A little biographical information about the Accurate Auto Advice authors, Jason Lancaster and Mark Harvey.

Mark Harvey

Mark began his automotive career in the 1980’s, when the car business was at its worst. Deceptive practices were common, and people were taken advantage of on a regular basis. While today’s car business is nothing like it was, Mark’s experience during those years showed him what can go wrong at a dealership.

Mark Harvey has done every job in the car business — service manager, salesman, finance and insurance manager, new car manager, used car manager, general sales manager, and even owned his own dealership. Here’s what he has to say:

“The problem with the car business is that salespeople and managers lose track of what’s really happening. Sometimes they pursue profits over everything else — even if it means misleading customers. While I’ve made sure that my staff and I behave ethically, there are still enough bad apples out there to ruin the barrel. My advice to anyone looking to buy a car is simple: do your homework. Know how a deal works, what you need to watch out for, and how to get what you want. Only then can you protect yourself from bad dealers.”

Jason Lancaster

Jason started his career in the car business in 1998. His inspiration? Beer money for college. That’s right, Jason started selling cars while pursuing a degree in engineering. After four years of working at the local Ford dealership and going to school full time, Jason graduated with a degree in civil engineering. Upon graduation, Jason was offered and accepted a position as Finance Manager at that same local dealership, and worked for almost 10 years in the car business. Jason started as a salesperson, became a finance manager, a new car manager, and finally a used car manager before leaving the business in early 2007.

What did Jason take away from his experience?

“Car salespeople and management staff are trained to get the most money out of a customer possible. While there is nothing wrong with a business trying to maximize its profits, most dealerships take advantage of people that don’t understand what’s going on. But if people do some research and get some good advice, they can’t be taken advantage of.”

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