Mechanics Reveal The Cars You Should Avoid At All Costs

The Chrysler PT Cruiser – or “PT Loser” to some – definitely divides opinion. That could be because, as one Reddit user, says, the whole engine has to be removed if anything needs fixing. And the Cruiser is also widely mocked because of its reputation for being a vehicle favored by, um, more experienced drivers. In a nutshell, it’s an old-folks car.

Want a car that looks good and keeps you safe? Well, don’t go for the 2018 Porsche Cayenne. That model has some serious issues, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. One owner has claimed that the car has trouble accelerating out of left-hand turns. The engine may also need its carbon deposits cleaned after only a short time. And while this is more annoying than potentially dangerous, the vehicle can show fault codes if it isn’t driven for a while. These can only be removed by a Porsche technician.

Car Indigo’s Deepesh Chauhan didn’t hold back on the Chevrolet Camaro. Nope, he spelled the problems right out when he wrote, “Faulty steering column wiring, early coolant leaks, engine blowing off and plenty of other severe issues are being reported by owners [of the car].” In fact, the Camaro’s reputation has dipped so low that Chauhan claimed General Motors will stop making them within the next year or two. Yikes.

The confusingly named MG ZS EV is an electric SUV. But while that may be better for the environment than your average gas guzzler, a reliability survey from What Car? claims that the car is pretty dicey to drive. The main problem seems to be that every fault takes a long time to fix – with many jobs needing more than a week before they’re resolved.

A Reddit user claiming to have been a mechanic for over four decades warned against buying any Chrysler vehicle. “Chrysler has never really recovered in quality since their K-car/minivan rebirth days of the 1980s,” they wrote. “As cars have become more complicated to meet EPA and safety standards, reliability has dropped. There are miles of wiring, harness connectors, multiple computer control units, and countless sensors.” If that doesn’t sound like your bag, steer clear.

We’d wager dollars to donuts that your Vauxhall Insignia fault will be related to one of two areas. The first is something going wrong with the clutch or gearbox, which is unfortunately pretty common. And the electrical systems in the engine are also said to be temperamental – especially when it comes to the stop/start mechanism.

We’ll turn this one over to a What Car? summary of customers’ most common complaints about the Vauxhall Astra. Basically, “the front suspension bushes can wear quickly, the instrument cluster can give false readings, and electric windows have been known to fail.” And if that isn’t enough, “timing belts need changing every 40,000 miles to avoid the possibility of a catastrophic engine failure.” Yep, you read that right!

In 2019 Vauxhall had to recall its Zafira model yet again. And this third time definitely wasn’t the charm. Turns out the electronic parts in the heating system had a habit of melting, and in some extreme cases this caused the car to burst into flames. The fault was apparently all to do with a connector plug in the heating and ventilation system.

CarPages’ Ben Mirecki once wrote, “In the most recent list of the most reliable cars by Consumer Reports, Cadillac was dead last. And it consistently ranks in the bottom two or three – year after year.” That has to be disappointing to hear for anyone who loves a bit of retro flair. And on Reddit, someone claiming to be a state vehicle inspector pointed the finger in particular at Cadillacs with Northstar V8 engines. Apparently, they’re overly noisy and known to leak fuel.

An Audi has to be a no-brainer for your next purchase, right? Plenty of people drive them, and they can’t all be wrong. Well, one Reddit user begs to differ. They apparently work in a garage that specializes in European car models, and they explained, “You could not pay me enough to drive an Audi. The amount of catastrophic failure I have seen on cars with less than 100,000 kilometers on them is insanity – especially the 2.0L Turbos.”

According to Auto Accessories Garage’s Jake McKenzie, a Range Rover car is one of the “biggest money pits” you can ever saddle itself with. You’ll consistently be paying to fix its all-too-common mechanical faults, with repair bills that are way higher than the average. McKenzie claimed that the insurance costs are pretty steep, too. Not a great combo, really.

The 2011 Hyundai Sonata has three times as many complaints registered against it on CarComplaints.com as any model from other years. That’s not good. Even worse? One Reddit user claiming to be a body shop worker alleged that almost all Sonatas wind up totaled from even small accidents. That apparently goes for Elantras, too.

If you’re in the market for a minivan, give the 2005, 2008 and 2011 Dodge Caravans a wide berth. These models consistently had problems with brake pads wearing out far sooner than they should. In fact, some customers reported that they had them replaced practically every year. Oh, and the Total Integrated Power Module was also prone to faults – meaning the radio, wipers, and fuel pump would all sometimes unexpectedly activate on their own. Not great.

