Verduzco Motors

I saw a Craigslist ad for a low mileage used luxury vehicle and I thought I better check it out. I called to arrange for a test drive; and for you guys who prefer to keep your phone numbers private, they were able to call me back within few minutes in my cellphone (even though I did not give them my number and it is supposed to be a private number) to check on my progress in the freeway.
The car was a mixed bag, the outside appearance was really cool — excellent paint, nice chrome wheels; the inside shows some loose parts, a missing stereo, a missing drive shift knob, and possibly a transmission that is about to fail. I thought they should have been straightforward in the ad and disclose whatever defects it may have. When I pointed it out to the salesman, he was evasive of the point, playing on the glamor of Hollywood by saying that this vehicle was used in a movie made by Paramount. (Duh, just because I am a foreign-​born guy does not mean I have not rubbed shoulders with some real Hollywood celebrities in my job!)
Then it gets better, after the test drive he shows me the Carfax report of the vehicle and the Kelly Blue Book valuation of about $ 15,000. Not true, they may be a dealer but they did not really do much to fix and prepare the car for sale, so it has to be a private party value of around 11 – 12 thousand dollars, that is if the car was in an «excellent» condition. What rubbed me most was the salesman’s insinuation that I can even «make money» out of this transaction by buying it cheap, keep it in my insurance policy, and well, should I, with a stroke of fate, wreck the car, I will be able to clear more than double of what I paid for the car from my insurance payout. Sweet.
A couple of months ago I read the latest Gallop poll, ranking the best and worst professions in terms of honesty and ethical standards. Car salesmen are dead last in the poll, ranking worse than politicians, lawyers and telemarketers. Need I say more?