This is the one that gets me-I was sold a car using a "smart loan" as the financing option. The sales guy swore up and down to me that it was not a lease. Told my mom, who knows I am not experienced with car buying, that it was not a lease (my mom is a ninja master on this stuff-as a credit union manager, she would show up with my dad at dealerships in the day with the blue book and actually had a salesman walk away from her and my dad when the guy tried to bs them on a price and she whipped the book out). It was a lease. argued with them for over three years over this matter before figuring out I could terminate the lease. The dilemma-if a bank or credit union offers indirect loans through a dealership and a sales person misrepresents the financing, the financial institution is on the hook for this. How is the financing company such as Hyundai Finance or Ford Financing not on the hook for the same thing?
@@jorge1582 Really? So you have never paid the taxes and paperwork fee that car dealers demand after you buy the car? Almost everyone pays, not knowing that the tax is only a small part of the fee, the rest is pure profit for the dealer. Yes, the do file some paperwork, but they have to do that to sell the car anyway. Just a small scam at the end, talked to people who have paid $500 for "paperwork".
And yet politicians in the US want to prevent car companies selling directly to the public because they argue consumers get a better deal via a dealer. LOL
This happened in my home town when the silver anniversary Corvette was released. A young man pre ordered and left a deposit. When the young man went to pick it up, he was told they had sold the car to someone else for more money. Long story short, and I don’t recall all of the details, the young man sued, won, and the dealership went out of business.
I was buying a new Infiniti G35 6MT Premium, only feature I cared about was that the colour was "Caribbean Blue". They found me a car, filled out all the paperwork, deposit, etc. They said it would take a few days to arrive at the dealership. They called me a few days later to let me know it was ready for pick up. When I went to get it the purchase price was $16k more than we agreed to. Their excuse was "that was the only one they could find in Caribbean Blue but it had the sunroof, navigation and upgraded stereo...". Because the original purchase invoice had the correct vin# on it (but I assume they put the wrong price), they had to honour it, $16k in free upgrades :) Number 1 rule I learned, don't sign a purchase agreement (or leave a deposit) if there's no VIN# on it!
While the dealership made a $16K mistake, it was just that.... a mistake. When they found the car and had a VIN they should have known before signing the PA what features it had and what the sale price would be. It's not like the arrange transport of a vehicle from another dealership without knowing everything about it. "Surprise!!! This car has every option on it!" I'm not saying this didn't happen, just that it isn't likely to ever happen again.
The dealer wins either way. If you back out, he makes more money on the next sale. If you give in, he soaks you for an extra $10K. Dealer makes an option trade with the original agreement -- locks in a price floor (and holds a deposit) that he can skip out on if he can do better. That's a win-win situation . . . for the dealer.
@Justin Wright It works...until it blows up for the dealer, and I mean blows up in his face. There are just too many ways this goes bad for the dealer.
This happened many years ago to a friend of mine on vehicle that was in high demand at the time. His lawyer told him to call other dealers in the area and find as close a match as he could and buy it for the best price he could negotiate. He and the lawyer then sued the original dealer for the difference and won and was awarded legal fees on top of it. Then the story was published in the local news paper. In that case it did not work out for the dealer.
@@rs232killer As Mr. Lehto pointed out, a favorable outcome, such as you mentioned, depends on the state involved. It sounds like your friend's case occurred in a 'consumer friendly' state, such as California.
@@gregparrott Depends on your state's small claims court limits - lots of states have limits of $10k or $15k. If you've got a slam dunk case you can buy somewhere else and sue for the difference, or you can credibly threaten to.
Back in the 1980's, a coworker bought a brand new PU from a local dealer. He took the dealer to the mat in negotiations and got an outstanding price. After he received the PU and took it home, he noticed that the original steel belted radials were replaced with cheap tires and inner tubes. (I don't know that I would have figured that out for years!) He complained to the dealer who said the PU came standard with those tires and radials were an upgrade option. The factory rep confirmed that the radials came standard. While changing the tires back, the dealer muttered about how he wasn't making any money on the deal. I'm still chuckling about that nearly 40 years later!