This one goes out to the classic car enthusiasts. Don’t consider adding the Fiat 124 Sport Spider convertible to your collection, as it isn’t a great investment. One commenter claimed on Reddit, “[Fiat] used low-grade steel for the chassis. Almost all of [the cars] have rusted through unless they were kept in bone-dry condition at all times. It’s a shame, too. The engines on those are fantastic.”

A used Peugeot 207 can cost a little under $1,000 to buy, according to the British magazine Auto Trader. If you have a serious enough engine fault, though, Warranty Wise says it can cost an average of around $1,100 to get it fixed. Another common problem with the 207 relates to the cylinder head gaskets, and this will put you out of pocket by around $800. Something’s clearly not adding up here!

One Reddit user claimed their brother is a mechanic, and apparently he hates Volkswagen Passats. Why? “They were engineered to be easy to assemble but not to fix. All the parts that were most likely to fail required taking apart half the engine to get at.” If you want to get even more specific, CarComplaints.com said that buyers should “avoid [2002 Passats] like the plague.” Ouch.

What Car?’s reliability survey revealed that 22 percent of Jaguar E-Pace owners had experienced some kind of fault in the vehicle’s first five years. And while two-thirds of these cars were still driveable, the other third had to be taken off the road for over a week. Apparently, the engine is one of the main problem areas.

One Redditor took to the site to criticize Ford Focuses – specifically the ones manufactured between 2012 and 2016. They claimed that the clutches were crazy unreliable – so much so that Ford had to put out a service bulletin. But the 2004 through 2010 models are no better, according to What Car? They’ve suffered from a litany of issues – including rusted front wheel arches, corroded spark plugs, and blocked diesel particulate filters.

We don’t want to be mean, but we may have to be on this one. That’s because Nissan Qashqai drivers reportedly experienced a whole laundry list of faults with their 2007 to 2013 models. We’re talking badly fitted door trims, issues with the clutch, windscreen leaks, and weird rattling noises from the front seats and dashboards. The exhaust, brakes, battery, and electrical systems were also all highly suspect. Geez.

Drive a Land Rover Discovery made between 2004 and 2017? Then you may agree with What Car?’s assessment that the model is extremely unreliable. There are temperamental air compressors and air suspension, for starters, and software problems may lead cruise control to go on the fritz. Oh, and the parking brake can also go haywire because of electrical issues – leading it to return to failsafe mode.

One Redditor didn’t just single out a particular model of car. Oh, no, they disliked one brand as a whole. “Land Rovers are hot garbage. Expect electrical issues that have your mechanic chasing his tail for the life of the vehicle,” they wrote. And a 2020 study of Land Rover owners seemingly concurred. Judging by the numbers, there were around two problems a year with their cars.

Owners of Nissan X-Trails from 2014 to the present didn’t have good news for the What Car? reliability survey. Apparently, they could pay up to $2,000 to get a fault fixed. Pretty damning, right? Though it’s even worse when you hear that a substantial 34 percent of folks responding had dealt with some kind of issue – often involving the engine, fuel system, or brakes.

Curbside Classic writer Perry Shoar penned a hilarious takedown of the Ford Tempo in 2014. “They were everywhere when I was a kid, and by the time the ’90s came around, I’d have preferred to walk around my small town than be given a ride in one of these,” he wrote. “Everything about the car seemed to say ‘slow down.’ If the Tempo were a cartoon, it would have been The Simpsons’ Principal Skinner.” Savage.

The Acura ILX is a reasonably priced sedan, but the cost is just about the only thing it has going for it. That’s according to Car and Driver magazine’s scathing review, which said, “The ILX sedan is essentially a gussied-up version of the already excellent Honda Civic. However, the Acura interpretation lacks the performance that its namesake promotes and the excitement that certain Civic models provide.” That’s a very nice way of saying it’s garbage.

One Reddit user and alleged mechanic had a message for the petrolheads who know a thing or two about engines. “Buy nothing from General Motors with the 3300, 3400, or 3900 V6 engines in them,” they wrote. “They are unreliable trash and come from the ‘high value’ platform. That means cheap, and not for you – cheap for General Motors. [They come with] poorly made parts all the way through and [have] really awful engineering.”

