Complaint Review: Beardmore Chevrolet

So your dealer spent thousands of dollars on "big TV ads" to sell TWO "government vehicles?" I'm sure the ads never stated that there were only two available, at least not in the big print. Rather they would have implied that a substantial number of these vehicles were available at a special price.

A price that was so low that both vehicles, if they ever existed at all, sold within a couple of hours. Thus, they would have been easy to sell without any ads at all. At the practical "giveaway" price, the profit margin on these two "government vehicles" would have been too small to even pay for the TV ads.

So the ONLY conceivable purpose of those ads was to serve as "BAIT" to draw gullible customers ("traffic") to the dealer. Then they would be "SWITCHED" to consider other cars.

This is not the same as a store selling Coca-Cola at a loss. People typically go to Wal-Mart and buy more than one thing. They come for the Coca-Cola (and the stuff is so cheap that Wal-Mart could sell it all day 2 for 1 and still eke out a little profit, so there's no reason for them not to have plenty on hand) but will also buy other more profitable stuff while they're there.

Almost nobody is able to buy more than one car per trip to the dealer. Thus, there is no reason for car dealers to sell cars at a loss. Advertising with amazingly low prices that the dealer never intends to sell more than one or two cars at that price (and of course they never actually sell any, they just say they did) is definitive practice of "bait and switch". Advertising a special sale of "government vehicles" when there are in fact only TWO such vehilces available is deceptive.

It's an endemic practice in the car business. Almost EVERY car featured in a dealer ad, especially those at an unusually low price, is going to be "already sold" when the starstruck potential buyer gets to the dealer. Dealers will never tell potential buyers that, they need to get "traffic" into the showroom by any means, e.g. lying.

For your information regarding this customers comments. Please disregard Lorens comments regarding the Government Vehicle "So-Called Scam"

This customer was simply complaining because we had already sold the two advertised government vehicles before she got to the store.

When this customer came to the store about 11:00 am that Saturday, she complained (more like threw a fit) while she was at the store, practically yelling on the showroom floor that we had false advertised.

We do on occasion have great deals like this advertised-->AND YES! - It is done to drive traffic to the store. Just like WalMart running buy one Get One FREE Coca-Cola...!( drives traffic)

Please understand that it's not our fault that somebody else had beat her to them!

Car dealers are a slippery bunch of businessmen, but sometimes even THEY need help in flim-flamming the public. (As hard as that is to believe) There are numerous entities that cater to their needs and desires for deceptive advertising. Check out this link and see if it bears some resemblence to the TV ad. to which you allude:

The type of services Action Integrated Marketing offers would only appeal to the likes of a car dealer.