An associate of mine went to the Redding CA Chevy dealer to buy a ZO6, convertable with all the many upgrades. Finally he paid $117,000.00 for that car. The Redding dealer did not want to order the requested car and was trying very hard to sell the one in the showroom which was very ordinary. With no luck there, he called the Chevy dealer in Corning CA and they were more that happy to write up the order and deliver the car 10 months later at an agreed price with no premium. The Chevy dealer in corning made money just by being an order taker and was very happy to make the regular fee.
Reminds me of an irate consumer back around 1980. His Ford pick-up truck was totally rusted out after just a couple of years. The dealer and Ford refused to do anything about it. So he parked his truck in front of the dealership with a sign in the window of where he bought it. After a couple of months he got a good deal on a new Ford.
I remember when the Viper came out. I was at the auto-show downtown and saw a guy sign papers and put down a deposit. The price was around 50k dealer tried to mark it up 20k once the car came in. He sued the dealer and won plus all his fees where paid.
“Losing party pays” is great when there is a pattern of malfeasance by the losing party. It is not necessarily a good thing otherwise. Then there is the opportunity for the rich to take advantage. Suppose someone with money gets into a dispute with you. Even if wrong, they could pay their way to victory with expensive lawyers, knowing you will pick up the tab.
@@LA_Commander Suppose a case isn’t clear cut as to who is right or wrong, like in issues where certain factors are subjective or based on interpretations of law. In those cases, neither side will be certain that they will prevail. So if a person has little ability to pay, the person has a choice on whether to pursue the case, knowing that losing means being on the hook for legal bills they will have difficulty paying. Does’t this result in those with financial means being able to pressure the opposing parties into not pursuing claims out of fear for financial loss due to losing by such a small margin?
@@LA_Commander It is a significant exaggeration to say that we are looked down on, or that the U.S. attorneys are all or even mostly corrupt. Not to mention that you are implying that the British system is good simply, because it has been used for a long time. Both systems are flawed. If a party is clearly in the wrong in a dispute, the loser pays system is perfect for preventing parties from simply burying their opponents in legal fees to force them to stop. But if both parties have a good faith basis for believe in that they are right, and the facts don’t clearly favor one party, then all the loser pays system does is punish people for pursuing claim that are not clear cut. Also, who do you think creates ethical guidelines for attorneys in Britain? The only ones who could are those with knowledge of the legal system, which, strangely enough, are mostly attorneys or former attorneys.
This exact scenario has happened a LOT. Dealers tried to do this to me with the Ford Focus RS. I ended up getting them to disclose the markup before I’d put down a deposit. They tried really hard to wiggle out of telling me, but eventually they would. A friend of mine did put down a deposit on one, they wanted a markup when he went to pick it up, so he test drove the crap out of one of their C7 Z06s and left. For Ford this was SOP with Focus RSs and GT350s. Dealers are the scum of the earth. Yet more data on why.
He should have seen if he could have gotten one of the local broadcast news stations to show up with him to pick up his car. Bet the Stealership would love that being on the local broadcast.
Owners renting houses have this collection problem. The renter does not pay, to remove the renter go to court and get an order, then pay to have the sheriff serve the papers, hope the renters don't damage the property while leaving, now sue the renter for back rent, send it to a collection agency that takes half of the collected amount. Owners loose, legal system gains.
True but you can get an order to pay and get it on their credit report and I don’t know if any future landlords or mortgage underwriters would work with them unless they take care of it.
Chevy should threaten to pull the franchise. It makes them look terrible. Ive known a local franchise (different manufacturer) that got pulled because the dealer ran such a shady business. GM wont make another dime off the sale, but would buy tons of good press, ans send a warning to other crooked dealers.
I had an experience with a scuzzy Dodge dealer (there seem to be a lot of Dodge & scuzzy dealer connections) about 25 years ago. Have never stepped foot on a Dodge lot since.
