RIP-OFF ALERT: Like a plague, the car-selling sites are becoming infested with false offers for cars. Criminals are lifting pictures, text and info (including the VIN number) from legit postings on Craigslist, Ebay Motors and AutoTrader.com and duplicating them online or in newspaper ads.

In this rip-off, the "owner" typically says he or she has already deployed overseas with the vehicle and needs to unload it at a rock-bottom price.

Remember, however, that this violates Craigslist's first rule about scams: "DEAL LOCALLY WITH FOLKS YOU CAN MEET IN PERSON - follow this one simple rule and you will avoid 99% of the scam attempts on craigslist."

In one instance, a listener sent us a picture from one of these bogus ads. The "owner" said they were in the United Kingdom with the vehicle. But the accompanying photo showed palm trees in the background!

Remember, you want to see the car in-person when you're buying online. Otherwise the risk is off the charts.

Special thanks to our listener Douglas who tipped us off to this story.

Have you gotten sticker shock when you needed replacement tires for your car? Chances are you may have expensive non-standard tires.

Automakers create multiple lines of a single vehicle at different price points. One of the up-sells they add to the pricier lines are fancy wheels that are larger than usual tires.

Some models even have speed-rated tires that are designed to perform at 149 mph or higher. We've all seen the commercials with stunt drivers tearing it up on closed roads. It's like James Bond syndrome! But how often do you drive even 100 mph?! Do you really need those high-performance tires?

So Clark is recommending you check out the tire size and type before you buy a car. Or simply ask the dealer about the replacement tire price. Of course, for many people style is king and they don't care if they have to pay extra. But if you do care, use TireRack.com to check tire prices.

RIP-OFF ALERT: Used car buyers can expect a glut of flood cars to hit the market in the wake of the flooding in the Southeastern United States. Clark wants to offer some tips so you can steer clear of these bum rides.

We're treading familiar ground here, actually. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, we saw waves of flood cars coming out of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and other states.

Here's what to look for this time around:

• Be wary of any used car that shows up as recently titled in Georgia or Alabama when you research the VIN number through CarFax.com or a similar service.

• Use the National Insurance Crime Bureau's search tool at NICB.org to identify further identify flood cars.

• Make any used car purchase subject to inspection by an independent mechanic. You can leave a deposit if you wish, but specify in writing that the money must be returned to you if the car doesn't check out.

• And as always, know what fair market value is on the used vehicle in question!

Clark advocates thrift, but sometimes he'll hear about someone who goes way beyond him when it comes to making a dollar stretch.

A 90-year-old Florida woman named Rachel Veitch has driven the same car -- a Mercury Comet she calls "Chariot" -- since 1964. She bought it for $3,289 back when gas was 39 cents/gallon and it has outlasted 3 of her marriages. The odometer is now closing in on 600,000 miles!

"My Chariot has never lied to me or cheated on me and I can always depend on her," Veitch told FoxNews.com. "My last husband and I divorced in 1975 and he took the 1972 Pontiac we had and I kept Chariot. I'll bet he's traded cars half a dozen times by now and I still have my Chariot, my faithful pal."

Clark is not asking you to keep a car for 45 years. But you've to realize that a car is the second largest expense for most Americans after housing. And the biggest expense with an automobile is depreciation, especially if you like to cycle through new cars every 2 or 3 years.

If that sounds like you, Clark has a suggestion: Try buying a 3-year old car every 3 years. It will be new to you, and you'll let somebody else suffer the depreciation that accompanies a car's first couple of years on the road.

RIP-OFF ALERT: In the wake of this season's hurricanes, you can expect to see flood cars deluging the auto market, according to Money magazine.

Here's the bottom-line: Dishonest people take flood vehicles into certain states where they can "wash" a car's title. That action removes any evidence that the vehicle was ever in a flood. Cars with "washed" titles can then be sold to any dealership across the country that either doesn't know or doesn't care that they're buying a flood vehicle.

To the naked eye, there's no telling that anything is amiss. But you'll know you've got a flood car when you encounter failed electrical systems throughout the vehicle.

So what can you do to protect yourself? Have any potential used auto purchase carefully vetted by a mechanic of your choosing. Know that most car dealers are honest, but it never hurts to be safe. Get it inspected by a mechanic as a condition of purchase.

Clark often gets calls from people who wonder if extended warranties on cars are worth it. Though he's not a fan of them, extended auto warranties can make sense in some instances.

