You are interested in buying a specific car and now you are negotiating with the salesman. After long discussions and a sweet drive test, you let him know you still think the price is too high. He lets you believe he could drop the price even lower than you had expected. He just requires one more thing, to check the final great price with his manager, who doesn’t happen to be there at the time.
The salesman will ask you for a check as proof that you are serious about the purchase, so he can show it to the manager when he is back in. The next day the dealership calls you to say, they’re sorry but the manager didn’t approve the deal, and you are invited back to pick up your check.
When you get there, they seem to have “misplaced” your check or the check is with their financing manager, who is not in at the time, or it’s in the safe and the guy with the key has the day off. This way, they are trying to hold your interest in buying that specific car, or offering you “deals” on other models.
How to avoid: never leave a check – the fact that you negotiated so hard should be a guarantee for them that you are serious enough about the purchase.