VTR,the largest scam in car sales?

This is a very dark article and sheds some light on a very underhanded practice that is still used nationwide bilking consumers out of millions of dollars.

You may have heard of it or not. Odds are you've purchased it, or it's on a car you purchased used. It's called etch, vehicle theft protection, or a number of other things. Basically, they take a stencil with your VIN and use a marker with acid on it to "etch" the vin into the glass of the car.

The idea is that it reduces the chance of theft by deterring thieves seeing this valuable glass being marked by a vehicle identification number. In practice, it doesn't deter theft but it does make it easier for police to bust car thieves.

So, why is this a scam? Some dealers charge $295 on every car, and I've seen it on contracts for numbers as insane as $3,000. Keep in mind, most police departments provide this service for free, you read that right, for free.

They justify this by packaging it with an insurance policy that gives you back money on top of your insurance policy if the car is stolen and not recovered. I've seen policies that offer $1,000 cash back if their car is stolen and they paid $2,000 for that insurance... Seeing the scam now?

Some dealers display it proudly next to the MSRP on their car as a mandatory add on. For the record, it's not mandatory.

I'm a dealer and fully aware of the need to make profit to keep a dealership running. But there are too many legitimate ways to do this without borderline fraud.

Pay attention to your contracts and the offers in finance. Make sure you avoid anything resembling etch and demand it removed if you do find it. Remember, not all dealers do things like this but the few that do can cost you hundreds, if not thousands of dollars.

#vtr #etch #finance #scam #fraud #photo