News: Feds targeting deceptive auto dealers

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Have you ever seen one of those loud and obnoxious commercials where a skeezy looking car salesman spends the entire 30-second spot yelling at the camera about ridiculous deals that sound too good to be true? While I usually change the channel when those commercials come on, apparently enough people did not and got duped into visiting these deals and then actually purchasing a vehicle that the Federal Trade Commission has decided to look into the issue. Dubbed "Operation Ruse Control," the FTC will be cracking down on deceptive advertising and financing practices as well as other forms of fraud committed by auto dealers around the US.

There is certainly no shortage of anecdotes of people going into dealers, spurred by promises of super cheap cars or ridiculously lenient financing terms, only to be given the bait and switch routine when they sit down to sign the paperwork. On top of that, there have been numerous recent stories of dealers self-financing deals and then recalling buyers to essentially tell them that their loans were not approved in order to gouge them for more money on the monthly payment. The most recent round of unscrupulous behavior to make the news has been Dodge dealers taking orders on Challenger and Charger Hellcats that they not only know they do not have in stock, but will likely not ever be able to order. This kind of behavior is precisely why Americans absolutely despise the process of buying cars and why people seem to be willing to support the idea of direct sales on certain cars, a process that Tesla has used to great effect since it started deliveries on the Model S.

The Feds have already filed suit against several dealerships as well as financial services companies that have been accused of the alleged behavior and the campaign will continue until this kind of behavior stops. Best of all, because the cases are often being brought as lawsuits, the FTC is actually forcing the defendants in the cases to pay back ill-gotten gains.

Click past the jump to read the press release and learn more about "Operation Ruse Control."

Editorial: Luxury car makers could be even better

Luxury is a very subjective term these days. It gets bandied about with near reckless abandon, applied to everything from pet supplies to apartment rentals to fancy cars. When it comes to cars, the mainstream manufacturers are moving ever increasingly upmarket, adding features that were traditionally the distinct purview of luxury car makers, blurring the lines ever more. In fact, companies such as Hyundai have taken the entire market and turned it one its head, offering the Hyundai Equus, a V8-powered RWD long-wheelbase luxury sedan with features that were once only found on chauffeur-driven cars such as Rolls Royces or the upper end of the Mercedes S-class range. So with the definition of a luxury car becoming increasingly unclear, what are some things that luxury manufacturers can do to differentiate themselves from the riff-raff and justify the extra expense?

Here are a few ideas that I believe luxury manufacturers must do in order to maintain their standing and brand equity in the luxury marketplace and keep themselves from being overtaken by the invasion of mainstream manufacturers into their space.

Editorial: The car buying experience in the internet age

Buying a car is still one of the most painful experiences that a person has to experience. While most other things can now be purchased online and delivered to your door, to buy a car, one still must go down to a dealership and deal with a salesperson. Even in this day an age, where the Internet has become so ubiquitous that nearly every one of us has access to it from a device we carry around all day-every day, there is no way to truly simplify the car buying experience for the consumer. Sure, some brands have gone to so called "no-haggle" pricing, but even in those instances, there are options and dealer extras to hash out with the finance manager as you are signing the paperwork. But at the end of the day, many of us put up with this because we want to feel like we got the best deal we could and the satisfaction of knowing that we did not get taken for a ride.

Yet, as painful as car buying is for consumers, it is equally painful for the sales people.