The Yeah Motor website has called the inside of the Mitsubishi Eclipse “plasticky and hard.” Not a great start, right? The trunk space is also said to be unusually small – even though the Eclipse is an SUV. And to add insult to injury, it apparently guzzles gas like a demon. At $25,000, it’s definitely on the expensive side for a vehicle with so many obvious problems.

An astonishing 31 percent of What Car? readers reported problems with the BMW X6 models from 2014 to 2019. And 19 percent of these were related to the gearbox alone. On the plus side? Most of the issues were fixed for free within warranty. A few drivers ended up being stung, though, with fairly sizable bills.

The BMW X3 is a great luxury car to have – right up until something goes wrong with it. Then, according to Car Indigo’s Deepesh Chauhan, you’ve got a super-sophisticated vehicle with lots of onboard electronics that your average mechanic simply can’t do anything with. Oh, and replacement parts? They’re going to cost you an arm and a leg, too.

This entry is interesting, as it features a mechanic admitting they bought a lemon! A Reddit user explained more, saying, “My mechanic tells me never to touch an out-of-warranty BMW. He owns two and says the electronic gremlins have driven him insane, and [they] are virtually unfixable by a non-dealer mechanic. They require circuit board replacements, proprietary software readers, etc.” Basically, a lot of gizmos your regular guy won’t have.

BMW 5 Series models built between 2003 and 2010 were awarded a reliability score of 60.8 percent by What Car? Sounds okay on the surface, but don’t be fooled. Owners have reported suspension problems and issues with axles. The built-in iDrive entertainment system also apparently goes on the fritz far too regularly.

The BMW 1 Series had the dubious honor of being called the U.K.’s most unreliable used car in 2019. Its dismal 40.1 percent What Car? reliability rating comes from close to two-thirds of respondents having problems with their rides. Engine issues were all too common, as were battery faults.

“The number one vehicle I would not purchase is the Ford Fiesta,” SellMax co-founder Sean Pour said. Need more proof? The car-buying service had seen hundreds of Fiestas come through the doors with malfunctioning transmissions. In fact, Pour claimed, “Some of our customers have replaced the transmission more than once before it hit 100,000 miles.” And that is not a good number.

One Reddit user revealed that they had once ignored their mechanic stepfather’s sage wisdom – and it came at a cost. Renaults. Though the stepdad said that he’d seen too many Renaults come in with electrical faults, the Redditor apparently went ahead and bought a Megane anyway. And nine months later? The electric windows went kaput. D’oh!

Fiat 500s are adorable – that much can’t be denied. Unfortunately, in this case, Deepesh Chauhan doesn’t believe that their insides quite match their outsides. He wrote on Car Indigo, “The current generation of Fiat 500s are built either in Mexico or Poland, which translates to a low quality of parts that go into building the cars. The cheap quality of the alloys [mean they] break down easily, engine and transmission [can blow] up, and a lot more.”

Jeeps may have originally been made for the army, but that doesn’t make them reliable. Consumer Reports ranked Jeep the eighth worst car brand of 2019, in fact. Even worse, Which? found that three-to-eight-year-old Jeeps tend to suffer from regular electrical faults.

In 2018 Warranty Wise named the Seat Ibiza as the eighth least reliable used car in the U.K. It’s actually similar in spec to the Skoda Fabia and VW Polo, but its parts are apparently frustratingly elusive to come by for mechanics. This means any issues wind up being super expensive to fix, with a fault sometimes putting you out of pocket by more than $1,100.

Want to buy a used Mini Cooper? Then steer clear of any made between 2006 to 2011. These models have the N14 Prince engine, which apparently has a recurring fault in its timing chain tensioners. According to one Reddit user, the tensioners malfunction quickly, which can lead to bad engine damage. Some cars can even fail after only 20,000 miles and wind up being unable to rack up any more than 50,000 in total.

A Mazda RX-8 is a bad choice if you live somewhere with cold snaps. That’s according to the son of a Mazda mechanic, at least. They wrote on Reddit, “[The car] won’t work three to four months out of the year and will need constant, expensive care in the other months.” The Tuning Pro website agreed, singling out the engine starter as being particularly bad at getting the car going in cold weather.

The Maserati Ghibli is a perfectly acceptable family sedan. It’s just that you don’t really get much bang for your buck. For $75,000, it’s hard not to expect a bit more than this solid but unremarkable car. It’s a disappointment, really!