It is very very hard to pull dealership franchises - the GM/Chrysler bankruptcies were fantastic for thinning the dealership herd. It was the only way it was ever going to happen.
@@ssl3546 depends on the contract. There are often performance minimums physical space or separate building terms, appearance restrictions, and yes, business practice stipulations in the contracts. Some manufacturers are stricter than others, but it has happened, especially if the dealer in question is the only one in the market.
This is why one of the first responses would be to GM, well written, sent to several levels of Admin. Making clear social media would be used heavily sharing the resultat actions.
When I was in the Army, they give classes to The soldiers about this stuff. They say over and over to read the contract that way you o ow what they can and cannot do. The can charge more without telling you so read it. Well, all dealerships around Military bases are bad, shady bad. I have not found one that is 75% honest. I went in to buy my first car. I came in with the paper they advertised in. I asked to see 1 vehicle. It had been sold, I then went down the list of my 2nd choice, 3rd, 4th and so on, all had been sold. There were around 50-70 cars sold on that page, small print as well as photos. Not 1 was there, all been sold. The salesman was Will to show Me something else, way out of my price range. I showed the guy the paper and asked when all these cars were sold? He said some last week, others last month, or months ago. I then informed him that, that was illegal. His dealership had a responsibility to get rid of the cars sold as soon as possible. I can understand any thing sold this week but not 2 weeks ago. It’s called switch and baiting, deceptive advertising. He then took me the area where the cars I could afford were at. My then Boyfriend (now Husband) had no poker face and got so excited. I did manage to find a car I wanted. Got a price and we were working out the payment plan. Another salesman butted in and tried to do a mark up, saying it was to pay for his involvement in the deal. I got up and started to leave when I was stopped by 3 other salesmen. They wanted to know where I was going. I told them that I don’t know this salesmen, he was not the one I was working with and he doesn’t deserve any part of the deal I was working out with the first guy. I got an apology, the original deal back on the table. I was handed the sales contract that Just had my name on it and the car info, nothing else was filled in. When I asked about it, I was told the dealership was closing and they didn’t have time to finish it, I could comeback later to get the filled out one, all I had to do was sign this form and I could drive the car off the lot. I got up again and said I was not signing a blank form. The dealership didn’t close until 8pm it was 7 and if they wanted to go home early that was on them. I’ll keep looking, the other dealerships are still open. Next think I knew my complete form with the sales price, payment plan I wanted was on the desk. They printed it out in the time I took to tell them I was leaving, going to the other dealerships. I got a 1 year warranty on my 3 year old used car. Tune up, oil change, low interest rate, payment of $165, a month. Drove off the lot with it. Next day, all the cars that I pointed out during the visit were no longer in the paper. Never go car shopping and let them talk you into doing them a favor for giving you a deal. After that I ran to JAG to ask them about the interest rate 8 or 10%. I was still within my window to return the car, if it was too high, I was going to. JAG said I had one of the best rates they had ever seen. Average interest on a car was 10-12%. They told me how they were in a legal battle with the same dealership that was charging a private (E-2) 23% Interest rate off a 3 year old used car with many more miles then what I had on mine. His payments were $400 a month. His pay was $800 a month. He fell for the sign a blank document, we will take care of you.
Reminds me of an instance where the client substituted their own contract when the dealer was distracted, both parties signed and copies distributed. Dealer found out later when they breached and then realised that the contract was different then they expected
@@SurmaSampo This is what I was wondering, if it would be small claims because of the amount or not because it was a breach of a contract dealing with values outside small claims. Of course, if they had a boilerplate arbitration agreement in the purchase agreement, that could actually be to the consumer's advantage in this case by keeping the costs low.
In many jurisdictions either party can have a small claims case removed to district court or whatever they call it in that state. I'm pretty sure a car dealer would do that since they have to hire an attorney anyway.
But possibly as redundant as it is snarky. My record for chutzpah is a salesman quoting me 5K over MSRP for a late model used car, claiming that's a discounted price. LMAO!
