We are seeing more and more high priced extended warranty rip offs in this slowly rebounding economy, as car dealers try to increase their profit margins any way they can. These service contract scams generate big bucks for the dealer and usually have a mark up from the cost of a hundred bucks or so and which the dealer then turns around and sells to the consumer for usually anywhere from $1,200 to $3,000 and sometimes more.

And it's not just the extended warranties either.

Prepaid Maintenance Programs, often called something like "car care," are another example of high priced "soft add on" products that usually make the car dealer's finance center the most profitable and lucrative (and often slimy) part of the average dealer's operation. Basically, they are getting you to pay up front for oil changes you may not even keep the car long enough to have --- and all at a cost that is often higher than if you just pay for it when you need it. Of course, they don't tell you that part.

Credit life and credit disability insurance, often sold at extremely high costs with minimal coverage amounts, are another high priced rip off. You can almost always buy more ocverage for much less cost through your regular insurance agent. But people don't think of that and you can count on the dealer not to tell you either.

Then there's the window etching scam. It's how you turn 20 bucks into 300, 350 or more. For a price usually between a hundred and three hundred, you supposedly get a security program that really is nothing but some scratches on your car window that supposedly gives you extra security coverage and payout if your car is stolen. But if you look at the fine print, it's just another way of getting more money out of you and selling you something worth almost nothing at all. In fact, you can buy the same thing on the internet from any of a dozen or more web sites for about twenty bucks.

Then there's the unemployment program that'll make your car payment if you get laid off, at a hefty cost to you that you pay for up front, too. These rip off soft add-on's can add thousands of dollars of profit for your dealer and cost you even more than that.

It's one scam after another and all of them after the money in your wallet or your purse. Don't fall for it. If you've been the victim of a greedy car dealer, call us. We can help. It's what we do. We help consumers get their money back from car dealers who cheated them, and manufacturers who sold them a lemon. We do that too.

If you got a Triad Vehicle Service Contract, we'd bet you probably got ripped off. Not just because the company is gone, perhaps, but because now all you get is the runaround on coverage. Maybe there's hope.

The Triad oepration has gone thru several evolutions, leaving consumers high and dry, trying to figure out what they can do. Triad Advantage isn't the first extended warranty company to give grief to consumers; we wrote about others not too long ago and others have too; you can check it out by clicking here.

Take a look at the front page of your service contract, about two inches from the bottom of the page. You'll see where it says "Contract obligor" followed by two boxes, one saying "selling dealer" and another saying "administrator." Look to see which one is checked. Whichever it is, that's who is primarily responsible under the service contract.

In many cases, the dealer box might be checked and if it is then your dealer is the one who owes you all legal obligations under the service contract. So if your dealer gives you the runaround or tries to blame it on Triad, don't put up with it. Show them the contract with the "Selling Dealer" box checked. If they still don't agree to cover you, then call us.

Don't put up with a car dealer who gives you the runaround because when the time runs out your legal rights run out too. Don't wait. Contact us now or call us 1-888-331-6422 Toll Free.

Helping you to get your money back is what we do for consumers every day.

Extended warranties have been one of the highest profit customer ripoffs ever seen in the auto industry. Worse yet, with little regulation, they are likely to stay that way. So, what can you do to avoid being ripped off by one?

First, don't buy one. Everyone in the industry knows that the profits are high and the payout is low. No matter what they are wanting to charge you, the odds are that over half that money is pure profit to the car dealer. And if the warranty company's name isn't the same as an auto manufacturer, then you can bet that the profit margin is even higher, probably at least 60 percent and more likely 75 percent of the price is pure profit.

Worse yet, the coverage goes down drastically when it's one of those PO Box warranties. That's what they used to be called in the business because many of them were originally run out of PO Boxes by owners with something of a shady background.

Second, get educated. If you want to get an inside glimpse into how an extended warranty company gets started and makes a pile of money denying claims, take a look at Platinum Warranty and Plantinum Tony, a high-flying operation that collapsed just a couple of years ago. It's an outrageous story of an outrageous man who perfected an outrageous ripoff of what some are calling thousands of consumers. Even the state of Ohio couldn't get back customer's money.

If you know how they operate, maybe you'll have a fighting chance of avoiding the ripoff in the first place.

Third, don't buy one. After all, if that shiny new car has been built right in the first place, then you won't need an extended warranty. Save your money.

Fourth, if you really, really think there's any value in an extended warranty, then don't settle for anything that isn't actually backed by your vehicle make's manufacturer. And haggle over the price. No matter what that F and I salesman is telling you (and you can bet it probably won't be the truth), there's a huge markup for dealer profit in every extended warranty.

Oh, and you think that salesman or the F and I salesperson is on your side? Forget about it. In almost all car dealerships, they are paid strictly on commission. You don't buy from them, they don't get paid. Simple as that. That proves there's a huge dealer profit in extended warranties.

Everyone gets big bucks and you get a fillegreed piece of paper that has about as many holes in it as a kitchen colander.

Don't let a car dealer rip you off. When it happens, don't hesitate doing something about it. Life's too short to put up with a bad car, and you work too hard to put up with a ripoff car dealer.