Auto Modus: Don’t send payments to unofficial accounts

Pay only to the cashier to avoid headaches

There seems to be a problem that is of concern to automobile dealerships in the Philippines.

That issue is payments to unauthorized accounts.

We’ve been getting tips that some individuals (particularly sales agents) are taking payments from customers for vehicles for things like reservations/deposits and downpayments. But instead of directing the customer to pay at the cashier of the dealership they are employed with, the payment is actually made to the sales agent with the understanding that he/she will remit the payment to the dealership to complete the transaction.

There’s a problem: some agents don’t do it right away. Worse: some don’t do it all.

It’s become such a problem that a major auto dealership group has published a notice to inform customers to only pay at their cashiers directly. In this post from AutoHub’s Mitsubishi dealerships, they are informing customers to only transact directly with their cashiers and no one else.

While there are no details, we can surmise that a client (or clients) made their payments to a sales agent, but it hasn’t been remitted when they tried following up.

Suspicious as these transactions may sound to those of us who have experience buying cars or are working at dealerships, it seems quite a few are falling for this rather sketchy practice. And especially in this day and age where payments can be made not just via cash or check, but digitally via a transfer or an e-wallet. That’s why major e-wallet companies have a final prompt before a transaction to ask if you’re sure about sending the money.

To avoid the problem, just pay directly to the cashier of the dealership. Sales agents shouldn’t have to hold on to your cash. Checks/cheques should only be made to the official business name of the dealership and not a personal account. And e-wallet payments should only be made to the corresponding e-wallet of the dealership.