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Car Salesman Shares The Real Reason There Are Coins On The Ground At Dealerships: ‘There’s A Good Chance’

“I always heard it was pennies."

Salesman shares the real reason there are coins on the ground at car dealerships

Photo by: Johnson & shaun & Portinanni

Braden Bjella

By: Braden Bjella

Aug 31, at 8:00pm ET

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Car dealerships employ all sorts of tricks to try to get you to buy a car.

For example, some dealerships will advertise an artificially low price, then add on non-negotiable extras in order to increase the out-the-door cost. Others will play with dollar amounts until it looks like your monthly payment will be in budget—then give you loan terms that result in you paying significantly more for your vehicle than you planned.

These tricks are very practical. However, there are some other tricks that veer from the practical to the spiritual and superstitious. One of those tricks recently sparked discussion online—and it explains why you might leave a dealership with a pocketful of change.

Why Should You Look For Change At Car Dealerships?

In a video with over 157,000 views, TikTok user Shaun Young (@shaunloveselissa) suggests that people visiting car dealerships should “look at the ground.”

“Why? You're looking for loose change,” he continues. “If there is loose change on the ground, there's a good chance that there's an old car guy working there.”

Young says he believes this because of what he claims is a storied dealership tradition.

“There's a saying in the car business: ‘If you feed the lot, the lot feeds you,’” Young explains. “So what an old car guy does when he's having a bad month, day, wee —he needs a sale—he'll throw his loose change on the ground and feed the lot in hopes that the lot will feed him and he'll get a sale.”

Is This A Real Superstition?

Not only is this a real superstition, but people also have different explanations for why they do it.

The first is what Young described: feeding the lot. One promotional piece mentions that a struggling Texas Dodge dealership would “pray to the lot gods” by “throw[ing] pennies on the ground and hope to see some people miraculously appear on the lot.”

In a Reddit thread on “superstitious practices” that lots engage in to boost sales, several users specifically mentioned seasoning the lot’s ground with change.

“I always heard it was pennies. So I threw all my pennies on the lot often. ‘Feed The Lot And The Lot Will Feed You,’” reads one comment.

Some say they’re not feeding the lot but seeding it. The difference is that these people believe that by putting change on the ground, they will encourage customers to pick it up. From there, the customer will feel happy and lucky … and potentially in the mood to buy a car.

Gallery: Amazing London Car Dealership

Hexagon Modern Classics Dealership

Are There Any Other Coin-Related Car Superstitions?

Another reason one might find change in a car dealership lot owes to a superstition in New York and New Jersey.

This superstition is called “car coining.” When someone buys a new car, it’s tradition to throw a few coins into the car for good fortune.

Some say this tradition started not as a superstition, but as a practical measure. Before electronic tolling, people kept coins in their cars for toll roads. To prepare the buyer for the open road, friends and family would give them change to put in their car. Thus, a tradition was born.

Now that coin tolls have mostly disappeared in the US, those who continue to practice this tradition do so more out of habit than to actually prepare a driver for paying tolls.

Car Dealers Say They’ve Seen It Before

In the video’s comments section, some users with industry experience affirmed that this is a real superstition.

“We just bought a truck we looked at 3 weeks before. I picked up like 35 cents when I was looking at it. He got me lol,” said a commenter.

“Our local Ford dealer has done this trick since the 70’s. It’s also to get people to stop when they see a penny and think it’s their sign to buy right then. They really hate it when you go around and pick up all the change,” offered another.

Others said that they could use this superstition to their advantage.

What do you think?

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Comments

“So if there’s loose change then my negotiating just got a boost because they need my sale,” wrote a commenter.

We’ve reached out to Young via email and TikTok direct message.

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