You hear them on the radio and TV every day. Some have outrageous advertisements and sales gimmicks. “Push, pull or drag your trade for a minimum trade of $4000”, “The best price in the world!” “The best bumper-to-bumper warranty ever – we’ve got you covered.” “Repo’d Car Sales Today”. I bet you didn’t know that these ads can be and are usually very deceptive and may be illegal.

According to Leslie Anderson, AAA, misleading ads and deceptive marketing from car dealerships have been on the rise in recent years. Car dealerships, due to a struggling economy, are turning to gray market sales tactics and advertisements. Many of these ads are borderline or even illegal in nature. With all the publicity in recent years of scams and illegal business activities by companies in every state, you’d think most states would have tightened up their laws and started cracking down on bad car dealers. Only one state, New York, has really done anything.

There are already laws on the books that make many of these ads illegal, but few states will even investigate these activities. In New York, if you do a Push, Pull or Drag sale, you will most likely be fined. The thinking behind New York law is that if you promise someone a fixed amount for their vehicle, it should not count toward the newer replacement vehicle’s discount or markup. This is false advertising. Yet I hear these same ads, with promises of even larger amounts on radio and TV in North Carolina and South Carolina all the time. Then there is the matter of express and implied warranties.

Express and implied warranties are actually covered by federal law. Every car dealer is required to have a federally approved warranty disclosure posted in the window. This is to show if there is a warranty and what is actually covered. This was done because there was too much discrepancy in the past with the car salesman blurring the line of what is actually covered and what is not. On a recent trip from North Carolina to South Carolina, I saw 11 used car dealerships that didn’t have these in the windows; in one we discovered they were in the glove compartment. When we asked the seller why he wasn’t at the window, he said it wasn’t necessary. In New York, every car dealership you pass or visit will prominently display them.

Then there are the usual lies: car dealers advertising a repossession sale, cream puffs, etc. They will lie about where cars come from, like in a recent Carfax ad. Oh, that was just a little scratch on the fender (full repaint from a 50mph accident) or new upholstery (due to flooding and total submersion). These repossession sales, like Repo Joe, make a media blitz claiming they have repossessed all the vehicles for one big buy. When in reality they probably don’t even have one repossessed because it’s for sale. Most car dealerships source their cars from local auctions or swaps.

Regardless of what they claim, they most likely do not know the history of the vehicles. You can’t even trust Carfax 100% as many vehicles are repaired without a full salvage declaration or even repair history. A carfax report is only as good as the information actually entered into the system. Before you trust Carfax or what the dealer says is auto history, listen to this: Tennessee attorneys Frank Watson and David McLaughlin say Carfax’s ads promise more than they deliver. “Carfax doesn’t reveal the limitations of its database,” says Watson. “People think they have a little insurance policy on their Carfax report, and it’s just not accurate,” says McLaughlin. Carfax is an online company that searches databases for a vehicle’s history and claims to be “your best protection against buying a used car with costly hidden problems.” But, critics say that when it comes to many accidents, online reporting companies fall short. A class action lawsuit against Carfax claims the company does not have access to police crash data in 23 states.

This article should be a wake-up call to car buyers to be more alert to scams, lies and misrepresentations by car dealers. It should also be a red flag to states from Oregon to Florida that more needs to be done to curb poor car sales tactics. Most car dealerships are not small, family-owned organizations. They are large million or billion dollar companies that will do anything to make a dollar. Even crossing the line or blurring what is legal and what is not. And according to a large dealer in Charlotte, North Carolina, who did not want his or his dealer’s name used for obvious reasons, “it’s all about that bottom line and if we get caught, that’s what our lawyers are for.” According to another car dealer, “It’s a buyer beware market – buyers need to be careful and detective too.”