Yay I get to keep it
Mar. 12th, 2003 11:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikOn Sunday while I was out riding my car dealer left an ominous message on the answering machine: "Uh... something's up with the bank. Please call us." I spent Sunday night fretting about it. Monday the finance guy was out sick, so I fretted Monday too. I got ahold of a manager who refused to tell me what's up, only that I really needed to come in tomorrow when the finance guy was there. Not just call... come in. Mixed in with the refusal to tell me why had me terribly worried. I got images in my head of some kind of total fiscal explosion, and I'd drive back to the lot to see the old crap-van there with a bunch of guys ready to take my Element away and force me to undo the deal. Yay, paranoia.
The finance guy finally got in late yesterday and we had a nice little phone chat. It turns out it's really simple: they screwed up. They misquoted one particular number on the contract. I was one of their first Element customers and so they'd made a mistake about some of the costs. Luckily it's not a huge one, and it only increases my payments by $15/mo or so. But no, they don't want to take the car back. No, they didn't mis-judge my credit rating and wanted to bone me over with a new interest rate. *whew*
Admittedly, I could take 'em for a ride at this point. I have a signed contract and have made my first payment already. The car has been in my posession for over a month. I have the right to decline re-signing a new contract and could make them eat the $15/mo; the screwup was their fault. I won't do that, however. Not only is it not really in my personality to shaft someone for a rather simple mistake, but I want to keep a good relationship with this dealer. When the hybrid version comes out in ~3 years (or so the rumormill says) I'm definately going to upgrade. Having a non-hostile dealer would make that much easier.
The finance guy finally got in late yesterday and we had a nice little phone chat. It turns out it's really simple: they screwed up. They misquoted one particular number on the contract. I was one of their first Element customers and so they'd made a mistake about some of the costs. Luckily it's not a huge one, and it only increases my payments by $15/mo or so. But no, they don't want to take the car back. No, they didn't mis-judge my credit rating and wanted to bone me over with a new interest rate. *whew*
Admittedly, I could take 'em for a ride at this point. I have a signed contract and have made my first payment already. The car has been in my posession for over a month. I have the right to decline re-signing a new contract and could make them eat the $15/mo; the screwup was their fault. I won't do that, however. Not only is it not really in my personality to shaft someone for a rather simple mistake, but I want to keep a good relationship with this dealer. When the hybrid version comes out in ~3 years (or so the rumormill says) I'm definately going to upgrade. Having a non-hostile dealer would make that much easier.
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Date: 2003-03-12 01:52 pm (UTC)This a very VERY common dealer trick, so ubiquitous it's hard to call it a "scam". Nearly everyone who uses dealer financing, but didn't noticeably nail down every single aspect of the contract, gets one of these "call the finance guy ASAP" panic calls about a month into the schedule.
Next time, I really recommend you finance through a credit union.
Tell me more
Date: 2003-03-12 03:09 pm (UTC)Re: Tell me more
Date: 2003-03-12 04:33 pm (UTC)This dealer scam (usually known as the "your credit fell through"), and others, is described in http://www.carbuyingtips.com/
Everyone who buys a new car should read this site carefully.
If they get hardcore on you and you don't want the headache of battling over it, especially if they get evil with repo threats and credit rating blots, refinance it thru an online lender, or a credit union.