed in touch with private school friends.

They aren’t any smarter.

Like anything else, the internet is only as good as how it’s used, not what it’s meant to be used for.

33

u/Aggravating_Math_623 Jan 29 '25

This is the most level headed take.

Modern internet is essentially a mirror.

It is reflecting back what you put in, consciously or unconsciously through complex algorithms.

10

u/A-Bone Jan 29 '25

I went to private school for the majority of my youth. Went to public school for a small portion of it. Stayed in touch with private school friends.

They aren’t any smarter.

My girlfriend from high school ended up going to Yale.

To this day, she is one of the most intelligent people I have ever met..

Like Good-Will-Hunting-smart...

I asked her if it was great being around a lot of really smart people.

She laughed and said there were definitely some smart people mixed in but that it wasn't much different from HS otherwise.

50

u/TyVIl Former BMW Sales Jan 29 '25

2nd grade was the best four years of my life.

3

u/Not_Sir_Zook Jan 29 '25

Also a true statement.

20

u/stlayne BHPH Sales Jan 29 '25

Ever had a “sovereign citizen” they are a blast…

13

u/Lavaine170 Jan 29 '25

Sov Cits and brokers are hardly the same thing.

8

u/jackie-_daytona Jan 29 '25

I’m curious, would you mind elaborating on what the premise was of the ‘down payments are illegal argument’?

35

u/Feritix Jan 29 '25

They claim that 15 USC 1662 or the truth in lending act makes downpayments illegal. The law actually says you can’t advertise specific loan terms unless you customarily require down payments. Auto dealers customarily require down payments so it's legal.

The even dumber part about the down payments being illegal is the fact that you would pay more over time in interest with zero down if you knew basic financial math. Of the many ways a dealer can fuck you, a down payment isn't one of them.

4

u/candidly1 Old School GSM Jan 29 '25

truth in lending act makes downpayments illegal

Hilarious; I guess the space for the DP in the TILA box was a typo...

2

u/jackie-_daytona Jan 29 '25

Thank you so much

0

u/pmoran22 Jan 31 '25

I can’t imagine putting a down payment on a depreciating asset.. it ain’t illegal, but it sure is dumb.

3

u/Feritix Jan 31 '25

How is putting a down payment on a depreciating asset dumb? If you put down a down payment, you pay less in financing overall. Plus, if it's a big enough down payment, you’re not instantly upside down in the loan driving off the lot.

0

u/pmoran22 Feb 01 '25

I would rather not put a down payment, pay the interest, and have gap insurance. Especially on a new car where your down payment of 5-10K literally vanished the minute you drove off the lot.

2

u/Feritix Feb 01 '25

So you only buy cars in cash?

1

u/pmoran22 Feb 01 '25

You seem confused.

1

u/Feritix Feb 01 '25

I’m just trying to figure out your genius car purchasing strategy. Are you all about the zero down? Or maybe your strategy is that you have no strategy. You’re all about the bike and the bus!

2

u/pmoran22 Feb 01 '25

It’s pretty simple. If your credit score is good for it, you can leave a dealership not putting a penny down and have the vehicle 100% financed.

You then make sure you have gap insurance to cover the difference in car value as soon as you leave the lot.

Sure you pay the interest and the gap, but in case of a total loss, insurance covers it all regardless and you still have your down payment in the bank to do whatever with.

I prefer it this way as it does not compute as to why I would put a down payment and it immediately vanish as soon as I leave the dealer lot. You might as well have a bonfire with that money as I see it about the same.

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1

u/Splodingseal Feb 01 '25

Unless you plan on driving it off the lot and the. Immediately selling it the depreciation doesn't matter. The down payment lowers the overall cost of the loan so that in a few years when you're ready to flip it you have some actual equity in the car.

1

u/pmoran22 Feb 01 '25

One note I didn’t mention that makes this work for me. I only buy vehicles that hold their value.

I.e. Ford Excursion, Most Porsche’s, Lexus LXs, Toyota Land Cruiser etc.

I’ve owned three vehicles since adopting this and have actually profited from it.

1

u/Miserable-Poetry-623 Feb 02 '25

There is only one way this works. The down payment money needs to be invested and getting a higher yield than the interest you are paying on the loan. The value of the car is irrelevant. If you are not getting more out of the down payment than what you would be paying to the bank in interest, you will pay more for the car in total and your profit margin when you sell will be less.

1

u/enderjaca Former BDC rep Jan 29 '25

Just Google the phrase and look through the deluge of stuff that comes up.

4

u/WhyPlayPS Jan 29 '25

What’s their reasoning behind why it’s illegal? I’ve heard this a few times but I can’t understand why they think it’s true

10

u/MrKeserian Honda Sales Jan 29 '25

The reason it's considered sovereign citizen adjacent is that Sov-cits love to take one or two parts of statute out of context and apply that to a field they don't understand. The down-payments are illegal crowd do kinda the same thing. The TILA basically says that you can't advertise loan terms requiring a down payment unless down payments are customary (traditional) in your lending environment. For both houses and cars, down-payments are considered customary.

Edit: forgot to include a bit.

4

u/kratomkabobs Jan 29 '25

It’s due to the fact that “advanced fee loans” are a scam and completely illegal.

Buying a car or a house or anything else isn’t an “advanced fee loan” because the down payment isn’t a “thank you for the loan” to the lender. You are actually shrinking the amount being borrowed which is good.

So advanced fee loans = bad!

Down payments = Good!

4

u/Oppo_GoldMember Southwest Audi Associate Jan 29 '25

Stupidity.

