Unethical yes. One must do what they can to squeeze the deal for all it's worth. This day in age with all the information available, there is no reason for a buyer to uninformed....Unless the buyer chooses to be uninformed. In that case, well. They pay a price for being ignorant. If one is not comfortable discussing numbers, they should bring a friend who is.
Most local dealers are still including market adjustment and other addons in this area. Hell, even parts has caught on to this game. Lets mark stuff up at up to 100% over list. I called 4 dealers to get prices on a gal of coolant. Got 4 different prices, with 2 of them selling at list, the rest up to and including 2x list.
With this last deal I had all the line items expected to be on the bill of sale. Came into the finance office with a spreadsheet printout. Our final numbers were within 15¢ of one another.
It's a bit farther than "unethical" imo. It's literally a straight up lie. It's not a grey area, it's not a play with words, it's not a slight twist of the truth, it's not a misunderstanding.
I'm all for making the most of each deal. That is my literal job as a sales person. Will I try to sell you a $55k Stinger over a middle of the road K5? Of course! But it sure as heck won't be based on a grey area or even a lie like "oh the bank will only approve you on the Stinger, you aren't approved on the K5".
No one should ever prey on the ignorant. For instance Merlin did not know what tide selling is. I'm sure he is someone who is very well informed. Again, illegal in BC. And even if it's not illegal in your particular area, if the conversation was recorded, in my non-legal, average person, take this with a grain of salt opinion, could be a strong case. However it's easy for the finance person to say "that's not what I said, you signed the papers"
You shouldn't have to be a finance expert yourself, just to trust a professional to help you through the sale. Now, should the customer read all the paperwork? Absolutely. Should the reason to read the paperwork, be because they can't trust the finance professional isn't doing something illegal or unethical? Absolutely not.
A: Most people don't know, what they don't know. B: There's TONS of misinformation out there. Google car brokers for instance. In a prefect world and what most info online says, you hire a broker to help you through the process and to get the best deal saving you LOTS of money, making sure you are getting the best deal, and saving you the big headache, and the potential of getting screw over like being tide sold. They SHOULD be an unbiased middle man, but in reality most of the time (not always the case), dealerships pay them a finders fee. Which is why either they try to push you to a new car, or charge you a higher fee for used.
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