@@JasonW. Seriously. CarMax prices are insane and they "don't negotiate." I've talked to people that somehow love CarMax, even after I explain they paid far more for something than it was worth. If the dealer didn't negotiation when I bought my last car, I wouldn't have bought it from them. I really wanted to buy from an individual, but was in a pinch and needed a car that weekend. Thankfully I found both a car I liked, and one I would pay for.
being that gm told dealers not to do this and this guy ordered his car with a fair amount of options ..wouldn't it be easier for him to call gm directly and have them have a chat with the car dealer
I know a man who spent millions suing a former business partner. He never got any money out of it, but felt it was worth it because the guy ended up going out of business, lost his home, his wife and went to jail. I know more details, and do NOT feel bad for the guy. Sometimes it's not about the bottom dollar.
I agree. If someone screwed me big time, I would have no issue with taking them to court, even if it was a net negative (within reason). It's about the principle, and also the fact that they've probably screwed over people in the past who didn't have the means to pursue legal action.
My father negotiated a deal on a car but when they brought the finance papers it was almost 5 grand more than they agreed on, I was there my dad told them if they wont stick the original deal he would walk away and he did, why are some dealers so damn slimey? Even in the service departments most of them screw you over any chance they get.
Either that or every term in a contract legally has to work both ways. So when the dealer says "We've decided to increase the price $10,000." Then the customer can simply say "That's fine since I've decided I'm going to pay you $10,000 less for the car."
@@blkbrdmntrvimes6438 Michigan Supreme Court has shifted from predominantly Democrat to Republican many times over the years. Republicans were in office when that law was struck down. Do you actually think a Democratic Supreme Court would strike down a consumer protection law? You must be a complete idiot.
I won a lawsuit in 1978 for a Silver Anniversary Corvette with a dealer in Ubly MI and they lost the lawsuit and had to sell me the Vett at the price in the contract and pay all legal fees and my time off work to travel from Flint to Ubly.
Steve, I’ve written several times and as a guy who spent over 50 years in the auto business from Lot boy to Dealer. Most every New Car Dealer will do almost anything to stay out of court and that’s my experience before the force of Social Media and Internet Reviews. The first rule is Jury’s hate car dealers. Yes, even more than lawyers. Haha. I imagine the Customer got an apology and the Car for the agreed upon Price. Just like your recent Bronco Price.
This exact same thing happened when the Dodge Viper first came out. A customer put a deposit on one and signed a purchase agreement. The dealer jacked the price and claimed that the extra cost was justified by the popularity of the car. Legal hijinks ensued and the dealer lost and the customer got the car at the price agreed to. I tried to look that case up but couldn't find it because it happened in 1992.
That would kill any future business with that dealer and if I was that customer I would have bad mouthed them in public any way I could for doing that.
The same thing was happening when the PT Cruiser first came out. To reward our daughter, for being on the honor roll throughout school and earning a full college scholarship, we were going to buy her one. When we went shopping they were being purchased for list price, then being sold ASAP for an average $10,000 markup because once sold it became a "used car" and the seller could set their price.
I would hope that there is a government office that licenses dealerships that would handle complaints like this. in California the D.M.V has a dealer division that handles these type of things
Last major mark up vehicle I remember was the Raptor f150. MSRP was like 40-60k (irc) but they regularly went for like 100k. Sometimes for more on the used market than the new because you didn't have to get on a 6+ month long wait list. I knew a couple of people that would find them in rural areas without high demand, buy them, and flip them in high demand areas for a really good profit.
@@googlesucks100ballsandshaf6 Because most state legislatures forbid it. Do you vote? Then work with your neighbors to repeal the law in your state. But the dealers pay lots of $$$$$ to keep them.
I would file the suit pro se. Case 1: we had an agreement and the dealer breached it. Case 2: we had no agreement and I want my $1000 back. His lawyer isn't free either.
