How to buy a car without getting ripped off (Marketplace)

[Music] take a ride undercover just looking for a little commuter car inside car dealerships 112 I meet thee at 0% this is the trick the average consumer sees that you think oh I can afford that car it's troubling I want to go in there and find out what's going on how not to buy a car this is your marketplace Jenny's shopping for her first vehicle the biggest purchase of her life and cost is our main concern yeah I'm just looking for cars just looking for a little commuter car she doesn't want to pay a lot and really doesn't want a big debt and how much was this one jenny is genuinely looking to buy a car and recording it all with hidden cameras hide everything cuz she works for us about 2 million new cars will be sold by the end of 2017 many of them with the lure of low payment loans that seem so affordable but of the dealerships revealing everything you need to know to find out we're calling in the pros this car just turns heads everywhere it goes that's shari Primack mild-mannered schoolteacher by day car buying expert in his free time and that hundred thousand dollar Lexus it's borrowed I get to test-drive you bars every single week don't actually even own a car Sheri works with Mohammed Bahama 80 for months he heads car Health Canada a popular car buying service for consumers oh yeah they trust what I felt [Music] they're dropping by to analyze the financing advice Jenny's hearing at dealerships all right we're gonna get some clips looking for a smaller car Jenny's visiting ten dealerships in the Toronto area that sell popular small cars in Canada she's barely in the door when she hears about low payments spread over a very long time okay I think 0% financing yeah purpose 112 bi-weekly at 0% 1/6 c63 every two weeks every two weeks yeah that focus on payments is a red flag for our experts we don't even hear and all the price of the vehicle at all although here is the monthly payment or the weekly payments or the primary payment I mean that's not right it really it's not at all over and over it's low payment my VP spread over a long time seven years and most of the dealerships they instantly offer up loans of seven years 84 months 7 year and that's for 7 years the average consumer sees that they think oh I can afford that car I can do manage that no problem but it's just another way of bringing consumers into the dealership and selling them something that they really can't afford car loans used to be shorter like 48 months at an incredibly low 2.9 percent financing then came the Great Recession money was tight so bottle makers teamed up with banks and other lenders to get you buying again by stretching out payments let's get 0% financing for 96 months and it's working more than half of new car loans are seven years or longer like seven years is a pretty long time so I'm thinking in seven years like I don't know I might have kids or something faster 24 months something knowing it's paid off any kind of one on nearly every visit Jenny is told paying off years early is no problem it's an open look oh it's not Confucian nobody knows being go some means yeah defeat of quickly not true according to our experts I mean yes you have the right to pay it off but measure people who cannot afford to pay it off and why is that the measure of K is an overloaded with debt so so really they can't afford just to get suddenly you know they get another $20,000 in one or two years in pay off the card it's impossible dealerships though still suggests it and seven out of the ten Jenny visits start by pushing long loans they really should be telling the shopper you know this is the price of the vehicle these are your different options you can financed for this much over four years this much over five years and so on so why isn't that happening dealers and salespeople in Ontario must follow a code of ethics and the law they must be clear act with honesty integrity and a man who enforces it all is john carmichael we show him the offers low payments long time that to me is is short-sighted just a recipe for for problems for a consumer to make a fully informed decision they need a lot more information than that should a potential buyer be shown just the long-term options or should they be told about other options in front of them my preference would be they should be showing all options the more choices the better able you are to make the best decision for you and your family so Jenny ended up pushing back events against this idea of just the seven-year long right and I'd like to show you a little bit of that discussion do you think that advice is fair is it honest it's troubling when I have a young person who's standing in front of a situation like that looking for their first car I would want to know that they're going to get a lot better sales experience I want to I want to go in there and find out what's going on sherry has his own theory long-term loans with the low monthly payments often encourage consumers to buy a more expensive car because why buy the affordable car for $20,000 went for a longer loan I can buy the fancier car for $30,000 at the same monthly payment that is the key to bigger revenue for automakers and dealers while a $20,000 car cost 154 bucks every two weeks on a five-year loan a $30,000 car is just 11 bucks more payment but you're paying for two more years that upsell is happening to Jenny right now how much is this one out right thirty three way higher this is the trick the Sun leaves stop thinking about your advice it is talking how much you can afford and the way they do it well don't worry you can do it for seven years yeah and your monthly payments going to be only this much and then eighty four months like the car will last that long yeah and low the car last five years cars are more complicated now than they ever have been there are a lot more electronics there are a lot more sensors there are a lot more sensitive parts that can be very very costly to replace the last thing you want to do is be in a situation where you're making payments on your vehicle at the sixth year or seventh year and it starts to require costly repairs and at the same time it's worth very little if you want to sell the vehicle in your opinion for the average person what is the best length of time for a car loan no more than five years I would say ideally for years but you could stretch it to fires okay seven and eight no no no no no really if you free stretching alone 270 years you can't afford that car right forget it good advice and she does hear it but only a couple of times that's your payment for five years that's the payment for four years even more rare salespeople who warned about longer loans that's a great advice it really is I'm surprised actually there is no question he is telling her the truth and on this is what you think people should be seeing absolutely insider secrets will give them enough information to make a decision but we're not gonna point out all the negative the ride continues on your marketplace we're testing the advice you get at dealerships about car loans that to me is is short-sighted just a recipe for for problems problems leading many Canadians into a spiral of debt they can't escape [Applause] twenty-four-year-old Chantel Matthews knows all about it she's working two jobs to pay off one massive car loan basically wake up go to work [Music] job number one and a building supply center in Bracebridge Ontario yeah one second she's here from 7:00 to 5:00 and of this shift is the beginning of the next let's give it a ride how much sleep do you usually get when you're working two jobs like this between three to four hours you must be exhausted a lot of the time yeah it does take a toll on you job number two goes late at the local pub by the time she closes it's almost 3:00 a.m. [Music] chantell's troubles began when she bought a new hyundai on an eight-year loan I wanted a vehicle that was cheap reliable you know half-decent will last you a while 158 I believe every two weeks seemed affordable but the car kept breaking down the fan and the fan motor went the alternator went and then wheel bearings started going and this is all within three months of owning a brand new car she says the dealership