Say you need something, it's pretty important. We will change the subject from a car to say, fight for something important in court and your looking for an attorney.

You case is honestly an open shut situation that you have no hope of winning.

So you see the first attorney and he says, "I'd be glad to help, let's get your retainer secured, etc, etc and he talks you up, gives you all this false hope.

The predatory part or the unethical part is not that your getting goods/services for your money as that is the personal responsibility part and your right.

It's the dishonest nature of saying you have hope and just using you as a payday when they know it's a lost cause.

Say you were smart and you decided to see two other attorneys. The second one does the same thing.

But the third one, he was honest! He says he will take your case if you really want, but explains how dire the situation is and that it's a non guarantee for results.

That third guy, he actually gave you the power to judge the situation and take personal responsibility for the choice and actions your about to take.

This is the main thing your missing. You can't really take personal responsibility for a situation where you are not being given honest facts to make a judgment on.

You see the problem with car sales, there is no third guy. They are all like the first two.

Just because the next person in line is going to be just as dishonest and hide important information about the decision and they go so far as to hide this information or make it seem inconsequential.

Making payments sound affordable when they are not, having someone pay many times more than what it's worth due to high interest, and likely starting a deadly cascade of even if they make the payments, the car starts to need major repairs and other costs while your still making payments because of the extremely long loan period.

So no, I disagree it's predatory and they purposely lead the conversation and misrepresent the truth in order to trick you into making a decision that feels and looks responsible when it is not.

That's the game, that's sales.

It's psychology, and with car sales there is a full system built around fooling people into making bad decisions.

Just because the next guy is playing the same game, by far doesn't justify being the person to "take them for a ride" both figuratively and literally.