@@JasonW. It also doesn't hurt to ask for court costs even when the answer is no; if you don't ask, it won't get considered. Either way it is on record that the dealer has cost you that expense while attempting to defraud you of more. Send the final disposition of the case to GM and see how happy they remain to have him represent them as a dealer. Once a precedent is set, it will be easier for the court to rule similarly for other victims.
@Mike DeGrasse Tyson You're talking commercial interest rate, but I'm considering what states allow an entity to charge in legal matters, which is usually 18% APR.
I would expect that the dealership would have to lay out attorney’s fees as well... at what point would it cost them more to defend than just live up to the original agreement. These kinds of things bring national scrutiny, no? Apparently, this was in California... Fontana I believe
If it was in California he could stick the dealer for the attorney fees as well. I'd guess that a letter of intent to sue from a lawyer would bring a quick close to this. It's really not worth whatever extra profit the dealer could get for the car.
They probably figure that over all the people they screw over, they get enough from the ones that don't sue to make it worth defending or settling the few suits.
All dealerships already have an attorney on retainer in case he is needed for just a thing. So it's not going to cost them all that much. A few court fees.
Usually if someplace tries to do me wrong like that I’m able to make sure they lose more in future sales from me and others than they’d have otherwise gained.
The American rule is the best part of our legal framework for big businesses. It lets them calculate exactlly how much they can screw people through illegal actions before people will be able to sue them for more than it will cost to prosecute the case.
Steve,you bring up a great point. I always thought if you win a case the other party has to pay your attorney fees. I live in Florida,don’t know what the State laws are regarding this!
Put the dealer on blast and expose the practice. Bad PR for the dealer may not be worth the extra markup they would make. I wouldn't want to buy a car or have one serviced from a dealer that does this to a customer. I wouldn't trust their sale or service judgements. Hopefully, others wouldn't either and the bad press will let people know the quality and ethics of the management staff.
Steve, thank for this vid as I ordered a 2022 F-250 using friends and family in July 2021, over a year and a half ago, and it is still not built, but I keep getting emails from Ford saying they are going to build it, In fact, I got an update on 15 February saying: "Thank you again for your Super Duty F-250 King Ranch order. We wanted to let you know that we are still up against supply chain challenges, which are causing delays with getting your vehicle into production. While we understand how frustrated you may be (we are too), rest assured, our team is working diligently and aggressively to get you behind the wheel." I expect the price will have gone up around $10,000 from when I ordered based on inflation. And based on your vid if I want the vehicle I will need to pay that difference even though I have a signed purchase agreement for a lesser amount. Kind of amazing to me as I expected to get the truck in Sep or Oct 2021 as it's just a truck and Ford is the sales leader, nothing really special. If and when the truck arrives at the dealership I will have to decide if the extra cost is worth it as I was buying it because I wanted it, not that I need it.
UPDATE 18th October 2020 Anthony edited his post on C8 Corvette Owners (And Friends) as follows: "Picked up my C8 today at MSRP as promised. Thank you for all the help!"
A dealer I dealt with tried this. I threatened to file a complaint with their bond holder. Because they had placed an ad with the price I paid. They backed down.
Snob appeal is a thing. I was gifted a bottle of 1970s vintage Cognac that I will never open; but it’s prominently displayed for my friends to see. Truth is that I could not discern the difference between my bottle and one of much lesser “value.”
I own a '91 NSX. "Come down and pick up your car, oh there's a 20K mark up" (83K). A lot of money now but a helluva lot thirty years ago. He didn't buy it but a friend of his did. Ran into a guy a few months ago who bought a C8 for list, 85K. He knew the dealer
Several years ago A friend of mine got a quote on a new Ford F-250 4x4 which was a good deal. He signed everything that evening and was going to pick up the truck the next day. Well, the salesman gave him the price of a base model two wheel drive F-250. Since all the paperwork was finalized the dealer had to honor the price. They did ask him to resign the paperwork but he declined and got a good deal. Not sure how most people would see this situation as honest or not? I guess if you’re a salesman you probably should pay close attention to what you’re selling
There were a number of these types of cases from the late 40s. No one had been able to buy a new car since late 1941 or early 1942 and it took some time for GM, Ford, Chrysler, Hudson, Nash, Studebaker to begin producing new cars. So, if you got a contract for a new car, the dealer may have a better offer before your car arrived from the factory.
