Getting back a downpayment on a vehicle

[Chris142]

california does not have a cooling off period. you order or buy a car its yours and the seller has the right to refuse to take it back.

sounds like your friend needs to get his car and take his wife on a cross country tour in it to get her to change her mind.

 

[dparm]

Originally Posted By: Chris142
sounds like your friend needs to get his car and take his wife on a cross country tour in it to get her to change her mind.



LOL the dealer actually said something to that effect, he told me: "just buy it and once your wife gets a ride, she'll come around."

 

[raytseng]

Originally Posted By: stockrex

most states have a cooling off period for car/house etc, you can back out with/without penalty


not true; google for 2 seconds and you see there's no law that applies to cars on this.
But sometimes dealerships do this for customer satisfation/goodwill reasons rather then legally required to.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: raytseng
Originally Posted By: demarpaint
He can try his luck in small claims court, as long as the deposit was under the maximum amount allowed in small claims court. I have a feeling he'll lose, but you never know.

The lessons here are these: Leave the least amount of money possible for a deposit on a Credit Card. Cash deposits are the worst possible deposits to leave. At least with a credit card you can try and dispute the charge and you might just get the money back. 2. If you want to place an order for a new car make sure you really want the car, if their is a spouse involved, make sure the spouse approves.


You may not lose money; but you did renege on a signed contract. Car dealers aren't some naive guy on craigslist that you can just leave hanging.

You may get the debt collection stuck onto your credit report and debt collectors hounding after you. Might cost more to clean up your credit afterwards than the money you saved.


This is true. I worked for some of the biggest dealerships in the NY Metro area. I know exactly how they operate. Even so, the advise I gave still holds true. Many times dealerships play little bait and switch games and have been known to try and screw customers. This isn't the case here though, but good advise just the same for anyone considering ordering a new car.

I'd know in a few minutes if he has an out by actually reading paperwork.

 

[itguy08]

I'd read the order sheet very carefully. If it's not a sales contract he may have wiggle room.

When I ordered my G35, I had the dealer write "deposit is refundable" on the sales contract (it was printed non refundable). Why? Cause the whole thing was contingent on me selling my Explorer and they knew that.

But if the contract states it's non-refundable he's SOL.

 

[SwampSurvivor]

Originally Posted By: stockrex
Originally Posted By: Tdbo
Originally Posted By: Jim_Truett
I fail to see how the dealer is in the wrong here. Your friend decided to make a major financial decision without consulting his wife. That was a bonehead move and personal responsibility should factor in here. The dealer has committed to the order, based on his signature on the order form and payment, and will be taking delivery of the vehicle. Man up, take the nut kick from the wife and the one from the dealer and move on with 1/2 of the down payment returned.

I would laugh at this guy if I saw his story on TV.



Even though I'm not necessarily a back the dealer kind of guy, I have to agree with this.
Why should a small volume dealer have to absorb the floor plan on somewhat of an expensive "specialty" vehicle because some guy acted impulsively and does not have the requisite "hardware" to stand up to the spouse and complete the deal?
He's lucky they offered him 50%. He should take it and run.

very true,
how much are we talking? just curious, I hope it is not $10k like my buddies son did on the BMW



What ever happened with that?

 

[Nick1994]

This is going to come off as sounding rude, I'm not trying to be but their isn't many other ways I can say this.

If it's his paycheck, tell him to "grow some" and buy the car anyways. It's his car, she doesn't have to ride in it.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted By: stockrex

sounds like we have friends who like to buy toys they should not be , lol,

most states have a cooling off period for car/house etc, you can back out with/without penalty

sounds like the dealer is trying to take your buddy for a ride.

it does NOT matter what he signed, state law/fed law wins.
I can sign contract to sell my first born to a million but that contract will not be binding.

just buy a different vehicle and apply the down payment towards it.


Many people think that there's a cooling off period for cars and houses, but it's really not true. For houses, there's typically no cooling off period, you just have contingencies that may allow you to pull out of the deal. Only cooling off refers to a refi, not to a purchase. Basically the mistake was putting down the down payment. He should just go ahead and take delivery of the car. My boss just bought a 2014 a few months ago and it took him a while just to find a dealer that had one in stock. Have him advertise the car now and maybe someone will take it off his hands without taking a loss. And it is a great car. Post it on places like cars.com, autotrader, cargurus and craigslist.