wouldn't take it back told her to trade it in for a new one but the car was now worth much less than she paid for it they said you have to carry some of it over because you cited for the car the cars been used that difference between what she owed and what the car was worth is called negative equity it's not good and it cost you and it cost you big-time sure does it means $17,000 in old debt was added to the loan for this new car with the two cars it was about 50 grand $50,000 yep you seemed very calm about guys I've accepted the fact because I still have to pay it I can't get out of it so I had to pay them there are thousands of Chantelle's out there a quarter of all cars being traded in for new ones still have money owing on them did anybody ever explain what negative equity was no they did not explain the negative equity to a detail back on hidden camera that's what we're testing next how will salespeople explain negative equity and trade ends six kids in the next three years okay thanks he finally gets to his point early trade-ins her cinch we can trade in your vehicle anytime not how our experts see it absolutely I mean that's crazy this is all about negative equity that's three or four years you owe more than the cars worth a lot more in fact you owe more on your car than it's worth until five and a half years into a seven-year loan any time you wanna trade it in you can trade it in we pay off the loan you pay off the loan we do yes no you're paying the bank the Minor is that you owe but they are charging you yeah they are adding that to the get to the price of the new vehicle the debt just keeps on piling on and it's very dangerous I'm just wondering though that eighty four months and then because if I bring it in three to four years that's still like half the car that's not paid off yet and you just get rid of that money where does it go because we then okay we're showing that explanation to Ontario's auto regulator yeah that's very troubling to just say we pay off the loan well how do you pay it off you don't just pay off the loan John Carmichael doesn't like what he sees and this is my worry as consumers who aren't able to either understand or manage that situation and they find themselves in a transaction that that's going to come back to haunt them down the road do you see this as following the rules I would challenge both of what those individuals said on the basis that they haven't provided honest information to the consumer so why might salespeople break their rules we meet a man on the inside he's worked in sales and finance for a decade knows about the pressures at dealerships just sell the car yeah that's what their salesmen just gonna want to know at the end of the day you talk to the person why didn't you sell them the car we're hide his identity because he still works in the industry no one dealership is gonna turn down a deal where we're not ultimately their financial adviser will give them enough information to make a decision but we're not gonna point out all the negatives all the potential pitfalls not in your interest to tell people about no downsides of trade ins correct you may get a new car yeah but you may keep the old debt yeah you're gonna get a new term again a new payment and you know goes forever right do you think there should be definite rules that require a salesperson or a dealership to clearly explain the basics to a customer yes at the very least the basics of negative equity so that people are going into the transaction with open eyes we bring that idea back to aam Vic Ontario's regulator in fact I think you you actually may have this document but this type of document which talks to issues around negative equity Carmichael says he's putting the pamphlet into government offices across Ontario we turn it into a poster but you won't see it in the one place you might expect it why isn't something like that of this size in a dealership in a place where people are actually buying a couple it is brand new happy to do that that makes sense I like it yeah I'd love to see that on every sales desk you could require it well you I don't know that dealers are going to go that far with it but certainly for the consumer absolutely it's a good thing to have but it isn't compulsory just hope you can find someone you can spell it out like this change it you've got old money on that card right so you all exit say you all twenty one twenty two thousand occupies about fifteen that six thousand dollars will go to a new part of your financing this employee desert deserves employee of the Year award congratulations Tim so few though get that advice Chantel will be paying for years to come I don't freak out this has changed the early part of your life yep and I looked in this getting a house and they won't approve me because of how much I in the car a debt so you can't basically do anything until it's paid down how much time do you have left on this loan about four and a half years about four and a half years what are the next four and a half years your life looked like definitely change now basically I have a baby on the way and congratulations thank you can you work two jobs 74 hours a week for the next four and a half years no how you gonna do it I don't know yet I'll have to figure it out meantime we can't figure out her paperwork there are a number of red flags that jump off the page at me right off the bat is this a breach is this illegal it is searching for answers on your marketplace sign up for our weekly newsletter at cbc.ca slash marketplace gearing up for more marketplace we've been investigating long term Carlos okay sounds like a deal but sales people aren't always upfront about risk to car buyers and they find themselves in a transaction that that's going to come back to haunt them down the road it happened to Chantel matheus with the two cars it was about 50 grand $50,000 she owes that much because she traded in her unreliable car early the money she still owed was added to her new purchase but check out her paperwork no mention of that debt or negative equity instead there's additional retail value on her second car as if she opted for features like fancy speakers or better seats I bring that to the regulator the rules say the paperwork should be clear the mathematical gymnastics that appear on this page are astounding to me this is anything but clear in fact when you did send this over to us yesterday we tried to figure out what we could and had a terrible time trying to figure out exactly what the represent and you guys are the experts and where do you understand all this the theory there are a number of red flags that jump off the page at me right off the bat that in fact is your negative equity they're hiding it up on a line as additional retail value so they're they're putting it in the value of the vehicle as opposed to showing the actual debt that's outstanding is this a breach is this illegal it is it's both yes and this is something I'd like to have my people work into they are concerned the dealership may have breached the ethical code and the law hid the negative equity leaving it unclear just what Shawntel is paying for we are most concerned about consumers making educated decisions there are concerns that people not get in over their head or get into long enough term loans that that they're going to end up with significant debt down the road that they simply can't afford so it'd be 2568 Chantel is chipping away halfway through her massive loan biggest forget going into debt that much thinking that I could get out of it within the eight years why'd you want to talk about this just so no one else makes the same mistake I did it's not about my car it could be anyone it'd be any age it can be your mom your brother your friend next door they could have the same problem in fact there are lots of people lots of Canadians just like this and they're just drowning in debt attention online shoppers they almost only shop online I look for the best deals a marketplace test on your mark get set search different shoppers different prices for the same room oh my gosh they're different in different browsers the more information they have the more they can prey upon your desires a Black Friday special or your marketplace [Music]

