Beware of The King of Cars scam
Desperate car dealerships often take advantage of local residents by utilizing deceptive and confusing promotions. One of the latest deceptive promotions that is currently circulating is “The King of Cars Cash Game.” It is similar to other car dealership-type promotions and scams including the Money Carlo Match to Win game. The King of Cars “scam” dispenses vouchers and game cards to local residents in the mail that claim the residents won a prize such as cash, a MS Surface Studio computer, or gift card. In order to receive the prize the game says that that the winner must visit the car dealership to obtain it; However, the recipient of the voucher did not actually win anything.
The way the King of Cars Cash Game promotion works is that a person will receive the game voucher in the mail from a local car dealership. The King of Cars Cash Game card and attached invitation or voucher will claim that the person won $25,000, $5,000, $2,000, or $100 cash and other prizes; However, the person did not actually win anything. The King of Cars Cash Game game will state that winners must call the car dealership and supply them with a confirmation number, as well as visit the location to compare the confirmation code to the car dealership’s prize board. The game voucher claims that the prize board at your local car dealership will determine if you have won – not the actual game piece that already says you won.
The game also states that there is a 1:45,000 chance to win but we are unable to find any reports of real winners for any of these types of promotions. We have noticed that car dealerships who utilize this tactic have many bad reviews by frustrated potentially customers who feel duped and lied to.
We spoke with several employees and ex-employees of certain car dealerships online who strongly suggest that these types of promotions are scams and deceptive marketing ploys. The person described it as a deceptive marketing scheme used to acquire potential customers. The car dealerships that utilize this tactic want you to visit their location and sell you a car.
I would not go as far as most people to classify the King of Cars Cash game as a “full-blown” scam, but I would say that it is a very unethical marketing technique and car dealerships who participate in this marketing scheme should be punished. Telling people that they won a large amount of cash or prize when they did not is dishonest and unethical. It’s a terrible thing to do to people, and these bad car dealerships should be ashamed of themselves. If you receive these types of games in the mail in the future you may want to throw them away before you end up wasting your time visiting a dishonest and greedy car dealership.
dhuuhudi
It IS a scam…
I used to work for a car dealership that would run these scams once a month. And to the authors point, it is nothing more than a ploy to get people to buy cars – especially when the dealership is hurting for business, or has horrible reviews.
My advice to anyone who receives these mailers? Throw them in the garbage. They aren’t worth the paper they are printed on.
My girlfriend got one of these, and I noticed the odd wording in the fine print about comparing the code to the dealer’s game board. In this case it was a 3×3 grid of colored cars where you could win a cash prize, 55″ 4K TV, a smart watch, and I forget what else.
This definitely smells of an outright scam, but I think they are doing a really good cover up of the fact that you have only won a chance to win (if even).
Thx for the specific wording on “to compare the confirmation code to the car dealership’s prize board.”
Not only auto dealerships responsible, but whoever created the game itself needs to be dealt with. The best way to go is to call your state gaming Commission and they can tell you who wins. I doubt you will find any winners but I would be trying to sue for false advertisements. This game the king of cars is no different than Publishers Clearing House who has a tendency to send out universal game pieces and each one mailed out will say the recipient is a winner when in reality the only thing you really won is the right to waste your time to play the second part of a game that you have no chance of ever winning. F*** king of cars scam.