The internet is full of used-car horror stories. One of our favorites is from a man named Eric, writing to Popular Mechanics. He tells the story of winning an auction for a used but pristine Acura TL, towing it home full of anticipation, and opening the hood to find…nothing. The engine was missing.

The first thing you need to navigate the world of used auto sales is a map. Luckily, marketers and dealerships themselves have given us theirs—a glimpse at the way they approach the car selling process. 

So, you’re ready to buy a car. You know what you’ll be using it for, you’ve got a price range in mind, and it’s time to start looking at your options. What’s your first step?

Used auto sales is a rigged business. Dealerships aren’t designed to let customers choose the product they want, they’re designed to get customers to buy whatever car happens to be on the lot. To make that happen, dealers rely on a group of advantages that combine information asymmetry, pure mathematics, and human error. It’s the exact same strategy used by casinos.

You need a new vehicle, and you’ve settled on what feels like a nice safe choice: a Toyota Corolla. You want something recent but not too pricey, so you’re shopping the 2017 model. At time of writing, that gives you almost 30 options in your area. How do you pick?

A future where human beings have been separated from the world around them, relying on digital representations of it to make decisions, live their lives, and direct their actions. A future where the virtual world can be manipulated to mislead people into believing things that aren’t true.

Cost should be the most straightforward part of buying a car. 
Condition, history, performance, features, availability, warranties, and other parts of the process are genuinely complex, but price should be simple. Here’s the car, here’s what you’ll pay for it.

Not just grumpy and frustrated from the long, confusing, and manipulative process of buying the car, but unhappy with the car itself. AutoTrader.com performed a series of surveys, and fully 69% said they experienced buyer’s remorse after purchasing their last vehicle.

We think that reliable dealerships always share a set of basic values and behaviors. You can use this list to check whether a dealership near you is likely to help you out, but it’s also a description of our promise to you, our potential customer, about what you can expect from us. 

Recently we spoke with Matt Williams. He leads the ministry of Athletes in Action (part of the Cru family of ministries) in the city of Indianapolis, where the Mats.org headquarters is located. Our goal was to learn what drives Matt and his team to reach and disciple college athletes.