Giuffre KIA Bait and switch Brooklyn, New York

And probably a good thing to post here. While I agree with Robert this was not a classic bait and switch in the legal sense..it is a form of high pressure and deceptive selling practices, and all to many car dealers do this.

The act of them calling you and then when you get there the car is sold is a form of baiting I would agree. The car not being there and you getting different answers from different salespeople regarding its whereabouts also adds to the suspicion that you were baited in under false pretenses. Too many car dealers do this to get people in the door, it would have upset anyone. Unfortunately they can just claim it was sold before you got there and it was just a matter of bad timing. There was no legal commitment or contract that can force them not to sell it to someone else. This is how the law would see it, unless you can prove the car was never there to begin with.

So although this is a form of baiting, with a classic bait and switch the actual vehicle would have been there as advertised, but they would have tried to talk you out of it once you arrived to buy it.

They should have called you if you had an appointment to see the car and they sold it. I do not know if it is illegal for them not to, but it is certainly a sign of negligence on their part, and lack of common courtesy. I would not even consider doing business with a place like that.

As far as all the fees, and "padding" and warranty etc..that has nothing to do with bait and switch...but it ties in with deception and pressure sales. Some of it is illegal but the dealers know most people won't bother with a lawsuit over it. Some have and prevailed. I have learned the hard way as many others that when buying a car you need to out "shrewd" the dealers and be prepared to walk.

Yes they wasted hours of your time but it was better then quickly getting ripped off. It can take a long time to find the right dealer and right car, but once you sign the dotted line..it is often too late.

SO I got a call from them about a really cheap car.. I went there to look at that car and buy that car alone. They said that car is not there (BTW: different sales people at the same place gave different answeres about the actual where abouts of the car).

ALl in all they called me and said come and take a look at the car the day before and I made an appointment to see it, it is thier responsibility to call me and tell me if the car is sold or etc...instead they let me come to the place and tried to offer a MORE EXPENSIVE car. I did not include all of the details in my 1st complaint. Illegal

2ndly when the sales person says that the final price of the car = X$ ( and I ask them are there any other fees (other than the basic taxes and registration) they said no). 

Later when I go to sign for the car I get a warrenty (that I do not want) and a extra processing fee. SO I think that is illegal.

But your right I didn't get completely screwed, but I wasted hours of my time and I felt so violated at the end of the day...

This is not bait and switch. 

The car they offered was reasonable looking then they offered a price. When I was about to walk off because it was beyond my price range, they reduced the price (making me reconsider).

- So lets see.  Everytime you go to a dealer if they show you a car and then give you a price.  If you don't like the price and they lower it they are guilty of a "Bait and Switch" because they are trying to get you to change your mind...Ummm..Nope sorry just don't see it.

The basics of a true bait and switch is very simple.  It is when a business advertises something at an extreamly low price but have no intention of selling you that item.  They either do that by never having the item, such as if they advertised a car that never existed.  Telling you that the item is not of good quality, or other negatives to try and get you to buy a "better" more expensive item.

In your case they showed you a car, and gave you a price that was outside of your budget.  You didn't like it so they lowered the price to try and get you to buy the car.  That's called negotiations.  As long as the fees they were trying to add were legal, there is nothing wrong with them "trying" to do that.  You will always have various registration and taxes that have to be paid, but unless it is a very expensive car these generally should not be more than a few hundred dollars.  If they were adding in things such as a warranty or security systems they are not required and can not be forced as a condition of sale.  If it was insurance, I believe that every state requires insurance on the vehicle.  However if you prove you have insurance they can not add it to the contract.

By the way you did not get screwed, and you did the right thing by walking away.