CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. -- Car dealers who advertise the slogan, "Buy Here, Pay Here," know the car shoppers they're dealing with need financial help buying a car.
And if the dealer makes a sale, sometimes there's a little something extra when the car pulls off the lot.
It's a small GPS tracking device added to the car so that the dealer keep tabs on it.
The GPS Tracking device is an insurance policy of sorts. That way if the buyer ends up not making the payments, the car can quickly be located.
John Hattar of Easy Rider Auto Sales began using the devices three years ago. But they don't come cheap.
"It costs to buy the GPS devices and it costs to install them and you have to keep monitoring them," Hattar said from outside his Chesterfield County car lot.
Gail Davis, a member of the Virginia Independent Automobile Dealers Association, said dealers have two basic choices when it comes to the devices. One version only disrupts the starter and the other kind has a GPS tracker.
Davis said that as member of the association, dealers are kept up to date on changes in the laws regarding the tracking devices
"They provide us the documentation that if you do put a GPS device on a vehicle, it must be disclosed to the customer, prior to the sale," Davis said.
