‘Bro got scammed twice’: Buyer says Toyota opened a credit card for him to put a down payment on Highlander. Is that allowed?

This man went into two types of debt for a car he barely got to use. It happens to more people than you think.

Yusuf (@ridewithyusuf) is a car dealer who seems to do a little bit of everything. Based on his Linktree, he can help you sell your car, teach you how to make money flipping cars, and even help you book a consultation with an accident/personal injury lawyer. (Listen, you need to have multiple streams of income nowadays.)

He's gained popularity online for posting car-buying advice and sharing his calls with real customers looking to buy or sell a vehicle. It's a fascinating look at how things work behind the scenes with a seemingly fair car dealer (since many have earned a bad rap for being sketchy).

Helping a clueless customer

In a trending video with more than 320,000 views, Yusuf got on the phone with a customer who seemingly got scammed twice by a Toyota dealership.

The customer explains over the phone that he bought a 2023 Toyota Highlander, but two weird things happened in the process.

First, the dealership allegedly tricked him into opening a credit card to use for the down payment. The customer was under the impression that he was signing paperwork for a loan but later realized it was a credit card.

Down payments are usually made with money, you actually have—like paying in cash, from a debit card, or check—instead of credit. However, some dealerships will allow you to make a down payment with a credit card.

But that kind of defeats the purpose, since a down payment is meant to shave money off of your loan amount and is used as a negotiating tactic. If the car loan terms are equal or better than your credit card terms, you may as well roll the down payment amount into the car loan in this situation.

Returning to the car customer, Yusuf then asks the guy how much he paid for the car and was shocked by his response.

"They didn't even tell me," the customer says, regarding the total price.

"Brother, I mean you had to sign something. You didn't sign any paperwork?" Yusuf asks in disbelief.

The customer says that he does have the paperwork but wasn't sure about the price since he was inexperienced with the car buying process.

How badly did this man get scammed?

He did say that he's currently paying $1,056 monthly for the car loan, and if he were to complete the loan term he'd pay $72,000 to $76,000 total.

In a comment, Yusuf estimated that the dealership probably charged him $55,000 for the car and the loan rate is what's contributing to that extra $20,000.

Keep in mind, the base model 2023 Highlander retails for about $38,000, so even before the loan interest rate, he seems to have overpaid by a smooth $17,000 on the car.

Let's do some quick math here. That means if the customer completed the loan payback he'd have spent $37,000 over the average cost of the car—enough to buy him a second brand-new car.

On top of that, the customer pays about $600 a month for car insurance. He seems to have gotten a bad deal there, too, since the average cost of car insurance is $136, according to Policygenius. Even teenagers, who pay the highest average rate of $538 a month, are charged less than this unlucky car owner.

Yusuf offered the man $30,000 for the car, which only has 11,000 miles (about a year's worth) on it. The man still owes the bank about $43,000, so taking Yusuf's deal would put him in $14,000 of negative equity to pay down. Yikes.

That's a lot of money to owe for a car you won't even get to drive, but it's better than the -$37,000 alternative.

Oh, one more thing: the man's loan had a 16% interest rate when the overall average car loan rate is 6.73%, according to NerdWallet. Though, this number fluctuates based on your credit score, down payment, and whether you're buying new or used.

@ridewithyusuf Customer wants to sell his Toyota he pays $1600 a month on‼️ he is big upside down on the loan! #cardealer #cars #carfinance #fyp #toyota #highlander ##badcredit#tradein #carsales #dealershiplife #dealershiptiktok ♬ original sound - Ride With Yusuf

Commenters react

Viewers in the comments section had a lot to say on the matter.

"Salesman retired after this sale," a top comment read.

"This is so sad! Some people just don't know any better and some dealers will just take advantage of them," a person said.

"These videos make me feel so much better about my car payment," another wrote.

"They made him open a credit card for a down-payment? bro got scammed twice," a commenter added.

The Daily Dot reached out to Yusuf for comment via email and TikTok direct message and to Toyota via email.

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The post ‘Bro got scammed twice’: Buyer says Toyota opened a credit card for him to put a down payment on Highlander. Is that allowed? appeared first on The Daily Dot.

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