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Former used car salesman Alan Slone grows a conscience and reveals one of the major strategies dealership use to screw you when buying a new car.

At the heart of it all is the "4-square," a sheet of paper (sample above) divided into four boxes: your trade value, the purchase price, down payment, and monthly payment. This is supposed to help you and the dealership come to an agreement, but as you'll see, it's really more akin to three-card monte dealer's deck of cards. Many, but not all, dealerships use this tool.

Here's 5 tips to get you started, and then a very detailed breakdown of how the dealership manipulates buyers with the four-square.

1) GET YOUR FINANCING THROUGH THE CREDIT UNION BEFORE YOU EVEN STEP ON THE LOT.

Once a car salesman knows you don't need financing, they're more willing to be forward with you and knows they don't have to work on the payments with you, because it won't help. We'll still try to beat whatever APR you're getting at the bank and offer you payment deals, but forget them. You've got it worked out, and only need to know the price - bringing us to the next point.

2) DON'T HAGGLE OVER ANYTHING BUT THE PRICE.

This seems obvious to most of the readers of The Consumerist, but most people miss this - especially if they're getting dealer financing.

3) DO YOUR HOMEWORK.

Know what the MSRP of the car is, know what your trade is worth. (Here's a hint: take the NADA and subtract about $2K - used cars are appraised by books that aren't published to the public, so it's not blue book or NADA value. It's called "black book" value; "black books" are published weekly by companies such as Manhiem Auto Auctions (http://www.manheim.com/), and these show the going price at the auction, that week, for your car. Basically, wholesale cost.)

4) LET THEM KNOW THAT YOU KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING.

If you read this article, you are already ahead of 99.9% of the people walking in. They'll cut most of the bull**** with you if they know that you're not going to fall for it.

5) UNDERSTAND THAT YOU ARE NOT GOING TO PAY COST FOR THE CAR, AND THE AMOUNT YOU PAY OVER COST WILL BE MORE THAN YOU THINK.

6) HERE'S HOW THE FOUR-SQUARE WORKS:

The "worksheet" (or four-square, as it's called) is the first thing a person will see when they sit down to negotiate a car's price. This sheet is used both in used and new car sales. When the interested party sits down, they've already driven the car, and have talked to the salesman about what they're looking for. The salesman has had the trade e.valuated, if there is one, and has gotten the customers something to drink to take the edge off.

After sitting everyone down, the salesperson starts filing out the four-square. A blank one looks something like this:



The salesman will only put down the make, model, VIN and customers information (not pictured). Then, the salesman will have the customer initial the part that says "I will buy today if numbers are agreeable to both parties." If there's any resistance (which normally there isn't), the salesman simply says that its to make sure that the customer really is ready to drive the car off the lot today - IF they can get the numbers right. I never had anyone not sign the form who was actually willing to buy the car today. By doing this, you have shown your commitment to the manager in the tower (tower: back room, usually behind glass, where the salesman goes to confer with his manager.)

(A note about the tower: This is where the deal actually takes place. The salesman you are dealing with is NOT who you are negotiating with - the sales manager, who sits behind a desk (and is usually one of the scummiest people you'll ever meet) is who's actually going to be haggling with you. This will not happen in front of you, nor will you see what is actually happening. It's a bit of theatre, this part.)

The salesman will then take the paper up to the tower, and when he returns, you'll see something like this:



The salesman will start, very matter-of-fact, going over the numbers with you. First, he'll start with the value of your trade.

The value of your trade, as listed, is $3000. You, expecting at least 5k for your beater, are unhappy with the number. That's fine, the salesman says. We'll get to that in a moment. He then goes on, very quickly, to just state the price of the car. Salespeople are instructed to move over these parts of the sheet VERY QUICKLY, as you'll see in a moment.

Next, he arrives at the down payment square, which is easily double what you'd hoped to put down today on the nice new Prius you now want very badly. Lastly, he arrives at the monthly payment. "That payment is outrageous! I can't afford that!" is what you're probably thinking. All in all, these are pretty crap numbers from what you see.

THESE NUMBERS ARE MEANT TO INSULT YOU AND PUT YOU ON THE DEFENSIVE, ESPECIALLY THE LAST TWO. The idea here is that, unless you're really observant, to get you less concerned about the overall price of the car and what your trade is worth (we'll go into trade manipulation in a moment), and get you to the payment plans offered at the bottom. The salesman, who knows you are steamed, will keep on acting like nothing is wrong, and hand you a pen to sign by the X. This is done for two reasons - 1)You might be the biggest, dumbest sucker we've had today and actually agree to these terms (happened twice the three months I did this), or 2) You look like the aggressor when you say you won't sign.

