‘ Johnson had just had a baby when she and her husband, Darren, decided to buy a newer, safer car for the family. They live in a rural area outside Orlando, Fla. He's a fire sprinkler inspector; she's stopped working to raise the kids. And they bought a little used Hyundai SUV.

"It had the backup camera," she says, "and passenger and kid's airbags in the back."

But a full three weeks after they bought the car and took it home, they got what's called "yo-yo'd."

"I received a phone call from the finance manager of the dealership," Darren Johnson says. The manager told them the financing for the car had fallen through and if the couple wanted to keep it, they had to come back and sign a contract with different terms. ‘




‘ In the Johnsons' case, the new deal raised the price of the car, paid less for their trade-in vehicle, and removed an insurance policy they had in the first deal.

The Johnsons signed the new deal because they wanted to keep the car. But then a week later, they say the dealership told them they had to sign yet another deal.

"At that point, it just all seemed really fishy," says Darren. The couple refused to return and sign it.

The dealer, Greenway Hyundai Orlando, sent a tow truck and repossessed the car.

Meanwhile, documents show that Greenway had already sold their trade-in vehicle and didn't give it back.

"We both were just kind of like mind blown at the whole entire situation," Courtney says. "Like, how is this even possible?"

Documents from a later arbitration case show that the dealership wouldn't return their calls. And it didn't pay off the loan on their trade-in vehicle. So the Johnsons were stuck paying the loan, with no car, for nearly a year. They eventually used a chunk of their small retirement savings to pay the loan back. ‘


[www.npr.org]



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2023 12:03PM by btfc.

Another reason to hate car dealers

Don't just research the car, research the dealer. Check ratings, read reviews.

---

“No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.” -- François de La Rochefoucauld

"Those who cannot accept the past are condemned to revise it." -- Geo. Mathias

The German word for contraceptive is “Schwangerschaftsverhütungsmittel”. By the time you finished saying that, it’s too late

Pay cash. Get title. I realize that's not always feasible, but in these cases go to a lending institution, preferably a credit union.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

I am confused. they run a credit check on you, you sign a contract and you pay your monthly loan. How can a financing deal fall through after you signed the contract? something is really fishy with this dealer.

nevermind, I read the article and the devil is in the details, fine print and all that.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/04/2023 03:14PM by gadje.

Quote
gadje
I am confused. they run a credit check on you, you sign a contract and you pay your monthly loan. How can a financing deal fall through after you signed the contract? something is really fishy with this dealer.

Clearly, but it sounds like there was language in the contract that either they did not understand or missed entirely.

---

Hurts like a bastid...

Keep

all

parts

of

the

deal

S_E_P_A_R_A_T_E

.

FWIW, the first story in that article has a happy ending, at the end of the story. The dealer loses, big time.

" I will bring the car back but I need 2-3 weeks as we got rear ended and the car is at my friends brothers body shop getting fixed"

Finance managers suck.

I rarely have a problem with the sales people.

Last car I bought for cash and still had to go thru the FM. Pushed the sextras* that I don't want. I took my daughter to that transaction. She thought we were going to get in a fight (me & the FM, not me & my daughter).

I politely declined everything, but the a-hole was really pushy.


*typo, but I'm keeping it.

Finance managers suck.


Yes, sometimes.

Always be ready to walk.

One can try to pretend they're not interested in the car in which they're interested, but most salesman and managers can see one's tells.

Few buyers don't have any.

But if one is really ready to walk, then the customer has the power, even if they don't get the car.

The current market may be tougher, but as long as someone doesn't absolutely expect to leave with a car at the deal they expect, they'll be ok.


With the exception of one time. I've gone to my credit union after buying a car on terms I could live with, and got a much better loan, and paid off the dealer.

I don't know if that works now, as it's been 20+ years since I bought a car.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

The manager told them the financing for the car had fallen through


This stinks.

Seems to me like it's a slam dunk to know very quickly if the financing is solid or not.

It also feels like the dealership is working like banks did years back with making loans to consumers for homes.

Make it look like the customer can afford the home, or make an impossible deal that customer can afford the car, and it both cases, the customer gets screwed.



The dealership did not explain how the pandemic stopped it from returning the Johnsons' car, which the dealership sold in October of 2019.


That's easy.

The pandemic cause used car sales to sky-rocket, and the dealership made big bucks on their old car's resale.



"'Oh, no,'" Van Alst says the dealer tells you. "'You're going to have to accept an 8% higher interest rate.'" And at that point, he says, "It's a whole lot more difficult for the consumer to walk away. The dealer might have already sold their trade-in."

That's called "unhorsing" the car buyer. "They are then sort of at the mercy of the car dealer," he says.


That's probably the polite term.