Now Clark is getting calls from people being offered a unique kind of extended vehicle warranty that seems to be a real bargain. They're told they can purchase the warranty, and then if they never use it, they'll get back the money they paid. Turns out it's just a ruse.

The Kansas City Star reports there is a lawsuit concerning the sale of these money-back warranties that's been going on for 6 years! The plaintiffs, obviously, are having difficulty getting their money back. The court has now ruled that the warranty company should give the money back but…surprise…the company has since filed for bankruptcy. Good luck getting your money back!

Here's the lay of the land when it comes to cash-back warranties: The warranty companies market directly to dealers and get them to sell their warranties -- instead of a manufacturer's own -- at huge profit margins to both parties. But the warranty company itself doesn't even have enough underwriting to pay for repairs. They just collect money with no intention of paying it back out. Then they do what's called a "bust-out," which is essentially like filing for bankruptcy, and disappear with their share.

The end result is that you as a consumer are stuck holding a worthless warranty. So don't believe the claim that you'll get your money back at the end. If you do buy a car warranty, you want to be sure it is the manufacturer's own. Otherwise, it only has a marketing company backing it up, and it isn't worth the cost of the paper it's written on.

Over the past five or six years, there's just been one deal after another when it comes to buying an automobile. It goes back to the months after 9/11 when GM tried to jumpstart sales with offers of zero financing for five years. Other automakers quickly followed with similar deals. But now people aren't buying cars as readily because of the fallout from the stock and real estate markets. Overall the industry is having dismal sales results. So that means that you have so much bargaining power right now that it's not even funny. Yet two-thirds of consumers squander that power by not doing the right things.

So what should you be mindful of when you go to buy a car?

First, do research online before you buy. Check Consumer Reports and sites like KelleyBlueBook.com and Edmunds.com to find out about reliable cars that won't need much maintenance.

Second, arrange for financing in advance before you get to the dealership. Credit unions offer interest rates on car loans that can be one to three percent lower than other lenders. You may also want to check online lenders. Even your auto insurer may be able to give you a competitive interest rate. Whatever you do, don't go with a traditional bank or dealer financing. Also, don't tell the dealer you're a cash buyer or credit union customer because they'll factor that into the price in a negative way.

Finally, buy your car before you get to the dealership. By this Clark means you should avoid going to the dealer and negotiating the purchase of your car or you'll face "the grind." The grind is when the salesperson says he or she will go talk to their manager about getting you the best deal. Instead they go watch TV for five minutes and come back and tell you that the manager couldn't help out with a good rate despite their best efforts on your behalf. This is total baloney. When it comes to price, you want to stay in your ballpark, not theirs. After all, they have home field advantage because they sell cars everyday while you may only buy a handful of times over the years.

As a final thought, you may also want to purchase through a warehouse club if you're a member. There you'll enjoy a set price and no haggling.

When you use a car dealer to finance your auto loan, the dealer will mark it up as much as they can. But the average black customer buying a new car pays an interest rate that's 40 percent higher than the average white customer -- even after accounting for differences in credit scores. Hispanics, meanwhile, pay almost the same as non-Hispanic whites, just slightly higher. In the used-car market, one in three blacks pay an interest rate that is above 15 percent, while the average rate for a white person is less than 10 percent. Clark thinks it's a shame that this residual racism is still around in 2007.

If you dig deeper into this story, you'll really find that anyone who doesn't get pre-qualified for a car loan will pay more than they should. So Clark advises anybody seeking an auto loan to get pre-qualified at a credit union, which will offer lower rates than a bank. Think about it like this: You may have spent hours researching your car thoroughly, but you've got to do the same on the loan. Dealers are entitled to make money on a loan if you don't do homework and get pre-qualified elsewhere. Historically, that mark-up had been about 10 percent points. After all the legal settlements of the past few years, however, it now is usually three percent. That means if a bank offers you a car loan for 5 percent, the dealer will offer the same loan for 8 percent. So whether you're black or not, it pays to get pre-qualified for an auto loan.