Warranty Wise claims that the Mercedes Benz C-Class is the vehicle most customers choose if they don’t want to get a BMW 3 Series. Perhaps that’s because the brand is synonymous with quality – maybe even a little flashiness! Unfortunately, the C-Class often suffers from electrical problems, and its sensors are temperamental in the extreme. The average electrical issue costs a huge $500 to fix, too.

So, you’ve crossed all these cars off your list. Good job! Next step: heading to the dealership. But as you get your complimentary coffee, be on your guard. There are tricks and hustles you should know about before you fall into the hands of a less-than-reputable salesperson...

Creating a sense of urgency is often essential to bagging a sale. This is why some car salesmen will tell customers the bargain-priced vehicle they are looking at will only be available for a limited time at that cost: they want the customer to fear missing out on a great deal. In reality, often these “limited-time” offers will simply be replaced by almost identical ones at a not-much-later date.

It’s amazing how quickly a salesperson will become your best friend if they get the feeling you’re genuine about buying a vehicle. All of a sudden, they’ll be asking about your family, plying you with coffee and snacks, and laughing about things you have in common. This is all a clever way of making it difficult for you to say “no” to them. You wouldn’t want to disappoint your new buddy, would you?

If a customer is leasing multiple vehicles from the same dealership, the salesperson may offer to consolidate everything into one monthly payment. Makes sense, right? It’d certainly be handier to only make one payment every month. But be wary, because it can mean the payment term will be extended, meaning the interest will increase – the customer could wind up paying more in total than if they kept their bills separate.

When you buy a new car, you just want to know what it will cost for you to drive away from the dealership in that vehicle. A salesman simply wants to sell you the car for the list price, though, and may not want to get into the weeds of the real costs to get the car on the road. Registration and insurance can add substantially to the overall price, you see, and that could jeopardize their sale.

Everyone loves that new car smell. But if you get into a used car and it has a bunch of air fresheners hanging from the rear-view mirror, it may be a cause for concern. The dealer may be attempting to cover up some bad smells the car is giving off – perhaps mold from water damage in the carpets or the acrid scent of a burned-out clutch.

Many dealerships will have a “dealer prep” charge pre-printed on their purchase invoice. This is a charge for it to clean the vehicle, but may also include the cost of putting the sales package together – listing, finalizing the sale etc. The dealership banks on the customer believing they have to pay this, but they don’t. It’s arguably just a method of extracting an extra couple of hundred bucks for minimal work.

Sometimes a deal can genuinely be too good to be true. Certain dealerships will advertise a vehicle at a seemingly bargain price but, in reality, it will have low specification or be an unappealing color. This doesn’t matter, though, as the gambit has successfully got you through the door. Now the salesman can push you in the direction of the similar, but more expensive, car they really want you to buy.

Proceed with caution if a car salesperson pulls the four-square move on you. This is a disreputable sales tactic that’s been around for years. It involves them drawing four squares on a sheet of paper, with price, down payment, trade-in number and monthly payment contained within. They then confuse the customer by moving these numbers around in a way which suggests, but maybe doesn’t actually amount to, a great deal.

In The Big Bang Theory, a running joke saw Penny constantly ignore the “Check Engine” light on her car’s dashboard. In fact, she simply covered it over with electrical tape. Sadly, though, there are some real-life used-car dealers who do this with vehicles that have pesky warning lights indicating a fault. A carefully placed piece of tape or black marker and the customer is none the wiser.

Any car dealership will want to make its products as appealing to a customer as possible. It’s in the sales business, after all. But if you step onto a forecourt and spot vehicles you can tell have been recently polished or sprayed, beyond the usual cleaning process, it may be a warning sign. Maybe these cars have areas of damage or rust that the dealer is trying to cover up?

This one may seem silly, but it does happen. If you are ever test-driving a vehicle with a salesperson and they turn the radio up too loud or insist on talking incessantly? It could mean they’re trying to mask telltale noises the car is making that may indicate faults. It’s always best to be as quiet as possible when driving a car that you’re thinking of buying.

In the U.S., every used car must have a Federal Trade Commission sticker in the window which gives information about its history, including previous owners. If you are looking at a vehicle and it doesn’t have one of these stickers, or if the salesperson says they’re selling the car “as is,” you should walk away. They’re trying to abdicate responsibility for any problems the vehicle may have, and that’s a deal-breaker.