I agrees to buy a new car that had many dealer added accessories from the company's catalog. I wanted the car but not accessories. I signed a sales agreement to buy the car as is, less the accessory costs. Was picking up in a couple days because a couple things needed fixing. Monday morning I received a call from sales guy saying that sales manager nixed the deal, sue them if I wanted. Needless to say, I bought a car from a different dealer.
Yeah, happened to me. I bought a truck, it had an issue, but I didnt know until years later when a mechanic hooked up a scanner and found ABS codes. And it turns out, the dealer took out the money light in the gauge cluster, so I never knew I had a problem. So even on new cars, I recommend people take a cheap scanner with them and scan for codes.
Steve, I bought a 2018 Shelby Cobra with a $1000 deposit with the following agreement: sticker price plus 5%, a great deal as some dealers were asking for 10-15% over sticker price. Both the dealer and I did Okay as he was protected if the price increased and basically knew my cost.
I don't see it posted on here but I checked the internet and the car magazine you referenced reported that the buyer got the car for the agreed upon price. Seems all the bad publicity and public outcry made them rethink their course of action. Great job, Steve!
In Washington state with a summary judgement attorney's fee's and costs are paid by losing party in cases like this. This story is in Selma, California.
Steve. I used to live near Selma many years ago. Back in the day it was Thornbury/Allen Chevrolet. Then Paul Allen's Liberty Chevrolet. It was an honest dealership to buy from. Sounds like something changed over time
Hi Steve, You seem to forget that it also costs the dealership money to go to court regardless if they prevail or not. So it also depends if the dealership feels it is worth the added cost to him. How the signed agreement is worded is the most important part. Any non-lawyer can file the suit and win IF (BIG IF) the agreement favors them and it is a binding contract.
Many years ago, we ordered a car--not a Vette-and the dealer was very clear (and I appreciated it) that this protected us to the next allotment they got for that car. But certain terms may change-like incentives, MSRP, etc. Basically we were bound to the sale conditions at time of delivery-not time of order.
That’s funny about the last Thunderbirds that were marked up because of the original high demand. You can get one now at highly a depreciated price if you want a cute two door convertible for Sunday drives and don’t care about whether it’s a real sports car. I wonder how many were bought by people hoping to flip them for even more like they are doing with C8s. The auto auctions are full of 30 year old cars with something like 85 miles on the clock that proved to be poor speculation buys and are finally being sold for less than the original sticker to get them out of the garage. The last minute markup has been around for decades. In 1979 I ordered a VW Scirocco when it was first available with a 5-speed. Months later it arrived at the dealership and I showed up with a cashiers check for the full amount minus my deposit. The dealer tried to add a mark-up because 5-speeds were scarce. I showed him the personal check and the agreement, and pointed to the Toyota dealership right across the street, telling him I could go over there, buy a Celica GT and get change back. The salesman didn’t say a word and took my check. Ultimately the joke was on me of course, I would have been better off crossing the street to the Toyota dealer.
I love how Supreme Court shot down making a corporation pay your legal fees when they break a contract. Of course we need to protect corporations and not the citizens!! Welcome to America.
No one ever said anything about corporations, it's about merchants. Using boogeyman terms just makes you sound ignorant and makes people disregard your cause.
The judicial system in the United States is a joke of engineering and will not protect your brain from lasers. A duel is the best solution to disputes. I suggest using Roman Candles at 20 paces ;)
This may not be the same thing but when you mentioned the T-bird radio's when the Mazda Miata 1st came out folks were paying up several thousand dollars to get one kinda like buyi.g a house. It was NUTS. That was 32 years ago, 1989. But that was the car I wanted more than the Altima when it came out. Oh well.
