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Car Buying Terms
Car buying has a vocabulary of its own. Here are some auto buying terms you may hear when you’re talking price.

Invoice Price is the manufacturer’s initial charge to the dealer. This usually is higher than the dealer’s final cost because dealers receive rebates, allowances, discounts, and incentive awards. Generally, the invoice price should include freight (also known as destination and delivery). If you’re buying a car based on the invoice price (for example, "at invoice," "$100 below invoice," "two percent above invoice"), and if freight is already included, make sure freight isn’t added again to the sales contract.
Monroney Sticker Price (MSRP) shows the base price, the manufacturer’s installed options with the manufacturer’s suggested retail price, the manufacturer’s transportation charge, and the fuel economy (mileage). Affixed to the car window, this label is required by federal law, and may be removed only by the purchaser.
Base Price is the cost of the car without options, but includes standard equipment and factory warranty. This price is printed on the Monroney sticker.
Dealer Sticker Price, usually on a supplemental sticker, is the Monroney sticker price plus the suggested retail price of dealer-installed options, such as additional dealer markup (ADM) or additional dealer profit (ADP), dealer preparation, and undercoating.
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Auto Leasing Secrets and Tips

Is It "Leasing" or "Fleecing"?
Most dealers have been telling prospective car buyers that leasing is a great idea. Well, they're half right -- it is great for dealers. On average, dealer profit on a lease is twice that of a conventional purchase. Even better, customers who lease usually have to return the cars in 2-3 years, giving dealers more chances to make huge profits off the same people. So why is it called "fleecing"? Because, even though some people do end up with good lease deals, many have been victimized by outrageous overcharges.

Since most people don't understand how leasing works, dishonest dealers have been able to take advantage of consumers by using deceptive lease-vs.-buy comparisons; quoting lower prices or interest rates, then using higher ones in the lease; and quoting higher trade-in allowances than people actually receive. Since full disclosure is not yet required by law, few people have known the crucial details of their lease transactions -- and even fewer realize that they have been cheated.

In 1995 ABC's PrimeTime Live did an undercover investigation that found deceptive leasing practices being used at five out of the ten dealers they visited. That same year, a statewide investigation in Florida resulted in 55 Toyota dealers and their distributor setting up a $4.5 million restitution fund to settle complaints of overcharging on leases. (Other leasing investigations are now under way in 22 states.) On May 14, 2000 KCBS-TV announced the results of its three-month undercover investigation of 14 new-car dealerships in Southern California. Some of the biggest dealers in America were caught red-handed by hidden cameras -- lying, cheating and overcharging customers on new-car leases and purchases.

Money Saving Car Buying Tip #1
To get the best possible deal on a new car or truck, do all of your homework before signing any contracts or putting any money down. Dealer tricks (like secret APR increases, packed payments and other common rip-offs) can quickly erase any discounts or other savings that you think you're getting, so learn how to calculate your own monthly payments. Use the Internet to get at least six quotes before you start negotiating with dealers. For free (no obligation) quotes on new cars & trucks, click on Price Quote To make sure you're not missing out on a better deal, get quotes from all six services!

The Secret Price Increase (The "Flip")
The "flip" is a common trick that's been used to overcharge many people on leases. After a buyer agrees to purchase a vehicle at a negotiated or advertised discount from MSRP, the salesperson convinces them to lease the vehicle instead -- "to lower their monthly payment." Before cap cost (price) disclosure was required, a dishonest salesperson would simply use a non-disclosure lease to secretly raise the price of the vehicle. These price increases were typically $1,500 to $2,000 (some were $5,000 or more), and victims rarely if ever discovered the overcharges.

Now that cap cost disclosure is required by law (nationwide as of 1/98, two years earlier in a few states), secret price increases are more difficult to pull off. However, some salespeople have been so bold (and so greedy) that they have attempted it, anyway -- and succeeded. Most people don't understand how leasing works, so dishonest salespeople can still get away with price hikes by using one of the following tricks.

First, using a cap cost in a lease that's higher than the negotiated (or quoted) price is not even noticed by some people because they don't know what cap cost represents. (It's the "selling price" of a vehicle that's used to calculate lease payments and it's supposed to be the same as the price that was negotiated, quoted, or advertised by the dealer.) Second, if a higher cap cost is noticed, the salesperson might say that that figure has no effect on their monthly payment; they're not buying the vehicle, the leasing company is; and the cap cost is set by the leasing company so it's not negotiable. (Those are all lies.) Third, a higher cap cost is sometimes explained away by saying that it includes finance charges (another lie). Since most people are used to paying thousands of dollars in interest on car loans, this lie sounds believable.

Deceptive Lease vs. Buy Comparisons
To trick people into leases, salespeople often use deceptive comparisons that are designed to make even bad lease deals look better than conventional purchases. Instead of comparing lease payments to 5-year loan payments (the term that buyers commonly choose), salespeople may use the higher payments on 4-year or 3-year loans to make the purchase look unattractive. Don't fall for the trick of comparing similar terms, because a lease is nothing but a long-term rental agreement, while a conventional loan involves ownership.

Another trick that's used in deceptive comparisons is the quoting of inflated loan payments -- again, to make purchases look more expensive than leases. Inflated lease payments may also be quoted, with the "extra" money going towards a secret price or APR increase. Since few consumers understand how lease payments are calculated, many have agreed to leases with monthly payments that were inflated by $75 to $100 or more. (And that's why you should always figure out your own loan and lease payments.)

The "Down Payment" Mistake
Down payments are often required on leases to make bad deals look good. Don't fall for this! A down payment on a lease is nothing but "monthly payments in advance," and the more money down, the greater the chance that a lease is good for the dealer, but not for the customer. (In leasing, down payments don't affect the residual or build any equity, they just lower the monthly payment.) For example, an advertised "$299 per month" 30-month lease based on $1800 down is the same as $359 per month with no down payment. Be sure to analyze all leases based on no down payment (no cap reduction), and learn how to figure out your own payments so you're not ripped off!