If you totaled your car or it was stolen, Guaranteed Asset Protection insurance would cover the difference between the amount you paid for it and the amount an insurance company would pay out. It’s a good thing to have, generally speaking. Why is it on this list, then? Well, because it’s nearly always cheaper to get it from your insurance company rather than the car dealership.

Picture the scene: you’re almost certain you want to buy a vehicle, but aren’t quite ready to pull the trigger. The salesperson tells you to look elsewhere to see if anyone can match the price but, obviously, they can’t. So, you return to nab your bargain – yet all of a sudden, it’s not available any more, as the manager has put the kibosh on it. In reality, though, this amazing deal was likely never genuine to begin with.

It’s best to know what your current vehicle is worth before you go to a dealership hoping for part-exchange on a new one. Salespeople often downplay what the car is worth and, if you don’t argue, they’ve got away with it. But, even if you do haggle them up on the value, that’s also a trick: it makes you feel like you can bargain successfully – so you’re more likely to buy from them.

Unfortunately, this is a tactic favored by a lot of used-car dealers. You see, over-inflating the tires on a vehicle can give a false impression of how it will handle on the road. It can mask issues with responsiveness and can even artificially seem to boost fuel efficiency. But, in reality, over-inflated have lower levels of grip, which can be dangerous and may easily lead to skidding and loss of control.

If a salesperson says something like, “My sister drives a car just like this and she loves it,” they are trying to plant an idea in your head. Basically, if a car is good enough for their family member, it must be good enough for you. To be fair, it may very well be true in some cases. But it’s 100 percent a tactic that other, less truthful, salesmen might use as well.

This tactic takes advantage of customers with bad credit. The salesperson lets a customer drive their new car away on the day, even though financing hasn’t been approved by the bank. The customer then has to come back days later because their finance terms were declined, and now they must sign a new deal at a higher interest rate if they want to avoid the car being repossessed. Not nice.

Scott Chesrown, vice president of Big Apple car sales start-up Vroom, told website Business Insider that “most dealerships” will try to inflate the interest rate on any finance deal. In order to avoid getting taken for a ride, he recommended that customers talk to their bank before even going into a dealership. Then they will know exactly what their credit rating is and have a solid idea of exactly which level of APR they can expect.

Sometimes salespeople bamboozle customers with numbers so much that it seems like clients are getting a great deal, even when they’re not. For instance, a good trick is offering a low amount on a trade-in vehicle, but seemingly evening things out with a brilliant price on the new car. In truth, the profit for the dealership stays the same.

Taking your potential new car for a test drive is always a thrill. But it’s also a handy tactic that can be exploited by salespeople, especially if they see the customer is a true car enthusiast. It also works if the buyer has children with them. The salesman may opt to encourage the excitement in the kids as a way of emotionally blackmailing the paying parents.

As hard as it may be to believe, some dealers will go to almost farcical lengths to stop a customer seeing an obvious defect in a vehicle. Whether it’s by standing in front of a scratch on the paintwork, or by parking the vehicle at a weird angle next to a wall in order to make full visibility impossible, there are lots of little tricks. Don’t fall for them.

A salesperson telling you the car you’re looking at is very popular with other customers seems like a stamp of quality. If they’re all buying, it must be the bee’s knees, right? Not necessarily. It might mean that the dealership has a huge stock of a certain model that they need to shift. Or it could just be a method of inspiring the “bandwagon effect” in a customer. After all, most people love to join in with what’s popular.

When buying a new vehicle, don’t be taken in by the salesperson suggesting you pay extra for paint sealant, fabric protection or rustproofing. All modern cars are manufactured with paint jobs that can last for the entire lifespan of the vehicle – buying a sealant add-on is vaguely pointless. It’s simply a way for the dealership to extract a little extra cash from you.

Let’s say your car was bought on finance, and isn’t fully paid off, but you want a new vehicle. Some dealerships will offer to trade-in your old vehicle, pay off the remaining finance and roll it all into a deal for the new car. If your old vehicle is worth less than you still owed in finance, it’s called negative equity and it will mean your new finance deal will see you paying off a larger loan over a longer period.

When you arrive to buy a car, you hear the words, “Ah, perfect timing!” If this happens to you, be aware the salesperson is immediately trying to manufacture something out of nothing. Unless you’ve legitimately arrived to purchase a vehicle that was otherwise going to be crushed a minute later, they’re just injecting false excitement into your negotiation. In truth, from their perspective? Any time is good for you to buy a car. 