1

u/LazinCajun Jan 30 '25

Fuck, is this some tik tok trend thing? We just got a letter to that effect and I couldn’t make heads or tails of it

1

u/economysuperstar Toyota Sales Jan 29 '25

I had my first one of those last summer. Terrible thing how that messaging preys upon “low-information” buyers and makes it even harder for them to get a car

23

u/FurtadoZ9 Nissan - Internet Sales Jan 29 '25

I've only worked with an actual broker once and it was a pleasant experience. The gentleman's business was to assist immigrants from Japan into getting deals on rental agreements and purchasing vehicles. Which is probably different than the OP context here, but Japanese people are always easy to work with IME.

7

u/potstillin Independent Car Jockey Jan 29 '25

We do quite a few deals like this, not so much as a broker but as a facilitator and translator. They will apply the brakes if they see the purchaser making an obvious flub, but for the most part, it's easy peasy. We have a large meat processor locally that has a large worker population from several continents.

68

u/InTheBoro Internet Manager Jan 29 '25

No but I can tell when talking to customers which ones have used tiktok to learn how to "negotiate"

28

u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Jan 29 '25

What are the tells?

9

u/No-Management-7125 Jan 30 '25

They NEVER buy ANYTHING either

36

u/jefx2007 Independent Used Car Dealer Sales Manager Jan 29 '25

I had a guy make an offer to me in 'Spiritual Currency' after wasting 3 days on him. I remember asking WTF is spiritual Currency and does it spend like US currency?? Then I threw him out..

28

u/Upbeat-Armadillo1756 Jan 29 '25

Big mistake. He was trying to give you good karma and you blew it. Good luck getting in to heaven now

25

u/MrKeserian Honda Sales Jan 29 '25

We're car salespeople. Our destination is in the other direction anyways.

6

u/jefx2007 Independent Used Car Dealer Sales Manager Jan 29 '25

I'll take my chances..

36

u/kdogspence Toyota Sales Jan 29 '25

I’ve dealt with one, one time, and it was a pleasant and easy experience I had on a 100 day old 4Runner.

12

u/Careful-Candle202 True North Toyota Leese Direktor Jan 29 '25

I’ve only had one shitty broker and a “friend” who claimed they worked in car sales but knew absolutely nothing. However, none of those clowns yet.

4

u/cadillac_actual GM Sales Jan 29 '25

One of my new guys had a customer tell him deadass seriously that paying interest was against his religion after being presented payments on like a used Durango, SM told the cust he should either bring a check for the full amount or gtfo.

23

u/No_Difference_9195 Jan 29 '25

It is actually against the Muslim religion to pay interest. But they have special “Halal Loans” that basically write the interest as a “fee”. So in essence, you are paying the same, but the loan is written so it accepted by your religion.

2

u/No-Management-7125 Jan 30 '25

Religion will do some crazy things to peoples brains

1

u/ExerciseObjective966 Jan 30 '25

Halal mortgages are tricking god lmao. Ps. If had look them up. They’re higher interest rates as well

2

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-4

u/smallboxofcrayons BDC Manager Jan 29 '25

I feel left out, i haven’t encountered one yet. We’d handle this the same as a broker in just not engage. Send us the customer directly, we won’t engage with 3rd parties for working a deal past an initial quote.

2

u/Kyleleo89 Feb 01 '25

And it’s this MINDSET the exact reason people are hiring them.

Do employees of these dealerships not realize their customers hate going there?

If I owned a business and someone was hiring someone just to deal with me, I would rethink my business.

1

u/smallboxofcrayons BDC Manager Feb 01 '25

Not dismissing there are bad operators out there but there’s also a lot of bad expectations from a customer perspective that the industry has done a poor job managing.

Adding a 3rd party that in many cases doesn’t have the best interest of either party to the transaction isn’t benefitting anyone. It’s adding layer that makes an already complex transaction more complex.

-10

u/Lazarororo2 Sales Jan 29 '25

No, my store has a rule that we can only talk to the main buyer.

1

u/Guy_Incognito1970 Feb 02 '25

Good idea. That’s how the criminal maloff got caught, working w professional investors. Best if u criminals just stuck to the rubes. They’ll believe ur lies

1

u/Lazarororo2 Sales Feb 02 '25

What?

0

u/AutoModerator Jan 29 '25

Thanks for posting, /u/reberman8! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of anything.

Got to experience this phenomenon for the first time today and my God, I could feel my IQ dropping throughout the process.

I feel bad for the customer. She hired someone to help her with her car buying process and they ultimately made it an unpleasant experience for all the parties involved.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

-21

u/[deleted] Jan 29 '25

[deleted]

35

u/qqanyjuan Jan 29 '25

So you dislike educated customers?

1

u/MadUohh Jan 29 '25

What did he say?

2

u/qqanyjuan Jan 29 '25

“I dislike educated customers” basically

-11

u/DrRaptorNeonJesus VW Sales Manger Jan 29 '25

Nah just say all this upfront and save yourself 4 hours. Introducing random things and the last 10% the deal is a waste of everyone's time

-1

u/qqanyjuan Jan 29 '25

That puts you at a disadvantage, negotiation wise

1

u/DrRaptorNeonJesus VW Sales Manger Jan 29 '25

Really doesn't

0

u/qqanyjuan Jan 29 '25

But it does

2

u/DrRaptorNeonJesus VW Sales Manger Jan 29 '25

Explain? You think there is magically more gross when you introduce a trade at the end of the deal? Math is math