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	Auto Leasing Secrets Revealed: --Deceptive Sales Practices --Secret Price & APR Increases --"Disappearing" Cash & Trade-ins
By consumer advocate & auto expert Mark Eskeldson

Dealers and salespeople claim that leasing is the "smart" way to drive a car, using lines such as, "Leasing is simple--instead of paying for the whole car, you only pay for the part you use." However, consumer advocates and prosecutors have warned that many people are getting ripped off. In 1994, Ralph Nader said, "Consumers are getting gouged far too often...It's more like auto fleecing than leasing." And in 1996, Florida Assistant Attorney General Jack Norris said, "Consumers are getting robbed."
So who's right, the dealers or the consumer watchdogs? They both are. Many people have gotten great lease deals, and many others have been robbed. The ones in the middle ended up with deals that they probably wouldn't have agreed to, had they understood what was involved in their transactions.
If you're thinking about leasing, how can you be sure you won't be overcharged? Or, better yet, how can you know that you're really getting a good deal? By reading Leasing Lessons for Smart Shoppers. When you're done, you'll know a lot more about leasing than most dealers (and automakers) want you to know.

Ford's Deceptive Leasing Practices

In September of 1991, Mark Eskeldson was on the radio exposing fraud at Sears Auto Centers--and in June of 1992 the national newswires announced that Sears had just been busted. Now he's blowing the lid off what could turn out to be the biggest consumer fraud of the decade: deceptive sales practices that were taught nationwide, over a period of at least six years, to dealers and salespeople representing the second largest automaker in the country.
The author has their training manuals and quotes from them in a shocking chapter on Ford's leasing practices. You'll read how salesmen were taught to trick people into leases, secretly increase the prices on vehicles, and conceal those prices so overcharges would not be discovered. You'll read how former salespeople have testified to these practices, and you'll read about actual victims who were cheated because of them.

Leasing Tricks & Scams

Salesmen have tricked many people into leases by telling them that they would save money, but the truth is that short-term (2-3 year) leasing costs more than conventional buying if the purchased vehicle is kept for at least 4 years. (And that's assuming the lease is an honest one.) Deceptive comparisons are often used to convince unsuspecting consumers that bad lease deals are cheaper than conventional purchases. Instead of saving money, people are often victimized by secret price and APR increases because lease contracts usually provide little-or-no disclosure of these important terms.
To help consumers avoid overcharges, all of the typical deceptive sales tricks are exposed in Leasing Lessons. You'll also learn how to calculate your own lease and loan payments, how to do an honest lease-buy comparison, and how to figure out what you really paid (in terms of price and APR) on previous leases.

How to Get a Good Lease Deal

If you're the kind of person who would normally buy a new vehicle every 2-3 years, and you don't care if this practice costs a lot more than longer-term ownership, then you need to learn how to negotiate (and recognize) a good lease deal. This book will teach you how to get those "secret numbers" on the real dealer's cost, lease rates, and residuals so you can be sure you're really getting a good deal. And you'll learn how to calculate your own payments, which is the only way to be sure that you're not being overcharged. (Remember this: All of the lease victims had one thing in common--they trusted the salespeople to calculate payments honestly.)

Announcing "LeaseWise"

In this book, you'll learn all about LeaseWise, the only national service that provides competitive bidding to help consumers get the lowest prices on new-car leases. LeaseWise is a new program from CarBargains, the non-profit car-buying service, and is the only program of its kind in the country. And Leasing Lessons is the only book of its kind that mentions it.

Leasing Lessons for Smart Shoppers

"Look before you lease."

Table of Contents How Leasing Works: The Pros & Cons Buyer Beware: Leasing Tricks & Scams Ford's Success Story: Was It Leasing or Fleecing? How to Figure Lease Payments Comparing Costs: Leasing vs. Buying What's a Good Lease Deal? (And How to Get One) CarBargains & LeaseWise: Shortcuts to Savings The Homework Section: Resources for Getting the Best Deal At the End of the Lease: "To Buy or Not to Buy" "Single-Payment" or Prepaid Leases The Used-Car Lease The Future of Leasing? Open Letter to Ford Motor Co. & All Ford/Lincoln-Mercury Dealers Worksheets Payment Tables

Paperback, 144 pages
Published March, 1997

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Be sure to see:   What Car Dealers Don't Want You to Know
And   What Auto Mechanics Don't Want You to Know