The actual term behind closed dealer's doors is more likely horsefscking the car buyer.

---

I am that Masked Man.

All you can do, is all you can do.

There’s trouble — it's time to play the sound of my people.

Your boos mean nothing to me, I've seen what you cheer for.

Insisting on your rights without acknowledging your responsibilities isn’t freedom, it’s adolescence.

I've been to the edge of the map, and there be monsters.

We are a government of laws, not men.

Everybody counts or nobody counts.

When a good man is hurt,
all who would be called good
must suffer with him.

You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

There is no safety for honest men except
by believing all possible evil of evil men.

We don’t do focus groups. They just ensure that you don’t offend anyone, and produce bland inoffensive products. —Sir Jonathan Ive

An armed society is a polite society.
And hope is a lousy defense.

You make me pull, I'll put you down.

I *love* SIGs. It's Glocks I hate.

Quote
Buzz
Keep

all

parts

of

the

deal

S_E_P_A_R_A_T_E

.

And record (audio + video, if possible) everything, especially in the finance mgr's office!
There shouldn't be anything going on in the dealership that they don't want to go viral, or be seen on CourtTV.
If the finance manager balks; you walk.
==

Quote
mrbigstuff
Clearly, but it sounds like there was language in the contract that either they did not understand or missed entirely.

As there is in every legal agreement, unless you're a lawyer who specializes in those particular contracts. For the most part, its just difficult to take in all the details in the fine print.

I sure the hell wouldn't return a car I was under the impression I bought, particularly if they already sold my car. Then again, I don't think I'd do a trade in.

There are occasionally finance offers that reduce the price. Sometimes getting the loan and paying it off right away is cheaper than cash.

---

You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.

In many states it is illegal to buy a car that does not sell through a dealership. This is why Teslas can't be sold in some states. This is an incredibly corrupt system that is basically a propping up of an unnecessary middleman. So many state governments are totally corrupt and bought by the highest bidder (i.e. the car dealership lobbyists).

---

"In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion." (1987) -- Carl Sagan

It's pretty common.

The financing isn't always complete. Esp common on weekend sales and sub-prime where the finance guy has to shop the loan around. In my state there is even a set daily fee and mileage fee you need to reimburse the dealer for if you return the car.

My MIL (with bad credit) bought a used car for 12% interest. They called back a couple of days later and said the best they could actually do was 48%.

The only way around this particular trap is to come with your own financing - say from your credit union/bank. But the people usually caught up aren't the ones setup to pre-arrange financing.

Quote
RAMd®d
With the exception of one time. I've gone to my credit union after buying a car on terms I could live with, and got a much better loan, and paid off the dealer.

I don't know if that works now, as it's been 20+ years since I bought a car.

It does. That's how I purchased my last car.

FM on that purchase was a pain in my ass. She tried her damnedest to get me to finance the car through them. I already had a pre-approved loan at 1.75% from my CU. I told her if she could beat that rate, she'd get the financing.

She couldn't.

After running a credit report on me, she told me they have a name in the industry for customers like me: a brick, presumably on account of my 800+ credit score.

---

It is what it is.

Credit Union financing also in place here when I've used a dealership.

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“There comes a point where we need to stop just pulling people out of the river. We need to go upstream and find out why they’re falling in."

Pay a broker to negotiate the out-the-door price.

Have it shipped to you from whatever dealer is the cheapest or fly there & drive it back.

The cheapest including the broker's fee & shipping or travel costs.

When I leased my last vehicle through a broker I put my kid on a plane to go pick it up at an out-of-state dealer & drive it back...much cheaper than leasing through a local dealer.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2023 08:55AM by Bill in NC.

Quote
Bill in NC
Pay a broker to negotiate the out-the-door price.

Have it shipped to you from whatever dealer is the cheapest or fly there & drive it back.

The cheapest including the broker's fee & shipping or travel costs.

When I leased my last vehicle through a broker I put my kid on a plane to go pick it up at an out-of-state dealer & drive it back...much cheaper than leasing through a local dealer.

I did the same but without the broker. I think few people are interested in doing the work even if they save themselves money. I'll never understand, I must be made of different stuff.

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As for the responses of 'yeah, it can take a few days for the financing to go through' - then they shouldn't hand over the car. Or it should be abundantly clear they're renting it.

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Quote
Lux Interior
Finance managers suck.

I rarely have a problem with the sales people.

Last car I bought for cash and still had to go thru the FM. Pushed the sextras* that I don't want. I took my daughter to that transaction. She thought we were going to get in a fight (me & the FM, not me & my daughter).

I politely declined everything, but the a-hole was really pushy.


*typo, but I'm keeping it.

I would have held him down, while you got your blows in.