Car Scams Are Out of Control

These are some of the most prolific car buying scams and how to avoid getting ripped off.

Donut = We like cars, and we like making videos about cars. Hopefully our videos make you like cars too.

Subscribe for +50hp
Notification bell for +100hp

We have podcasts, too!

Directed and Shot by: Alex Beltran
Written by: Alex Beltran + Jimmy Hilton
Research by: Peter Nelson
Produced by: Angela Trevino
Camera Operator: Edgar Grajeda
Edited by: Paul O'Mara
Hosted by: Jimmy Hilton + Jeremiah Burton

[iitzwolfy]

Remember, you are an adult, the most powerful word you can have in your vocabulary is "NO"

[maxbriseno]

Car scammers? Well, of course I know them. Dealerships

[chadsanburg]

I work at valvoline, (the oil change shop not the oil brand name) and you can stop in anytime and we can show any cars carfax for free

[DeagleGamesTV]

I had a guy once tell me he had someone looking at the truck I was driving an hour to come buy, I was only 10 minutes in on a 1:30hr drive. just replied with "Damn hope he buys it then because I'm not wasting the gas to maybe buy the thing. Good luck with the sale" An hour later he replied saying the guy didn't want it and I should come get it, told him its all good I don't waste my time like that and again good luck with the sale. He wasn't happy and started getting angry in the texts and demanding that I come buy the truck, I blocked his number and moved on found a better deal on a better truck later. Moral of the story if someone isn't willing to do the bare minimum and be patient for a sale they aren't worth the costs of doing business with them.

[aaronredbaron]

My mom is an Anti-scmmer hero!! My parents tried to buy my brother a Toyota truck, they got scammed the guy had rolled the odometer and lied about it being 4x4 and the year. My mom found more listing of his and discovered this was his standard motus operandi, so she got the news involved They were able to get the guy trying to sell a Jetta to the news crew with a rolled odometer and the wrong year. So then, with pressure we would turn him in, we were able to get him to buy back the truck. I went with my Dad and we met him at a Home Depot. I had my GoPro strapped to my chest and counted out his money in front of the camera and gave him back the messed up title. I gave the video to the news so they cold do a follow up story and we turned around and found my brother a really nice 4Runner :)

[SilentKaliSmoker]

Bought a car from a dealership. They said it was a clean title. Brought it home, had a few people check it out, turns out there were signs I didn't see that it had been in a major crash. Rolled. Dents pulled, radiator frame replaced, hood replaced, and repainted. Took it back and got our money back luckily.

[tacticooldennis]

I got car scammed online. I bought a Donut media shirt, then crashed my ebike and got a bunch of holes in it. Then all the hosts went to different shows.

[CryptikDesign]

I bought an Infiniti G35 from a Chevy dealer and they did the fake carfax. I bought the car when I was 18yr old. Went to try to trade the car years later and no one would give me even $1000 for it. Went to the dealership where i bought it originally and everyone there was fired because they got caught doing fraud. Good times, good times.

[delonthompson]

Just glad we have X3 the amount of car content now with Donut, Big Time and Speeeed

[spikethrowaway]

Another dealership tip.

Go through your own financing from a bank you trust. They mentioned the scam of hiking the interest rate as a means of pocketing the money, but not the alternative.

Had a dealership offer me 8% interest on a 5 year loan before i even told him i was interested in financing only to tell him i was preapproved somewhere else for half that. Felt real good lol

[nathynbenson]

Car salesman here - the point at 6:50 about dealers with in-house financing tacking on extra % points to your interest rate- accurate, it does happen. However, what you don’t know is that the banks you choose or get approved to finance through also do this as well. Always try to source your own outside financing through a bank you are already with for the best rates, unless the dealership can offer you a better one 🤝

[guillermor]

Some dealers are the worst; even they do odometer rollbacks. I know this because I had a car when I was in college (2012 Ford Focus SE), and I bought it used with about 110, 000 miles. I put about 45k miles on it and used it as a down payment on my next vehicle, so I traded it in with about 155, 000 miles. A couple week later, I see it on the dealer lot, listed at 92, 000 miles…
I realized in that moment that I’m NEVER going to purchase another vehicle from that Ford dealer anymore.

[nunyabusiness]

IMO for a car older than about 10 years, don’t even worry about miles, evaluate the car. On a 3 year old car a 25k and 200k mile car will be wildly different in wear, but after 10, 20, 30 years miles barely mean anything. A 150k mile car might’ve been meticulously maintained and religiously driven at least once a month to circulate fluids, etc. a low mileage old car may have sat for 10 years undriven and every lubricant and seal has dried out, the fuel system is rotten, and it may need almost a full rebuild to work. There’s also city vs highway miles, I’d say an NYC car with 10k miles is like a Texas car with 100k miles in terms of engine hours and wear. Never try to gauge a car based on odometer and other ancillary ways, get it on a lift and look at the car in front of you and see if it’s good, don’t try to judge the engine by the arm rest wear.

[dheitz]

Checking VIN spots and using a VIN decoder is a good idea, but the best bet is to go see the car in person and bring along a VIN Diesel

[bboyfreestyle]

I'm super stressed and in the hospital right now. Seeing this made my stress much more manageable. Thanks for the content, everyone. Might not get a lot of attention but I hope Donut and gang understands (Big Time, Speeed) that we appreciate you guys for being there when need you, even though you dont realize.

[thegingineer]

Better Business Bureau is a scam itself. You want a good rating? give them $400 and then suddenly they're accredited. Using the word Bureau makes it sound like they're some official office but they're a for profit corp providing recommendations, no different than Angie's list. Not a bad place to check for complaints but plenty of bad places have a clean BBB.

[NigelMelanisticSmith]

One thing to mention on the parts/fake listing's section: use a credit card to purchase parts if you can. You can force a charge back for any fraudulent credit card charges, but not cash or debit.

[dbeau]

Not just car scams, got a car insurance quote through GEICO for a 2019 Chevy bolt. $1200 per month. $6000 for 6 months. And they said they were saving me $600. Wtf is that??

[FlN]

The most important thing when buying things online is Paypal. Saved me so many times. Thanks for the video and raising awareness guys👍

[crustyoldmsgtretired]

I listed an ancient Mercedes 300SD on Craigslist for $1000 years ago. I was very detailed in the description that it was rough, but ran and drove. I had some guy call me claiming he was coming in from Germany and wanted me to leave the car in an unincorporated area in the California desert.... I was like, "Nope, We're not doing that". I have no idea how the scam was supposed to work, but I didn't want to find out.