The whole purpose of leasing a car with finance is to enable a customer to “own” a vehicle without paying a lump sum. It also works out better for the dealership because it makes more money in the long run. So, if a salesperson wants a down-payment as well as financing? It’s a way to get more money out of you. Tell them “no” and, if they persist, say you want it included in your monthly payment.

Sometimes a dealership will let a customer keep a vehicle overnight or for the weekend. The hope is that having it for an extended period will increase the customer’s attachment, obviously, but it also creates an extra bond between them and the salesperson. After all, they’ve done the prospective buyer a huge favor in entrusting them with the car away from the dealership – the least the customer can do is purchase it, right?

If you meet a private seller to look at their vehicle and you immediately spot a fault, you should walk away. We’d stand by this even if the seller tells you to come back in a few days after they’ve had the fault fixed. Why? Ask yourself – why would an honest person try to sell a vehicle with a known issue in the first place?

The next time you spy a “special edition” vehicle that comes with a cool paint job or a swanky interior, take a second to ponder something. Is it simply a model that’s been on sale for years and is about to be replaced by a new, improved version? Because, if so, the dealership is simply trying to get rid of the last remaining stock of the old model by gussying it up as “special.”

“Free” is a magic word used by car salespeople to dupe customers. If they tell you they’re adding a free treatment that protects a car from scratches and stains, you’ll take it. The same goes for a free tank of gas upon delivery and free premium car mats. You’re laughing all the way to the bank, right? Well, maybe not, because nine times out of ten, these freebies simply mean a higher initial cost for the vehicle.

If you are buying a car from a private seller and the engine is already running when you arrive, it may be a problem. Some engine issues only become apparent when a vehicle is starting, so you should ask the seller if you can start the engine yourself. It would be preferable if you could do it at another time, too, when the engine is completely cold – stopping and starting an already-warm engine can give a false impression.

Car dealerships make more money from customers leasing a car on finance than they do from someone buying outright. They’re therefore incentivized to create the best possible finance deals – ones that work in their favor, not yours. It’s not uncommon for salespeople to add small amounts to each monthly payment that will add up to big sums over time, so you should keep a very close eye on this.

In 2017 a Mental Floss website article revealed secrets of car salesperson and one of them was a doozy. Some salespeople in dealerships allegedly have code words for their customers. For example, a customer who takes up lots of a salesman’s time but doesn’t buy? That’s a “stroke.” A customer who doesn’t have their spouse with them is a “one-legged shopper” and someone with bad credit is a “ghost.” Who knew?

Some salespeople still use a “hard-sell” approach in certain situations. It’s easy to spot, as the overall vibe is quite confrontational, and it involves the salesperson ignoring their customer’s specific needs and wants. They’ll stop at nothing to get you to buy, even if the vehicle isn’t right for you. Generally, the hard sell counterproductively angers the majority of people, but the odd client may wind up buying purely because of the salesperson’s pushiness.

In 2017 Rojen Burnett, a user car dealer from Georgia, got a year in prison for rolling back the odometer on 310 cars he sold to unsuspecting customers. He made the vehicles appear as if they had, on average, 67,000 fewer miles on the clock and was therefore able to charge on average $4,000 more on each car. This can even be done with modern digital mileage clocks by misusing software. 

This can apply to both new and used cars but is mainly a problem in the second-hand arena. A car salesman will never admit that the vehicle he is trying to flog is a “lemon” – a car that has problems which will crop up quickly and affect the driveability, safety, or future value. The way to combat this is to always do your own research on any vehicle, including looking up its history and previous owners.

The “cut and shut” is a term used to describe a vehicle that has been assembled from the front and back ends of two vehicles of the same model that have been involved in crashes. A very dodgy dealer may attempt to sell a car like this, but it would have a weakened chassis which may not protect the driver if another accident occurred. If you suspect anything like this, just walk away.

If a customer is close to buying but maybe wants to shop around a bit more, the salesman could try stalling them. What do we mean by this? By taking too long to answer questions or speak to their manager about deals, it serves to make the customer impatient. As they get more and more frustrated and tired, they are increasingly likely to agree a deal quickly, as it means they can finally leave the dealership. 

Warranties tend to come as standard in any car deal, but salespeople may suggest an extended warranty as well. After all, it makes sense to add protection in case anything happens to your vehicle after the standard warranty period, right? In reality, though, according to American non-profit group Consumer Reports, most people wind up paying more for an extended warranty than they ever would have on repair jobs.