Car dealership expert reveals how customers can use salesperson eavesdropping on them in their favor

When we are about to purchase a new car, a lot of research and investment goes into the process. One has to set a budget, find a suitable car model and find the right car dealership to get it from. But there is a fair share of psychological trickery involved between the customers and a salesperson when they arrive at the dealership to find their favorite ride. Most people don't know what goes down behind the car dealership scene, so an automobile dealership expert is here to pass on some major knowledge to all, which actually works in the favor of customers.

Lyndan–who goes by @lyndan99 on TikTok–makes videos about cars and gives away insider information about the dealership business. He has sparked a debate amongst his viewers concerning how our conversations at a dealership's office might not be as confidential as we think and how we, as customers, can take advantage of that. "What would you say, knowing that the dealerships are listening to your conversation?" Lyndan asked at the beginning of the video. "With some dealerships, when you're in the office and there's a phone there, whenever they excuse themselves to go get numbers or to take a phone call, a lot of times they are listening to your conversation."

"The phone in that office is a microphone and they're learning all about you and what your expectations are," he alleges. But Lyndan mentions that there is a way in which a customer can make some intelligent moves not to fall for the psychological maneuvering of the salespersons. "I would say some crazy number I knew they couldn't reach," he recounts. "'We're not taking this car unless they take $10,000 off the sticker!'—trying to work on their psychology."

"So what that did was, if they were planning on trying to get me $5,000 over price or something like that, they changed the numbers right away and gave me a more reasonable offer," Lyndan continues to explain. He also puts in a second idea which can favor the customers when they purchase a car. "One thing you can do is simply get up and walk outside, away from the store where no one can hear you," he details. "You can talk it out on the phone or with a person you're with."

Some viewers were fairly shocked after receiving this information, but others seemed to know this was a common practice in most car dealerships. @jillian.gee wrote, "After the dealer left the office, I pretended as another dealer called me with a better offer as he was coming back." @coverfour shared, "25 years and franchise dealerships in management, I have never in life heard of a dealership listening in by intercom to a customer." @josegonzalez4946 commented, "That explains why I've been fired from the same car lot I had gotten my car from. I cursed the general manager out bad."

@milanoxviper added: "The phone at work is always illuminated with Mic and speaker, but makes me wonder if someone is listening." According to NOLO, under the federal Wiretap Act, it is illegal for any person to secretly record an oral, telephonic, or electronic communication that other parties to the communication reasonably expect to be private.” The legality of this is an open question, though it appears doing so would likely be illegal. 

You can follow Lyndan (@lyndan99) on TikTok for more videos about cars and dealership information.