Channel: CBC News

Views: 2,253,868

Rating: 4.7980494 out of 5

Keywords: Buy, car. ripped off, undercover, investigate, dealerships, long-term, loans, explaining, risks, David Common, Marketplace, CBC

Id: l6WSoijb8cY

Length: 22min 26sec (1346 seconds)

Published: Fri Nov 17 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

maybe the person in the video should take some responsibility?

how can you be needing to work 74 hours a week to pay off 300 a month in car loans.

Then she says she was looking to buy a house and wasn't approved because of the car loan?

If you cant pay off the car, what makes you think you can afford a house.

Then she drops the bomb that she's pregnant now?

[u/txddvvxxs]

Strange that someone would go through a huge purchase like a car without doing some basic due diligence (ie. cost per month * # of months)?? it isn't that complicated. Never seen anyone complain on longer amortization when you have 0% interest... its basically free money. would you rather pay 20K now, or stretch that into 7 years with no interest, and reinvest your excess funds in some passive funds earning 5-10% per year.

[u/MrPaulBlart]

I listen to that Greg Carrasco show sometimes while at work. Guy went off on this whole report last week calling it a bunch of bull. Just another side of the story I guess.

https://omny.fm/shows/640-toronto/the-greg-carrasco-show-saturday-november-18th-2017

[u/badmana]

I used car cost Canada and saved myself the headache. Saved $2400 and was in and out in less than 30 mins.