Listening In

Bugs in some new cars are not unusual. But now there are bugs--of a different sort--in some auto showrooms.

When a husband and wife in the market for a new car select the model they like and step into an auto salesman's conference room, a curious form of commercial ritual begins: haggling over the price. An alert salesman senses the moment of truth when prospective buyers wish to be alone to discuss the price, and he discreetly leaves the room. The FBI, in raids on two suburban Baltimore dealerships, has discovered that such private dickering is sometimes not so private. In at least two Maryland dealerships, unsuspecting buyers have talked about their bottom-line position in illegally bugged conference rooms.

One of the raided dealerships customarily carried off the ruse with alarming ease: a salesman would step outside at the propitious moment, listen at a monitoring panel in a nearby office until his customers arrived at the figure they could afford, then return to clinch the deal. Several Maryland electronics-company salesmen have said that the practice is widespread. One firm has in stalled in auto dealerships throughout the state at least 100 intercom systems that can easily be converted into bugs.

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