Dealer made a mistake........what would you do?

[Beyer Subaru]

Originally Posted by Dustin

I just purchased my FRS last Monday. When I spoke with the salesman over the phone he asked me what I was bringing to the table. I told him I was trading in my car, I gave him $500 right then over the phone to hold the car for me, and told him if I had to I would put 4k down but didn't want to if I didn't have to. Two weeks go by and I go to the dealership. Start doing all the paperwork and the salesman goes back to the finance guy for a couple of minutes and then comes back and asks, "You're putting $4000 down, correct?" I told him I can if I have to but I would prefer not to. He says okay and goes back to the finance guy. Finance guy comes out and gets me, I sign papers, he hands me the keys and says enjoy your new car. Nothing was brought up about the $4000 again.

Fast forward to today, a little over a week later. I get a phone call from the finance guy saying he thought the salesman took the check from me for the $4000. Then he asked me to call him to set up when I could get that to him. I called him back and said that when I spoke to the salesman I said I could put the money down, but would prefer not to. After nothing else was said about it, I thought everything was financed with no more than the $500 I gave them to hold the car. It has been over a week. I have spent a good portion of the $4000. Long story short, what would you do? Who do you think is at fault?

I love how these threads always start with "The Dealer did something wrong.".


This isn't a playground. It doesn't matter who is at "fault" here. This was a simple miscommunication that you played a part in. So the "fault" or "blame" rests on your shoulders as much as the Salesman/Finance guys.

If you want to keep your car I would reccomend sending them a check.

If you have already spent the 4k then you will need to go back into the dealer to have the right paperwork completed and signed less the 4k.

Your not gonna be able to walk away from this and say "It's your fault.".

[Hix]

If it is in the paperwork that you signed then you have to give it to them. They are not obligated to rewrite the loan. If they do not however then they will either take you to small claims court or reposses the car from you. I am sure they do not want to have to deal with all that so they might threaten you over and over but in the end they will rewrite the loan. As of this point they do not have the loan approved since they do not have the money so it is their car still and you are just driving it with intent to purchase.

EDIT: you can do everything through the mail also. I am sure they, like all dealerships, have done several out of area sales.

[Dustin]

Maybe I should have clarified from the beginning or reworded it better. I'm not looking to screw anyone out of $4000. It was late last night and I was tired when I was typing it. Foobar and Hix gave an example of advice I was looking for. What can be done to solve the problem. I wasn't looking for somebody to give me advice on how to not give them their money.

[Dustin]

And granted opinions will vary but yes, I still say the dealer dropped the ball. I know whenever I sell something, I make sure all money is in hand before letting whatever it is I'm selling leave my possession. If I give the buyer the product and say, "Okay, enjoy.", then that means to me that everything is final. Not oops, I didn't get everything I was supposed to from them, let me call the a week later when they are 600 miles away and try to get what I missed. None the less, I am still willing to try and come up with a solution to resolve this, but just coming up with $4000 out if thin air isn't going to happen, I make enough to support myself and my family, but it isn't an easy task to come up with that much extra in a short amount of time.

Again, thanks to those who are giving sound advice.

[OrbitalEllipses]

Originally Posted by eXtreme Burrito!

You told them you had 4000 cash just chilling that you could spend? That might be the dumbest thing you could have said.


Read your contract, if they put it in there, then they have a right to come after you for it.

If they didn't, then take it and run

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk 2

Agree on all counts here.

[unijabnx2000]

Have you read it yet?

[whtchocla7e]

Without even seeing your paperwork, I'm willing to bet it says $4000 down on there.

[Beyer Subaru]

Originally Posted by Dustin

And granted opinions will vary but yes, I still say the dealer dropped the ball. I know whenever I sell something, I make sure all money is in hand before letting whatever it is I'm selling leave my possession. If I give the buyer the product and say, "Okay, enjoy.", then that means to me that everything is final. Not oops, I didn't get everything I was supposed to from them, let me call the a week later when they are 600 miles away and try to get what I missed. None the less, I am still willing to try and come up with a solution to resolve this, but just coming up with $4000 out if thin air isn't going to happen, I make enough to support myself and my family, but it isn't an easy task to come up with that much extra in a short amount of time.

Again, thanks to those who are giving sound advice.

I just chimed in because you posted a thread that says "Dealer made a mistake."

If the thread had started with "I forgot to give the dealer my 4k down....what would you do?". I prolly wouldn't have felt the need to give my opinion because you would be admitting some fault of your own and taking responsibility for your own actions.
Instead you are putting the blame squarely on the dealer. Even though you said to them multiple times that you have 4k to put down, you didn't clarify the down payment in Finance, you didn't read the paperwork before leaving and you didn't make an effort to give them the 4k before you left.

I have customers bring back checks all the time for all kinds of different reasons and I/they don't make it into a blame game.

For example I had a repeat customer come in the other day when I was off to pick-up his car. The Salesman that handled the deal for me didn't know about some accessories that we had added to the car after it was delivered here and didn't include it in the deal.
I talked to my customer and explained the situation. He dropped a check off at my desk when he was here to rearrange some of the tag/title paperwork with Finance.

There was no blame game and he knew that we were owed the money for the parts on the car.

[boredom.is.me]

I'm really not sure if the dealer made a mistake or if you weren't specific enough.

[SanDiegoFRS]

The dealer wants to sell you the car at all costs. They should work with you. I would go in there with "I got big balls" mentality and let them know you can't. "They can have car back." Guarantee they will work with you. I had similar experience when I bought WRX and realized I couldn't afford it. (I was much younger)

[mush]

U gave the sales guy 500? Big baller

[Dustin]

Originally Posted by mush

U gave the sales guy 500? Big baller

Great contribution man. Go high five yourself, I'm sure you're a winner in your book. If you had read it correctly I said I gave him $500 to hold the car as per their request.

[Dustin]

Beyer Subaru - I'm not saying I don't owe the money. That's all fine and dandy with me. But I'm not the one who typed up the paper saying that I had received a $4000 down payment when I didn't have money in hand and then gave away the car without making sure money was in hand. Again opinions will vary but in my opinion they dropped the ball.

But thank you for giving your opinion without sounding like a douche. I don't mind criticism but people like the ass hat above who's only purpose is to have shit come out of their mouth cause they like the taste is pointless and doesn't contribute to anything at all.

[Ingen]

Originally Posted by Dustin

Great contribution man. Go high five yourself, I'm sure you're a winner in your book. If you had read it correctly I said I gave him $500 to hold the car as per their request.

Reasonable response to a meaningful post.

However, I can't help pointing this right at you. What does your paperwork say?