Don’t get yo-yo’ed by your car dealer!

Combination of all of the above minus the crashing. 2 teslas sold for more than I got them for… first Tacoma at break even… sold a mini because it was not fitting my lifestyle, had an older Mercedes to tie me over for 4 months until I found my Tacoma sold for breakeven … and now on my second Tacoma

 

that's the point. it's legal in some states so you need to be aware.

 

That's awesome!

Sounds like you'll probably will never be the recipient of the above mentioned financial disaster.

 

That's the proper term for it. I was hoping someone in the biz would be able to break it down like that.

It justs sleazy that a dealership would knowingly screw someone that is struggling financially or mentally not fit to understand how to protect themselves.

 

There are definitely dealers out there trying to make a buck. However remember no one makes money if a deal isn’t approved. The finance guys we had knew better than to submit a deal knowing it wouldn’t get bought at how it was submitted. Sometimes you can bump a customer $20-$70/mo if that’s what the approval says. However the last 3 dealers I worked for if we had any credit issues everything was submitted before any paperwork was done. Delivery was only done once financing was approved. That’s the way it should be done.

 

They don't reposses it parse as the vehicle was never financed; these are your own words as you mentioned.

This happens on some occasions for instance it's late night, buyer doesn't have stellar credit (but not bad either, maybe lacking history) and a pending bank inquiry could be turned down the next day.

Way too common in the automotive industry, though depending on the dealer, this is referred to as a "spot delivery". Many dealers insist that the car does not leave the lot actually, as this would mean that they would have to find a way to get it back; they don't want to pay a 3rd party to send a tow truck or anything and normally resort to phone calls, texts, or emails.

Sure there are some shady ass dealers, but when it comes to franchise dealers they have a lot more to lose than your typical used car only dealer that typically offers buy here pay here options as well.

We do a lot of homework on the vehicles we buy, why not do homework from who we buy as well?

 

This.

I was a finance director and sales manager for over 10 years; if I didn't have an approval, the vehicle did not leave the lot.

 

Agreed!

 

yea, that sounds dumb to let a customer leave with a vehicle that hasn't been paid for; by the owner or a bank.

 

we had something similar when we traded in my ex wifes car. we get the trade in value and the contract is written and signed, we hand over the trade in, and take the new car.

3 days later we get a call saying the bank would not take the trade in , ok no big deal, but when I asked for the car to be return they said we never gave them a car in trade. I told them fine, have it your way, you never got the car in trade, it is missing from my driveway therefore it must have been stolen in the middle of the night, and I was calling to file a stolen vehicle report with the police department and the insurance company. they changed there tune in about 30 second. we go and get the vehicle and get home, only to discover they took the plates off already. called them back and told them those plate had better show up on the car before the end of business day or I was reporting the pates stolen. few hours later when I came back home after running some errands. the plates where sitting on the front drivers tire.

The dealer did the yo-yo- thing on my last truck, they "lost" the preapproval from capitol one I had. but at least I ended up with slightly better terms, and I am sure they made for up the finance side of the deal using there lender

 

A different view on this issue is when the purchaser leaves their trade in with the dealer while waiting on financing approval, or specifics on an ordered new vehicle.

The sleazy shop then "sells" or "auctions off" the trade in and this puts a bind on the buyer when they get the call that the deal needs to be adjusted (obviously in favor of the dealership), and there is no good recourse for the buyer to make things even.

 

Yikes!

 

None of our traded cars left to auction or got sold at all until the deal was being funded.

Goal was to get a deal funded within 10 days in order to get it out and sold.

A shared Excel file was updated by either myself, or the other finance or sales managers.

Same with the used car manager.

At the end of each day, said manager on desk typed in the vehicle traded in, the stock number for the traded in vehicle, and the last name the deal was under. Not to mention the deal number and date of trade in.

In a separate box was the status, and being excel, will list how many days it's been there before being funded.

Once funded, the desk stopped the updated and the used car manager updated it going through smog/safety or going to auction.

This way the owner could track the entire process and see where the break down was if there was one.

This creates an efficient workflow in order to turn those trade in cars around quickly and not lose out on depreciation.

I ran the dealership under the owner, and it surprises me how inefficient some dealers can be.

 

It’s obvious you didn’t work for Greenway Hyundai in Orlando. They got slapped by the arbitrator for over $200 grand in fines for doing that to a couple that was featured in the NPR article I quoted.

 

Yeah, some dealers are just shady as fuck and it sucks that sometimes an owner is completely blind to it (cause the store is making money) or actually part of the grand scheme.

Only reason why I left is cause I moved and retired. Otherwise, we were as professional as we could be day in and day out.

 

All the correct ways to run a non sleazy business. Much respect!

We just can't say that for some others out there can we?

 

I bought used and was already approved through my credit union. Ended up the salesman ran my credit and I let him do his rap about financing, waiting to tell him I already had approval at a rate I bet he won't beat. He said I got the 0.9% rate and I kept my mouth shut.

 

The only time a dealer tried to jack me up was back in 2007 I put $2000 down on a BMW 1 Series.
It was all laid on that I would pick it up at the BMW plant in the USA and go to a BMW driving school all for free.
The glitch was I would pick it up after I came back from a deployment.
When I got back the salesman told me I (not him) missed the 2007 build date so I would have to take delivery of a 2008 car which would cost me $1500 more than the price we had agreed to for the 2007 - of course I had the original deal in writing.

That got sorted out real quick . . . I got my $2000 back.

 

Way back when I had a dealer refuse to pay off my trade then the bank came after ME even though the truck was in possession of the dealership.

 

Well if you obtain the payoff and it’s less than what it takes to payoff yes you’re liable. You should sign a payoff form stating such. If you don’t then you have a leg to stand on.
That’s why many dealers obtain a 20 day payoff so there’s not $15 left in case of a short payoff.