[c17wife]

My husband and i spent all yesterday morning at the local dodge dealer. We were going to get a new mini van. Well all of the papers were signed and the plates were on the new car, we were moving in the car seats, when the powers that be at the dealership come out and say "We need to talk". Turns out they had given us the cash back AND the 0% intrest and they can't do that. Now we left with our original car....but the more I think about it the more I think that we would have had every right to take the new one home with us am I right? I mean all of the documents were signed and we had even already cancelled the automatic withdrawl of our current car payment.

Ideas?

 

[JCB]

I'm not sure I understand . . .

So you signed all the papers and were about ready to take the home when the dealer essentially reneged on the deal because of a mistake (giving you 0% interest and cash back), is that right? Why didn't the dealer just do a new deal giving you one or the other?

What was your understanding of how the deal was going to work? Did you also think that you were going to get one or the other or both? If there is a mutual mistake of fact in a contract, then common law says that a contract can be rescinded. This is only a short analysis of the facts that I see here. Please don't take anything written as something you should act on without contacting an attorney licensed to practice in your state.

What a rotten situation though.

 

[bibber]

I think the new car was yours. A similar thing happened when we got my SU a new Dodge truck last year. We had gotten an good price quote online, with the price at invoice. Dodge was also having a special running with like $1000 back off their trucks, and we were going to get that too. We had already picked the particular truck we wanted out of their online inventory. When we got there, painted on the windshield was "$3500 back", and it was supposed to say "$1000 back". So they had to give us the invoice price plus another $3500 off, and we hadn't even signed any papers yet.

If it would have been me, I would not have worked a new deal, and I would have insisted on taking the new car. They are still making money from you, and its not your fault they screwed up.

 

[c17wife]

I'm not sure I understand . . .

So you signed all the papers and were about ready to take the home when the dealer essentially reneged on the deal because of a mistake (giving you 0% interest and cash back), is that right? Why didn't the dealer just do a new deal giving you one or the other?

What was your understanding of how the deal was going to work? Did you also think that you were going to get one or the other or both? If there is a mutual mistake of fact in a contract, then common law says that a contract can be rescinded. This is only a short analysis of the facts that I see here. Please don't take anything written as something you should act on without contacting an attorney licensed to practice in your state.

What a rotten situation though.

I actually just went to the dealer yesterday to get my oil changed in my current dodge caravan and made the mistake of going out to look at the new ones while I was waiting. (Never doing that again.) I was looking at the 07's but couldn't afford one. The next thing I know I tell the guy that if he can get me in a new one with payments the same as I have now with no money down then I would do it. So the 07 was a no go because my payment would have gone up $150. But they had one 06 that was almost fully loaded left. They worked the numbers (I still have a year left on my current lease) and came back and said they would even throw in a DVD player and the ipod converter (cant live without those 2 things) and the payment would only be $430. So $35 more than I have now. My dh is active duty air force and got off work at 10am after working 12 hours to come up to sign the papers. We fill out the paper work, our license plates are transfered to the new van, I even called and cancelled my automatic withdrawl for my current car payment tomorrow. Then they come out on the lot as we're loading our stuff in the new van and say "we need to see you inside". Well at this point its 2pm and I'd been there since 9am. I have two 5 yr olds with me and I'm running late for picking up 2 more from elem school. I go in and they say that "we screwed up on the paper work and accidentally gave you 0% intrest AND $4000 back. So we had to re-do the paperwork and now your payment is $502 and you have to put down $500." I just ripped up the paperwork, threw the new van keys back at them and left. I mean I realize now that it's probably for the best because if I wait another 6 months and put some money down I can get an 07. But I started thinking this morning that if those papers were signed, which they were. By both sides, which they were. Then legally it should have been mine right?

The funny part is that they've called me 5 times this morning trying to get me to buy another one that they found in upstate SC. It's an 06, silver (which I wanted from the beginning)with everything but leather seats, dvd player, and ipod converter. I can live without leather. I can live without the ipod adapter. But if I don't have that dvd player I'll go grey before I turn 40 considering I drive to Fla three times a year alone with three kids. We'll see what happens.

 

[imported_Nick]

Then legally it should have been mine right?

Not necessarily. It depends on how the discussions went, how material the mistake was, if the dealer exercised reasonable care (in other words, the mistake wasn't due to negligence or carelessness), if it would be inherently unfair to enforce the mistake (courts like to use the fancy word "unconscionable"), etc. There are defense to contracts, just as you wouldn't want a contract enforced against you if you accidentally put an extra zero in the purchase price of something you were buying (you're house is suddenly going to cost you $1.5 million v. $150,000). But, it's possible that there was a contract that is binding...especially if the mistake was unilateral and they should've discovered it.

Now the necessary disclaimer, as JCB said:

This is only a short analysis of the facts that I see here. Please don't take anything written as something you should act on without contacting an attorney licensed to practice in your state.

Moreover, I'm just a law student (although your post is helpful for purposes of reviewing for my Contracts final in a few weeks).

Out of curiosity, did you rip up the old paperwork, or their modification?

 

[c17wife]

Then legally it should have been mine right?

Not necessarily. It depends on how the discussions went, how material the mistake was, if the dealer exercised reasonable care (in other words, the mistake wasn't due to negligence or carelessness), if it would be inherently unfair to enforce the mistake (courts like to use the fancy word "unconscionable"), etc. There are defense to contracts, just as you wouldn't want a contract enforced against you if you accidentally put an extra zero in the purchase price of something you were buying (you're house is suddenly going to cost you $1.5 million v. $150,000). But, it's possible that there was a contract that is binding...especially if the mistake was unilateral and they should've discovered it.

Now the necessary disclaimer, as JCB said:

This is only a short analysis of the facts that I see here. Please don't take anything written as something you should act on without contacting an attorney licensed to practice in your state.

Moreover, I'm just a law student (although your post is helpful for purposes of reviewing for my Contracts final in a few weeks).

Out of curiosity, did you rip up the old paperwork, or their modification?

Weeellllll...I was ticked off and in a hurry. So I think dh gave it back to them. They didn't even realize they had made a mistake until they went to close out the computer screen with the deal on it and it wouldn't let them close it. That's the funny part. I'm not sure what happened to the paperwork. I had to go get the girls from school at 2:15 and this happened at 2. I'm not actually going to try to take any action against them I was just curious.

 

[3TailsWaggin]

This is exactly why I only purchase my vehicles from Marchant Chevrolet. They treat you SO well. This stuff just doesn't happen there

 

[c17wife]

I would Linda but I'm not that fond of Chevy's Minivans. :-[ I've had a caravan for 7 years now. I'm actually thinking about switching to a Kia Sedona though since I had one before xmas as a rental. (had a wreck and mine was in the shop.) Heard anything bad about Stokes?

 

[imported_gailatmsu]

I'm thinking not. When we got our car, the girl REALLY messed up. She didn't put any leinholders on the original title, so he basically titled the car over to us. Not noticing, I had gotten the tag and everything. We still ended up having to go through a process to put them back on it though. Darn it! Wish I had missed out on the $350/mo payments, lol

 

[Tatyana]

Well, they wanted to back out of the deal/contract and you let them by driving home in your old car. So, was it a binding contract or not to being with is a moot point now, IMHO.