Question regarding Dealership refund
 

So when I bought my FR-S I had them include a clear bra for $899. This was included in the loan and was set to be installed when they received the car. But due to some unfortunate circumstances and an extremely rude service manager, I decided to cancel my clear bra, but I am not being told that I can only get $899 in credit at their service/parts department, or they can send it back to my loan, but it would not reduce my payment. But I do not have a TFS credit loan anymore as I switched it ASAP.

They are also telling me that any money I don't use by the end of the year will be gone.

Is this true? Or should I be able to tell them to cut me a check?

Thanks!

Lee

I personally would just ask for a check if you can. seems like a lot of hassle to get a pretty straightforward refund. If they aren't willing to give you a check i would see if they can still put it towards the loan on the car despite it being with a different company. i actually dont understand why their giving you a credit and not just giving you the money back.

Good luck!

Financing for accessories inmo is stupid, why not just save up and pay for it up front?

true but thats not the issue here. the dealership is screwing him around in the way he can get his refund back.

Thats not my question. But thanks for your response.

I would ask them if they are saying they "can't legally" do it or it is against policy. Not sure if there is any reason why they can't do it. They probably have the policy so people can't get "cash back" from a loan, but I don't think that's illegal.

Why waste cash savings on a depreciating asset? Especially if the interest rate is ridiculously low

why is it stupid? seriously... why is it stupid?

My understanding of your situation is: you didn't actually pay the $899, therefore why would you be able to receive a cheque (I'm Canadian) for $899? You're essentially attempting a sort of cash-back technique where they add additional capital to your loan and front you the cash, this doesn't make sense to me.

They can reduce the principal of your loan by $899, and this will not reduce your payments, but it will mean your loan is paid off sooner.

It sounds to me like you're trying to get cash when no cash ever left your pocket? Don't think that the loan credit will go nowhere, it will result in you paying less interest and having the loan be done sooner.

Am I missing something?

The dealer was actually paid the $899 for a service/product they did not provide. The OP paid for this service/product.

When you swipe a credit card at checkout, you haven't actually handed over physical cash for what you bought, but you are paying for it through the terms you have negotiated with your credit card.

As for how they handle the refund, I have no idea. Unless they actually told the buyer he cannot have the clear bra, the most likely outcome is that he'll either get parts/service credit or can have the clear bra installed.

The loan has already been handed from Toyota Finance to another lender, so the dealer would have to send a check to that lender any way to credit back to the loan at this point. I'm not sure why they couldn't just cut the same check to the buyer. But I do hope there are regulations preventing that. It's a bad practice that leads to predatory lending.

-Justin

Have to agree that with interest rates as low as they are, under 3%, for some it makes sense to include what they can in the loan and keep cash for other things.

Exactly. When you get get 60 month loans for 1.74 or 84 month loans for 2.37, I'd rather go as far as I can into the loan and use the cash to pay down other higher interest debt or invest it into some other vehicle that has higher gains (heck some CD's have higher gains than 1.74 over 5 years if you wanted to go conservatively).

As for the OP's problem, while it is true that the credit union won't want to re-do your loan (that's what they'll have to do if you wanted to change your monthly payment), they should be able to just repurpose that money back to you somehow (deposit it in your savings or checking account if you had one with them, or perhaps cut you a new check). Either way, this isn't for your dealer to decide - take it up with your credit union.

As for only giving you credit instead of cash, I suppose they could have that as part of their terms, so if that's really what they insisted on, maybe spend it towards some parts that are easily sold and turn it around with someone else?

And many stores have a policy that if payment was via a credit card they will only issue refunds to that credit card. How is this situation any different?

+1

I cancelled my GAP Insurance about a month into my FRS because I realized I put money down and it wasn't necessary to have. However, they wouldn't cut me the check, they would only send it to Toyota for my payoff. Per the contracts most people sign, the accessories, warranty, and such are all included on the final buyers order, which is your contract for the loan company. Therefore, if you remove something that was financed, I think it's completely fine to send the money back to them, beacuse they fronted the upfront cost, and you shouldn't get the money back. Just my thoughts, like most are saying, you now owe less on the car and will be paying less interest.