 

[stockrex]

Originally Posted By: Miller88


What ever happened with that?


some guy bought his lease, he did not get any of the down payment back.

raytseng , thanks for correcting my incorrect assumption.

 

[simple_gifts]

Originally Posted By: dparm
Originally Posted By: Chris142
sounds like your friend needs to get his car and take his wife on a cross country tour in it to get her to change her mind.



LOL the dealer actually said something to that effect, he told me: "just buy it and once your wife gets a ride, she'll come around."


Then they have 3,000 miles to discuss the 'true' issue behind this mess, and it in't the money.

 

[kkreit01]

Keep the car. He may be divorced in a few years anyway.

 

[IndyIan]

I am a believer in asking for forgiveness instead of permission when it comes to some purchases my wife doesn't understand (tools mostly). A new corvette would be pushing it though!
I'd assume if a corvette was loose change for the guy, his wife wouldn't be objecting...

 

[Mr Nice]

Rule # 1
Never ever make a big financial decision without asking your wife for permission.

Not only he will be sleeping on the couch in the living room, he should never make impulsive purchases.

 

[javacontour]

One of the types of transactions where the cooling off period applies is if a sales person calls on you. I.E. door to door or telemarketers.

FTC Protections for In-Home Sales

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

Does the dealer offer consignment? If he took delivery and then resold would hour break even?

 

[antiqueshell]

Although I am no fan of $tealerships IF there is an actual
sales contract and it specifically states non-refundable deposit then your friend should take the offer of getting half of it back, it is fair.

However, if this is a purchase order I don't see why he shouldn't get his deposit back. Unless they put in writing that the despoit will not be returned if the car is not purchased.

I agree with another poster who mentioned that he should man up and buy the car since he wants and can afford it. This nonsense of having to get a spouse's approval is just plain ridiculous, UNLESS of course he was going to be using part of his wife's income to help pay for the toy, which I have a feeling might be true. In that case yes the guy is a first class knucklehead for thinking that he use her income to buy it UNLESS he got her to agree with that BEFORE going to the $tlealership.

 

[fdcg27]

From what you've posted, it appears that your buddy entered into an agreement that has all of the legal elements of a contract.
He's stuck.
For the dealer to offer half of the downstroke back is probably generous.
You friend is an adult and he entered into an agreement as a legally responsible adult.
There is no way for him to wiggle out of this and recover all of his downstroke.
He may have poor impulse control, but that isn't the dealership's fault.
Suggestions to try trashing the dealership in the media are way off base.
The dealership thought that they were dealing with a responsible adult and acted accordingly in entering into the agreement.
If it were me, there's no way my wife would tell me that I couldn't have this midlife crisis Corvette, but then we could well afford one should I have an itch that needed scratching that badly. OTOH, if either of us scratched this type of an itch very often, we probably couldn't afford much of anything.
I also wouldn't be wandering into a Chevy store and popping down some change on a 'vette without my wife already being aware of it.
I'd probably have taken her with me. She would have enjoyed the test drive, especially since I'd have been sure to give her a little left seat time as well.
The problems here are way beyond a down payment on a Corvette.

 

[GMBoy]

The Corvette Museum pick up is an extra cost option and a lot goes into it as far as coordinating the build of YOUR car when you are there for the plant tour and your car awaits you across the street at the museum all prepped and roped off for all to see. i did this and enjoyed it a lot.

This car was a special order for that purpose.

 

[Pop_Rivit]

Originally Posted By: dparm
I'm trying to help a friend out here who is in a sticky situation with a vehicle he just ordered. If anyone can offer some assistance, especially if they have experience with this, it would be immensely appreciated. The story is as follows...


You'd be better off keeping your nose out of it.

Your friend clearly has some issues if he doesn't discuss a purchase as large as a vehicle with his wife. Not only was the move on his part clearly impulsive and immature, his relationship has some serious problems. I can't imagine someone that narcissistic staying married for long, especially after a move like that.

Quite frankly he deserves to lose his deposit if he is stupid enough to do what he did. Sometimes the best lessons in life are the most painful, and if people come running to his rescue every time he makes a truly stupid move then he will never learn. You're better off letting him deal with the mess he made rather than trying to fix it for him. If you do manage to somehow "fix" it for him, he'll learn nothing from it.

But then, assuming he's more than a teenager, he should know better by now.

 

[fdcg27]

Sounds like a lot of fun.
A nice little get-away and a great way to take delivery of your new Corvette.
Good for you!