"He went back to a certain emission-cheating car company as well, even after they treated him like absolute shit when he bought his last car from them."
I don't know your dad's situation, but this did remind me of an old marketing trick...
If you know that what you're selling is a piece of crap, a standard approach to selling it is to make it pretty, price it high, and market it as a luxury good. When people pay a premium price for something, they tend to be very reluctant to admit to themselves that they have been taken, and are even more reluctant to admit it to others -- so you get into a situation where customers will give you good reviews and talk up your product to their friends and family even when it's clearly garbage.