Every experience I ever had with an American car company has been some scam deal, every signal one over that last 50 years. Most ALSO involved defective products but for one. Finally, I have learned you cannot trust them. Probably the very best experience is a tie between a Lotus dealer and a Mercedes dealer. My only complaint with the last on the Mercedes deal was that why when the dealer had the money already transferred did I have to take nearly 4 hours to pick up the car? The way was it was the largest dealer in Chicago and the "finance guy" or the "guy who tries to convince you to tack on extras, a whole book of them of various treatments, ornaments, insurances, service contracts etc" was overloaded/overbook and I waited three hours for him to work though his backlog. Friends tell me this is normal... I gave points off due to the waste of time! What was worse was the guy lost one of the keys (to a new car) that had been setting on his desk on top of the paperwork, when I checked in... and I never got the key sent. How he lost the key I don't know... but if I buy another car from that dealer they will "FIND the KEY" from the last one... or no deal! The Lotus dealer was basically he had one of 7 cars in the world... but that deal went down in a few minutes. AND, negotiated the price down very significantly. But it was in California so, by time all the penalty taxes were added up... so evaporated much of the savings!
I remember a time that a friend of mine fell in love with a car on a used car lot and offered to pay the price on the windshield which was probably about $1,000 to high. Had he negotiated he probably could have gotten it for less. You would think that this would have ended it, but the salesman sensing he had a sucker, said he was just going to phone the owner of the lot and let him know that my friend was going to buy the car. The salesman then apologized and said that the owner told him that the price on the windshield was incorrect and the car was actually $1,000 more. This at least woke up my friend that he was about to get ripped off.
Steve I assume if the corvette is named in the lawsuit the dealer can not sell it to another person. As the dealer pays up front for the car they would not only loose legal cist as well as having their money tied up for the length of the trial. If it takes a couple of years to go to court and the buyer loses than the car is 2 years old and has depreciated.
Think this through: It's easy to say that they "can't sell the car". What do you do if the dealer sells the car anyway? The court might scold the dealer, but they very likely won't do anything else.
@@dimapez There wouldn't be a court order in less than a few months, and perhaps not even then. It will only take a week or two to sell an in-demand car. The law doesn't really work for regular consumers in situations such as these. The ability to drag a case out for years, with an ultimate remedy of selling an equivalent 2021 car at the agreed upon price, isn't a fair outcome.
There is a third option, contact the auto manufacturer about an unscrupulous dealer that is sullying their brand image. Those guys can and will get involved just to protect their multi-billion USD investment into a name.
I nearly spit out my tea when I (mis)heard the price. I thought it was $80085...as opposed to $85805. For those of you of my vintage...that is the big joke that all the guys used to show on a on those big TI and HP calculators from the 70s/80s when we were in junior high (recently revisited in the Elon Musk "Chad on Mars" sketch on SNL). For those of you too young. 80085 or 58008 (turned upside down) would refer to a part of a woman's anatomy above the waist. My first thought was "this has to be a Babylon Bee story".
Chris I hear you. I don't know for sure but I feel in time the 'Dealership' tradition will be gone. We have a Carvana vending machine just up the street. Many times there's a line (4 to 7) people ready to pick up their cars. Some people pull up (like me) just to watch the machine work. It is cool. At a dealership it's cat and mouse. . . And we know who's the cat and who's the mouse in a auto dealership showroom.
Companies such as Carvana and Carnax are bad because cars aren’t worth the prices asked, moreover it sets a price precedent that equalizes prices so there’s no negotiation. Cars are holes in the water just like a boat and I don’t like paying more than necessary.
Wouldn't you be able to sue, on your own, in small claims court for breach of contact, loss of use and the additional funds to re-purchase based on simple evidence. $5,000 would pay for all your wear & tear?