When you decide state that those numbers don't work for you, the salesman will ask which numbers you have a problem with. Most people will go straight to the down payment, as that's usually the part that most people gag on, followed closely by the trade in value. The salesman will then either talk about your trade (and proceed to downplay the car as much as they can - that's usually pretty easy), or will go directly to the down payment. Very discreetly, the salesman will fold the four square so that the only figures you see when you're talking are the down payment and monthly payment.

The salesman will then say "Well, what were you thinking about putting down today on the car?" You'll respond something like 1500, 1000 or even less if you're in a bind and NEED the car but are broke. The salesman will nod, and act as if he's empathetic with your plight - those bastards up in the tower *are* asking too much from you! He'll then cross out the down payment number and write in the number you're looking for.

At this point, the salesman will say something to the effect of, "Well, we may be able to get that down payment done for you. But, as I'm sure you know, the less you put down today, the more you'll have to pay off on the car - so this payment is likely to go up. What were you looking to pay on the car for payments?" You respond, "I didn't plan on paying that much, must less more!" The salesman will pause, hoping that his last line will sink in a bit and you'll either acquiesce to the current number or offer something higher.

If you don't, and insist that you were only planning on paying $300 a month for the car, the salesman will say, "I don't think I can do this, I really don't. But, I tell you what; my manager is crazy today and hasn't sold that many cars - he's really under the gun from upper management to get some cars out today, and he might just do this. Tell you what - if I can get these numbers, would you buy the car right now?" You say, "Well, sure, I guess." The salesman will say, "Okay, can you write me a check for the down payment so I can take it up there? They're not usually willing to turn down someone if I show up with cash in hand!" (Real reason? People are really unwilling, for some reason, to ask for a check back later if negotiations start to break down.)

Most people, at this point, will write the check - if the salesman is good enough with the snow job, people will honestly think that they're getting a good deal and that they need to do everything they can to get the manager to cave and sell them the car for next to nothing. The salesman will also get you to sign the form, by the X, saying that you're agreeing to the new numbers, not the old. He'll then put on his "wish me luck" face, and trudge up to the tower to haggle with his boss, the mean ol' manager.

(A note about the X: There's nothing legally binding here, BTW. You could sign your SSN, your blood type, and your name all on that line - but there's nothing binding on either party to make that happen. It's a precursor to the real deal with all the lovely paperwork in finance...but not the actual deal. However, the dealerships make you do this so you'll think its official and leverage yourself into thinking you may have just bought a car.)

The salesman will return, with a huge grin on his face, and something like this:



He'll say, "Wow! He really is in a tough spot! He was willing to let this go for the down payment you wanted! But, like I was saying, he couldn't really hit the payment you were looking for because he went down so far on the down payment, and he can let it go for this. (Motions towards new payment offer.) Would this work for you?" You will sit and look at the number, and wish you weren't buying a car today but instead on vacation. You will either agree, and we'll enter the final turn, or you'll go another couple of rounds with them until they either meet you somewhere in the middle, or you start to walk out.

(Note about "walking out." This doesn't work if your offer is, truly, unrealistic. You need to do your homework before going in - this includes finding out how long the car has been on the lot [just driving by and seeing it for a couple of weeks is good ammo], what the going rate is for those cars, and above all else, securing your financing before you get there, so you're more worried about the ACTUAL PRICE OF THE CAR instead of these bull**** terms.)

Now, lets say you've got a problem with the trade price, as well as the other figures (other than price.) The salesman (and manager) will probably agree to whatever price you want for your trade, within reason. So, assume the sticking point is that you want $5,000 for your trade - that's fine, we'll just say it's going to be bought for $5000. We simply move around the price of the car to $2,000 more, and you're in the clear. You don't notice, we don't say anything, and you feel happy. This is the way that dealerships do the whole "push pull or drag" sales where they'll give you $5,000 for an engine block.

So, at this point, we'll assume that you've gotten everything square and you're ready to close the deal. Sometimes, if the manager feels especially nasty (or has gone a few rounds with you via the worksheet), they'll come out of the tower and say "Folks, I'm (Douchey McDouchebag), the sales manager here. Congratulations! You've just bought a car! We were able to get the payments to $310 - I know you wanted $300, but that was the best we could do. That's close enough, right?" They'll nod their head (another psychological trick to get you to agree), and almost every time the person says "Yea, that's fine!" The problem is, they didn't realize that a $10 payment bump over a 5-year loan nets an extra $1k in profit for the dealership. It's called "the $10 (or $15, or $20) close", and I only saw it fail when a person was really, really exasperated with us. The deal ends, and you wake up in a year realizing that, somehow, you're $6,000 upside down on your car, while the dealership is laughing all the way to the bank.