About 18 months ago, Clark issued a warning on the show about the damaged cars from Katrina and Rita that would soon be flooding the market – no pun intended. Well, it’s happening. Con artists are selling “flood cars” from Texas, Mississippi, Alabama and other states that were affected by the hurricanes. Several auto insurers are refusing to crush these cars because they knew it would make them more money. So, because of weak title laws in most states, criminals have been “washing” the titles of these cars and putting them back on the market as if they’d never been involved in a flood. Close to half a million may be on dealer lots today. Washing the title basically means a title that would have had “SALVAGE” written on it is given a clean title with very little effort because the laws are so slack. So, it’s more important than ever to have a used car inspected by a certified mechanic. Before you buy a car, make sure you have it checked out. Clark thinks all of these cars should be crushed and never sold again.

Are you familiar with “docs” and “pacs?” These are terms used in the auto industry that are basically bogus fees and charges added on to the cost of a car. They are the fees charged for writing up paperwork, floor mats and other filler functions that should be included in the cost. It’s all happened because of the Internet. Before the Internet, there was little people could do to research the cost of a car. So, many consumers arrive at dealerships with lots of information, including the value of the car. As a result, dealers lowball people with the price and lure them in. Then, they add all kinds of fees at the end, boosting the price by hundreds of dollars. So, when you get quotes on the Web or in person, make sure it includes all of the fees. You want the “drive-out” price. And if it’s different when you leave, you want an itemized list of how and why it changed.

Most people have a great deal of gratitude for our soldiers, regardless of how they feel about the war. But apparently some people think it is okay to take advantage of our servicemen and women. A story in the LA Times details a travesty going on when soldiers return home and need to buy a car. They come back from war with a lot of combat pay and take that money to a dealership. Some dealerships charge them interest rates of 20 percent or more and charge two or three times the fair market value of the car. Granted, this has been happening to regular citizens for years, but no one is getting hit harder than soldiers these days. They are young and sometimes don’t know that they should read the contract, so salespeople take advantage of them. Clark thinks this is disgusting and he wants you to warn service people you know.

We are all drawn in by the word “sale.” It seems it’s all over the auto industry today, with every discount and mark-down you can think of. The problem is that after a big sale, there are no more customers and dealerships don’t make any money. No one has suffered more from this than GM, which owns Buick Cadillac, Pontiac, Chevrolet, Saturn, Saab and Hummer. In fact, Wall Street says GM has a 40 percent chance of filing for bankruptcy. GM obviously doesn’t want to go belly up, so the company has decided to offer sale prices all the time. Basically, it means everyday low prices and honest prices, like Saturn has done. GM will reduce the price on three-fourths of its vehicle by about $1,000. They hope that these “real” will draw in buyers all the time.

Clark owned a 1987 Acura Integra, and he’s glad he sold it awhile ago. That’s because the Acura Integra is the most popular car to steal these days, according to insurance industry reports. Apparently, people like to race them legally and illegally, so Integras are very hot cars to steal and soup up. On the list were the 1999, 1998, 1996, 1997 and 1995 Acura Integra. The second most popular vehicle to steal is the 2002 BMW Roadster and fourth car on the list was the GMC V-2500. The 2002 Audi S4 was also on the list. But the majority of cars are various years of Acura Integras. If you have one and you want to hold onto it, be careful.

There is a lawsuit pending against Ford Motor Company, which alleges that the company has been overcharging and cheating black customers at certain Ford, Jaguar, Mazda and Land Rover dealerships. There are always undisclosed mark-ups in the loans dealers give you when you do financing at the dealership. It’s typically about 2 to 2.5 percent higher than the offer they get from the actual lender. But Vanderbilt University found that black customers were charged $862 more for a loan, while white customers had only a $475 mark-up. Vanderbilt also found that blacks were uncharged two-thirds of the time, while whites were charged more one-fourth of the time. Ford claims that it had no idea this was going on. But it did happen. Avoid mark-ups all together by financing with your bank or credit union instead of the dealership. You can’t get taken if you don’t do business with these people. If you think the car dealership can beat the offer you get from your credit union, offer it up. Maybe the dealership can beat it. But make sure you have an offer when you go in. Never conduct business the other way around.

As you drive down the street, you’ve probably seen cars that have fancy rims that spin or light up. They look pretty snazzy. But apparently they’re not worth it. Not only are these rims expensive – between $2,500 and $5,000 a pop – but they’re also dangerous. According to Money Magazine, the fancy rims weigh so much that it compromises the performance and handling of the vehicle. So, if your child wants to “trick out” his or her car with these rims, please reconsider. At tirerack.com, you can check out which rims are safe and which are not. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is asleep at the wheel on this issue and has not published any warnings. So, it’s up to you to do your homework.

