Buying a car - Used or New, tips and buyer bewares

There are 91 replies in this Thread which has previously been viewed 20,968 times. The latest Post (May 14, 2026 at 6:52 AM) was by serafina.

    Quote from 010101

    This is what I miss about the US, you can always negotiate and deal as they want your $/business, in South America, it is the opposite. Take it or leave it.

    A decade ago, a young lady came to Argentina with the same mindset as you. She thought 'I will provide first world service & customer service , surely they'll appreciate it and understand it is worth paying a tad more'. Was she wrong!

    A decade later and she is still struggling to get local customers, no matter how much she slashes the price for the local market. There seem to be no bottom in sight and sometimes it is not even a matter of price but of trust. Since people in LatAm get scammed repeatedly, they are just wary of everyone.

    Deposits don't get returned, services and products are not as advertised/promised. So it is all stuck and muddy. A lot of effort for very little result.

    The not-young-anymore girl now works 100% with clients abroad, where they aren't afraid to pay a deposit or cash in advance as the chances of getting scammed are so slim, they aren't concerned.

    And I am not talking about million dollars, nor of thousand dollars. 20 USD for an Argentinian is quite a sum, for an American is the price of a drink in a fancy place. Some of it is just psychology-based.

    A friend recommended a book to understand cultural difference in International transactions and it was a revelation. Still, it cost me to get the US business culture, and I am not ready to put the effort for another adjustment if the money reward is just a fraction.

    The culture map

    angled-culturemap-1-1.png

    Unfortunately/fortunately? it sounds like foreigners (like myself) will have to adjust to how thing are here. So we set our expectations (lower) and be cautious. This is something I realize culture can not be changed and to accept it.

    You stated "Deposits don't get returned, services and products are not as advertised/promised. " This is something that drove us nuts back in Colombia because we are generally very trusting. I would argue this is self inflicted, people from low trust societies love to scam each other, so really what can they expect but a bad outcome in any type of commerce.

    Having to adjust and expect the worst (to protect ourselves) shouldn't be the norm but here we are. We are now very cynical as a way to protect ourselves.

    Thanks for the link to the book. Will check it in my list of ebooks to read.

    Quote from 010101

    You stated "Deposits don't get returned, services and products are not as advertised/promised. " This is something that drove us nuts back in Colombia because we are generally very trusting. I would argue this is self inflicted, people from low trust societies love to scam each other, so really what can they expect but a bad outcome in any type of commerce.

    It seems a catch-22. How long have you been in Colombia? I have been here 10 years and still haven't been "cured". My mind is still the same.

    Quote from 010101

    Surprise surprise, new car sales (2023) dropped about 25% from 2022. In my mind this is the direct result of short sightedness on moronic business practices to try to maximize profit. All in the name of inflation.

    You've hit the nail on the head with that. Stamping this sort of mentality out in every area of the retail sector is in my opinion Milei's biggest and toughest job. Until he does inflation will stay high.

    My missus said today it's about the 'Red Circle' having too much power.

    Quote from serafina

    They called again this afternoon and we are due to meet with the escribano on Thursday for some paperwork. They said we will be refunded the money we paid on the table, which is even more we were expecting from them. However, let's wait to have the (devalued) pesos in our hands before celebrating.

    Fast forward to 2026. The judicial case against the two scammers has kept going on. One is AWOL (the one whose DNI I found hanging in a local chino a few months after the scam) and the other was found and convicted. My husband attended via Zoom a hearing where he and other scammed people were granted an indemnization.

    Since only 3-4 scammed clients pressed charges, and only 3 were available 5 years later, the indemnization will be divided by 3 instead by 4, so it will be a little higher. I don't see the logic as if we were stolen X each, we should get back X each. However, it seems the solvency of the scammer is limited, so the money they can get from him, will be divided by the number of people who got scammed and who are available now.

    The defense lawyer said that we were even getting back more than what we were scammed for.... yes, in pesos.... so we got back less in USD. I think my husband mentioned we will get back an amount of pesos which is equal to 650 USD to this date, but in 3 installments. I hope the exchange rate won't fluctuate much and we can get 650 USD by the time it is all paid off.

    650 USD is about 1/3rd they scammed us for.

    Although it sucks, it is still better than the beginning amount, which was about 3600 USD if I recall right. 2000 USD we recovered from Renault shortly after the scam burst, as that was the amount actually deposited in the car dealership's register. The rest (1600 USD, paid in black to the scammers) was gone. Now only 950 USD will be gone forever.


    My husband found the same scammer still in action in a dealership González Catán, or another hellhole city of the suburbs. However, for his own safety, he simply reported it to the general attorney following our case.

    I know you’ll be relieved to see the end of this saga, serafina. How disheartening that the case took so long to be settled, and the inflation of the past 5 years has eaten away so much of what you are due!

    An online pipe smoking friend of mine in Yorkshire was saying the other week his daughter had bought a newish but second hand car from a dealer. When she took it to renew its MOT it failed as it had no catalytic converter fitted. She went back to the dealer to tell him what had happened and he agreed to fit one without charge. I should think so too.

    That part was very poorly managed. We didn't even get an apology. I only remember being made fun of for believing what their legit employee overpromised. One would think they would close down for good after this scandal. Instead, their are still in business, with the usual fast staff turnover. I checked their review onlines, out of curiosity, and they must have gotten their profile removed because I only see 3 reviews. Of which one from 2025 alerting they are scammers.