So, those are the major pitfalls associated with the four-square; it looks really unassuming on its face, but its designed to make you pay more, and not realize what's going on. The manager, during negotiations, will write in BIG BIG letters, will turn over the sheet if he needs room, and will write over other things in order to make it as confusing and hard to deal with as possible in attempts to wear you down and make you sign.

The saying we used to have around the lot was "It's like the Dallas Cowboys playing a Pee-wee Football team." The average car salesman does this dance 4 times a day - you do it once every 3-5 years. They are better, and they will get you on some level. However, by doing stuff like this, you can control how much it happens.

Here's what a finished four-square might look like:





http://www.hyip-source.com/story.php?title...-How-To-Beat-It

Agloco is a pay to surf MLM scheme that exploded onto the interwebs late last year. It is backed by the same team as AllAdvantage which crashed and burned in the bubble years.



AllAdvantage had a simple proposition: pay people a fixed hourly rate for the hours they spent browsing the internet with their software and use an MLM structure to attract new users. As you’d expect, this lead to legions of bots that pretended to surf. In contrast, Agloco uses a tortuously roundabout path to go from surfing to actual payment of money.

Still, most people mistakenly see Agloco as having a simple, linear model. Consider the following a public service announcement.If you’re a shrewd trader or investor or ever sat through an economics class (awake) you have no need to read further.

For the rest, let’s break it down:



[1] First, you have to download and install Agloco’s viewbar. This software (vaporware?) has yet to be released and every time a date is given, it makes a nice whooshing sound as it passes by. For the sake of this analysis, let’s assume it is actually released.

[2]So you surf the web while running the viewbar. But you don’t get a one-to-one proportionate credit for the actual hours you spend online. No matter how much longer you spend online, you’ll only get five measly hours accrued a month. And they “reserves the right to change these rates at any time for any country”.

[3]Next, these ‘Agloco hour units’ will accumulate. At some point, who-knows-when (if ever) they will be converted to something else. Note that they “reserves the right to change the [conversion] rates at any time”. So you can find yourself on shifting ground and get much less than what you thought you’d get.

Now, here’s the knee slapper: Agloco will convert these ‘hour units’ not into cash but into shares. But Agloco is a private company in start-up mode; has no public shares to distribute; is not profitable; hasn’t even released a product; and its founders failed the first time they tried this venture (what they lack in creativity, I suppose, they make up in persistence). Furthermore, according to SEC regulations, Agloco can not distribute unregistered shares to the public. While the ability of Agloco to produce and distribute value hinges on being able to going public, it’s ironic that the least amount of attention has been paid to this point.

From Agloco’s website:

“Remember, the company is 100% owned by the Members…”

No, it is not. It is a private company owned by a very few. I can cut them some slack for aggressive promotional copy but this is a bald faced lie.

[4]Assuming it does actually go public (I would really like to see an investment banker sit through a meeting with a straight face) Agloco will then have to use its shares as currency to pay its members – that was the original point, before all these twisty turns, remember? When it begins to do so, the proverbial **** will hit the fan.

If we assume Agloco is successful, they will have to regularly pay their considerable and probably growing user base a massive amount of money. Which means selling a massive amount of shares on the market. Guess what will happen to the value of the shares when this unflagging selling takes place? Guess what will happen before the selling hits as smart traders position themselves ahead of the avalanche of sell orders?

[5]But wait, maybe I’m being too harsh here. Let us again give them the benefit of the doubt. Let’s assume that people don’t make a mad dash to cash in their shares… eventhough they’ve been slaving over a hot monitor for months. The next hurdle to the ‘members’ seeing money is for the firm to become profitable.

[6]The chances of this are very slim for obvious reasons. Even if they do become profitable, the founders will rightfully want to get a return on their risk capital before paying anyone else. Again, let’s assume not only that Agloco becomes profitable but that their board declares a cash dividend (as opposed to a sneaky stock dividend).

[7]Now here is the payoff that the ‘members’ had been waiting for. Assuming all the above, we finally get to the single mention of cash payment to users in Agloco’s website:

“As Agloco grows and the company generates positive cash flow, we will be distributing the excess cash to Members and shareholders of the company.”