The three major Detroit automakers – GM, Ford and Chrysler – have come up with a new strategy for pricing cars. These companies are pushing through very large price increases on the 2005 models, even though the 2004, 2003 and 2002 models did not sell very well. In fact, these companies are raising the prices of vehicles AND increasing incentives. That is because there is a percentage of car buyers who purchase strictly on emotion. These people do no homework and they get caught up in the thrill of driving a new vehicle. The car market is basically splitting into three categories: people who do no research, people who do some research on the Internet and get a somewhat better price, and finally those people who do lots of homework. The third group treats buying a car like a part time job, but it’s a very small percentage of the pot. Automakers realize that only about 10 percent of buyers will really work for a good deal. So they can still mark up vehicles and increase their profit margins. Remember that knowledge is power!

Did you know that most dealerships will sell you a used car for twice as much as the car is worth? If the car is worth, $5,000, they’re likely to charge you $10,000. If you finance the car at the dealership on top of that, you could be paying as much as 26 percent each year in interest. Does that sound like a deal to you? Probably not. But almost one in four used cars is now being sold that way in the United States. Clark was stunned when he read this in the Dallas Morning News. So, we are basically setting ourselves up to be ripped off. These dealerships try to sell you a car on the spot with ads that say, “No credit, or bad credit, no problem!” It’s known as “Buy here, Pay here,” and the dealerships are making a fortune off of your desire for convenience. There are now 19,000 dealers who sell “buy here pay here” cars. If your credit is in a rough spot, you need to buy a car for cash. Have the car checked out by an independent mechanic first to make sure it works. But you will be much better off. You never want to buy a car where everything is taken care of in one place.

Most people take out a loan when they buy a new car, and that’s fine. The problems arise when people take out loans that are too long. Clark discourages loans longer than four years. Five years maybe, but six or seven is not smart. The shocking news is that people are starting to take out 8-year loans! That means that you buy a car this year and stop paying for it in 2012. That’s ridiculous. When you take out these loans, the lender must charge a higher interest rate because the risk is greater. People start to dislike their car and want to sell it soon after. So then they try to sell it and end up “upside down” in their loan. That means that you’re tired of the car at a point when you owe a lot more than what’s it’s worth. One car dealer Clark recently talked to said about 80 percent people are upside down in their loans. The national average is about 40 percent. The smart thing to do is to buy an older model or a cheaper car. When you have a desire to buy a fancy set of wheels, step back from it.

You will suffer a huge mark up in cost if you finance a car at a dealership. According to a Vanderbilt University study, 31 percent of white customers and 48 percent of black customers had their loans marked up. At GM, 28 percent of whites and 53 percent of blacks had their loans marked up. And at Nissan, 47 percent of whites and 72 percent of blacks were affected. Obviously, there is a racial component to all of this. But everyone’s loans are tweaked in some way at these companies. And an investigative report by the Detroit News found some shocking mark-ups. In one case, a customer was able to get a loan of 11 percent, but the dealership marked it up to 24 percent. If your credit is really solid, a dealer is going to have more difficulty marking up a loan. But if you have questionable credit, dealerships will take advantage of you more easily. The typical mark up is more than $1,000. So, you think you have gotten a deal on the car and then you end up paying an extra grand. There is nothing wrong with you making a profit, but you choose how much you’re willing to give them. So, make sure you know your credit score before you buy, and never let emotion drive you. Do your research online and compare prices. Clark likes to go to the dealership only to test drive a car and to take delivery of a car.

Clark thinks the car business is cleaner than it used to be, and there are actually decent people selling cars these days. But there are still some dirty players out there, and unsuspecting customers get taken all the time. There is a lot of emotional investment in buying a car, and many people are walking in blind with an inferior position. Clark recently heard a story from a former car salesman that was so unbelievable Clark thought it was a joke. The man said that once a week all of the salesmen and saleswomen get together at a bar for happy hour to vote for the person who ripped off a customer the most. That person was rewarded by having everyone else pay for his or her dinner and drinks. Christa overheard two men discussing the same accomplishment recently while she was out having dinner with her family. There will always be dirty car salesman. So, make sure you do your research before you buy. Check out kbb.com and Edmunds.com for car prices before you buy. Making the purchase of a car a true study before you buy is the key.