Two Things You Should Never Buy From a Dealership

Some, such as extended warranties and GAP insurance, are products you may want to consider buying. But there are others that are completely useless.

The most common of these are:

• Window Etching
• Paint and Fabric Protection

Let's take a look at each one in more detail:

Window Etching

Window etching is a process in which the dealer will etch the vehicle's VIN number into certain windows or parts of the vehicle, so that it can be identified in case of theft.

This is practically useless since most law enforcement doesn't even look for etching when they recover a stolen vehicle. It costs dealers about $15 to complete the service, but they will try to charge you a couple hundred dollars.

If you're worried about your car getting stolen, getting a Lo-Jack system installed is way more useful.

Paint and Fabric Protection

These days, you don't need to worry about cars rusting. It used to be a problem many years ago, but these days manufacturers use steel and paint that hold up very well against the elements.

Same goes for fabric protection. The stuff dealers use is basically the same stuff you can buy at any Wal-Mart. If you really feel like you need to protect the interior, just buy some 3M Fabric Protector and spray it yourself.

Dealers will try to charge several hundred dollars for this useless service.