At this improbable point, having jumped through hoop after hoop and assumed everything but the kitchen sink, the members are getting paid a pittance: dividend ‘cents’ on any ‘dollar’ shares owned. And that is assuming that in Agloco’s glorious ascent, hackers the world over haven’t unleashed massive ‘bots’ to mimic surfing and made it a victim of its own ’success’. Or that the SEC hasn’t nabbed the founders on charges of attempting to circumvent securities law by promising the public unregistered securities in return for membership.

If you are more jaded than I am, you may point out that at each node through this circuitous path, Agloco has built in several mechanisms to control the amount of ‘value’ they distribute – whether limits on hours, conversion rates of shares or cash, reserving the right to kick anyone out for any reason, etc. These built in ‘firewalls’ are there for the protection of the founders and the business but they can also be used quite easily to manipulate the user base to extract the most from them while reciprocating a minimum.

Having said all that, I don’t think Agloco’s a scam. It is a poorly conceived scheme that appeals to those who know very little about finance, share issuance and regulation. I really do wish Agloco would go public. How else would I get a chance to short it?

Useful Things You Should Know Before Choosing an Online College

In these days is possible to study almost any subject online.It may require more self discipline, but you can have more time for other activities.However, students at online universities can attend classes at their convenience, making it possible to earn a living at the same time as earning a degree.

The first step in your online education journey is to research the online institutions that interest you, in order to ensure that they are in fact accredited online institutions.

In this post we've made a list with questions that will help you to make the best choice.Answering these questions will make it easier for you to compare and choose the right college to meet your learning needs.

1.Ask yourself what you really want.Take some time to think about this.

2.Find what are your learning needs.

Once you've asked the following questions, as well as a few of your own, you'll have a pretty good idea about whether or not you want to enroll.Now that you know what do you want to study, here are some ways of sorting out what kind of college or university to look for for your online degree.

3.Find out if the school is accredited, and by whom. - Make sure that your school is accredited by the correct regional association. If it is not properly accredited, your degree may be rejected by the majority of employers.

4.Research the reputation of the school and how long has this school existed. - The longer the school has existed, the better. A school isn't automatically credible because it's been around a long time, but having experience is always a plus.

5.Find out about the professors. - Who are they, what experience do they have.

6.What is the satisfaction rate of the school ? - Try to speak with people who were students at this school and listen their opinions.Ask them everything you want to know about their experience.

7.How much is tuition? Are there any additional fees or hidden costs? Your tuition should be comparable to that of regular universities, perhaps slightly less.

8.What hardware is required? Most online classes require that students have access to a computer that is has the ability to run up-to-date multimedia and word processing programs. If your computer is too old, it may not work with your online program.

9.Will I need to purchase any additional software or books? A lot of online programs provide all the materials you need directly from their site. A few request that their students buy supplemental software and books on their own.

10.How many students have graduated? The higher the graduation rate the better.That's demonstrates higher levels of student contentment and success.You can also find out how many students are currently enrolled.

11.Finally you need a way to communicate with the school.Find if Is it all online or is there a number I can call for help.Having someone who can give you an advice can be very helpful when you need help or are looking for answers.

After answering these questions I'm sure that you'll be more confident when you'll choose your online college.

How I Get Laptops and Plasma TVs for Free


How many of you get those spam emails with “Your $1000 Home Depot Gift Card is waiting for you” or “Click here to pick up your free 42″ Plasma TV”?

I did, and I got 2 Sony Vaio laptops and a $1000 Visa gift card out of it.

You see, not all of those emails are scams. And this article is going to give you a little insight into how these sites work.

How I got started
Two years ago, a coworker tried out some offers for a free XBox and Apple iPod. He had to complete 4 advertiser offers for each “gift”, but he did the offers and eventually got the Xbox and iPod. I decided to give it a shot too.

I immediately went for the big stuff. My first offer was a Sony Vaio I received in my Hotmail account. I looked at the terms and conditions and I only had to complete 6 offers with no referrals. Looked good to me!