Sure you sue them yourself anywhere But the best thing to do if you don’t have any money is find someone who’s going to be in that field specializing in that particular field of practice just graduated just passed the bar and would love some publicity to have a firm actually want him rather than to just hire him or her
As a buyer, I once ordered a truck with approved Ford financing. The truck was being custom built and the interest rate are set at time of purchase (when the bank gets the title). This was back in October of 2001 and this was post 9/11 beginning of 0% financing craze. I had the right of refusal if the interest rate went up by 2% from my approval rate of 2.9% (capped at 4.9%) during the 8 weeks expected until delivery written into the contract. The dealership had no problem with this because of times since nobody knew what would happen and he knew that he could sell the F150.
Local Ford dealership has a lot of Maverick’s on order. 3-6 months waiting time. They will advertise the trucks to gain interest and if a buyer backs out of a sale, it has been on advertised for a while and the trucks will move.
If I knew which dealership pulled this reprehensible bit of financial legerdemain, I'd certainly boycott them, and invite everybody to join me in that boycott!!!
I'm with you! Mostly for that splendid phrase "reprehensible bit of financial legerdemain," but also because I wasn't going to buy a Chevy in Selma anyway.
Steve - you never mentioned GM. While not a legal action, I'm sure if he contacted them, they might have some choice words for their franchise and their willingness to allot C8's to them moving forward.
In 2013 I spec'd out a Tundra. You can't order from factory but the dealer will find at another dealership and go get it. They found one and we did the sales contract BUT I asked them to include the vin # on the document which they did. 3 days later I came to pick it up and it was only then they said that dealer wouldn't release it so they found another one with more options they would give me a "good deal" on, but a few dollars more. I said no, we contracted for a specific vehicle and you are now in default so I want my deposite back. Long story short, I got the higher option truck for previously agreed price. Sometimes a cynical mindset is a good thing. AND, you can Google the vin # and it will take you right to the dealership web page if you want to then just go over there and buy it.
I got much the same treatment--from a law firm! My wife suffered a medical malpractice event. We went to the biggest-name law firm in town. They agreed to take the case. They insisted my wife find an appropriate expert, pay him AND depose him at OUR cost, AND made us sig an exclusivity contract: We will have to pay a hefty penalty to them if we take the case to a different law firm. We signed. They had us wait nearly three years to file the case: "They're more likely to pay big if your hit them just before the time limit runs out." Four days before the deadline they told us "Oh--we're not going to do your case. We have these two cases--a drug challenge and a speedway venue bridge collapsed--and we want to spend our efforts on those." We said, so what about the exclusivity contract you made us sign? They said it didn't apply to them, and they were just gonna ignore it. We called the state bar to complain: the guy at the bar said "So What!" Three days left on the time limit. We frantically call around and hit on a lawyer who quit the big firm because he has embarrassed with them, and HE filed for an extension for us, for free. We finally found another attorney to take the case, and they gave us a junior associate. We got as far as negotiations and got a settlement offer. The junior lawyer said "Take it--it's as much as you're gonna get!" So we did. We've been told by other lawyers since that we could have got alot more. Turns out the junior lawyer was leaving the big firm and wanted to finish the case so she'd get her cut of the fee. I spent forty-some years in law enforcement working mostly rapes and murders and testified in superior court several hundred times. I saw a lot of slime-ball attorneys--on both sides! They'd do things like misquote me to myself on cross from my direct testimony, hoping to get something to confuse the jury with. I learned to say "No--that's NOT what I said. I said "-------------.''" When they argued, I'd just say I would ask his honor the judge to have the court reporter read it back to the jury. They never once did. I had several accuse me of being biased: "You work for the state, you testify for the state!" I'd answer" I work for the justice system, and I testify for the court and jury!" "But you are testifying because the state called you, aren't you?" "Yes--and YOU subpoenad me too!" I had several that tried to accuse me of coming up with testimony favorable to the state because I was having an affair with a detective, or the prosecutor; I just pointed out that the first was married to the main detective on the case--as their names clearly showed, and the prosecutor didn't have the time. Etc. etc. etc. I really cannot think highly of a species that deliberately lies and seeks to mislead people. The there were the stupid ones--"How do you know this semen was from the male, not the (female) victim?" I got these things from BOTH sides of cases.