How do these things work?
I’ll try to run down the basics for you. Each promotion site is slightly different:

1. Most sites require you to complete a certain number of advertiser offers. I’ve seen them vary from 2 to 20 required offers. You have to pay for these advertiser offers, but they’re usually 7 or 30 day trials, which you can cancel at any time and just pay shipping or for one month of the product. Other offers could require you to complete an auto loan, buy furniture, or sell your first child. I’ll give you some tips on this later.
2. In addition to advertiser offers, some sites also require that you refer a certain number of other participants. This means you need to get friends, family or strangers to sign up for the same deal as you. Plus, you have to wait till they complete their offers before yours is finalized. Always avoid offers that require referrals!
3. These sites also require you to sign up with your name, address, phone and email, and then “fill out a brief survey”. This survey consists of numerous screens of “Do you want information about Student Loan Consolidation” or “Do you like coupons”. Just click No for everything and get to the good stuff.
4. These sites make their money from the advertisers. The advertisers make their money from the shipping on free samples (that cost almost nothing to make), but mostly from people like my sister who signs up for Columbia House and keeps forgetting to cancel the Featured Selection!

How do I pick out the safe sites from the scam sites?
The providers of these “free” offers are getting trickier and more strict, so they’re always changing tactics. However, these few tips should always help make the search a little safer:

* Whether you get an offer via email or browse directly to a site, check the Terms and Conditions FIRST and read it COMPLETELY. The T&C will tell you how many offers you must complete and whether you need to get referrals. Also, it should provide some methods to check your account and maybe how to contact the site owners.
* Google the name of the site. For example, “Product Test Panel” or “Consumer Incentive Promotions”. You’re bound to pull back some listings on Scam.com and other sites. Don’t let this deter you. Read all that you can about the provider and make your best judgment on how reliable and trustworthy they may be.
* Finally, look up the site on the Better Business Bureau’s official site. Most providers have multiple aliases, addresses and phone numbers. Jot down the company’s information and then test out those phone numbers. If you get a live person, great! But, most likely, you’ll just get a voicemail. Leave a message to see if they’ll get back to you. Just tell them “I’m interested in your free promotion, but I want to make sure I can contact you in case there are issues. Could you please call me back or email me at …?”

My methods to beat their system
I’m not the most diligent person with regards to keeping track of information, except when it comes to money. I don’t want to get shafted out of hard-earned money, so here are my methods:

1. I verify the site credentials as stated in the above section
2. I obtain a screenprint of every web page they give me, except the survey pages. I personally print the pages as PDF files, but you can also accomplish the same task with screen prints. The important pages are the homepage, Terms and Conditions, and each offer page
3. I view the offers on ALL the offer pages BEFORE I sign up for anything. That way, I can see whether the offers will be too steep to complete or aren’t worth the promotional product. The sites let you advance through the offer pages and return to prior screens.
4. I complete the prescribed numbers of offers presented on each offer page. For a 6 offer promotion, I usually get sent to 3 pages, where I complete 2 offers per page. The first page has the inexpensive offers with free trial periods. Each successive page has more expensive or more difficult to fulfill offers.
5. As I complete each offer, I add the offer details into a tracking spreadsheet. You can download a sample spreadsheet here. I completed this spreadsheet for a Plasma TV. However, I decided to take a $1000 Visa Card instead
6. I make sure to complete all the offers in one session, and I don’t delete my browser cookies. Many of the promotion sites use cookies to track who you are and what promotions to show you, as well as to display your account. Just try not to delete your cookies until you’ve complete all the offers and made first contact with the promotion team.
7. Once the offers are completed, I keep checking my account daily to see when the offers are validated. In all 3 times I did these promotions, some offers didn’t report back to the provider site, so I had to fax proof of the offer completion.
8. Also, and most importantly, I make sure I cancel any and all offers I completed before their trial period ends. Some offers also require you to return the product for credit, so make sure you do, and send it via certified mail.

How much have I spent on these promotions?

* Sony Vaio PCF-V505ECP Laptop = $95 (my daily laptop)
* Sony Vaio VGN-FS790B Laptop = $30 (Clever Dudette’s laptop)
* $1000 Visa Gift Card (was for a Plasma TV) = $300 (Bought a new grill, pressure washer, and curio cabinet)

Total Cost = $425. For about $3600 worth of stuff, not a bad deal. However, these deals count as gift income and you’ll be required to pay income taxes on the retail value. However, not all promotion sites follow through with the paperwork. Read into that as you wish…

When I come across a good offer, I’ll present a walk-through on this site. I thought I had a good one with Product Test Panel, until I viewed the final offer page. They only gave 3 offers, and I had to complete 2. Only one of the offers would have cost me less than $1500. Definitely not worth it!

So, if you follow my tips and methodologies, keep all records, and follow up consistently, then you could score yourself an “almost free” Plasma TV, Gift Card, Laptop, or even a Vespa Scooter!

Have any of you completed these deals? Have you been scammed? Are you like my sister and forget to cancel the offers?