Screwed on a car deal

[faroff]

History: Had an AP......AP dropped. Car dealer said "you're still in open BK" Attorney spoke to him. This was on this past Sat. He "called"bank....... then brought us in and had a "contract" where my wife and I signed,as did "finance manager" we were approved. This is a large well know Chevrolet dealership.

This happened Sat., we go back today to hand in tags and to get new tags, ND lo and behold instead of the $1K we put down,it's now a total of $3500 down to finance the car.

Just total BS!!!

I've been through enough. Have a good job, trying to get back on my feet and getting screwed like this. This was a signed contract! Do I have any recourse???

[df04527]

I would suspect not as there is probably small print that says it's contingent on this, that or the other. i would read carefully what was signed.

[footballfan]

Are you able to void the contract as the terms are no longer the same as what you originally signed?

[NoMoreCards]

Not to be crass, but never again sing ANYTHING without reading AND understanding. I hope you can get out of this. All the best.

[Flamingo]

Sounds like a contigent deal situation...you need to thoroughly read what you signed originally as the offer was contigent apparently upon them finding financing for you. Since the terms changed due to your BK/situation, you need to check the verbiage in the contracts to see if getting out is possible at this point. I would suggest having your attorney view the contracts. Best of luck to you...

[Guest123]

Unless it is a better deal for you I would tell them to suck it.

I had a dealership try that to me once and did just that. But unless the APR is lower or the term of the loan is shorter I would give them the keys and walk.

I have never seen anything on a contract say you HAVE to pay more if they can't finance you as the original contract stated.

[AngelinaCatHub]

By law, you have a "cooling off" period of retraction on any contract. Now if you let it go by but after that time limit, things change, so does the three day limit. I would contest this big time.

My story: As a young man I wished to "test drive" a T-Bird over night. I was sure to tell the sales person that I was not buying but they convinced me to sign all this paperwork "because it was over night for insurance reasons". I did not like the car at all. I had a gut feeling about all of it and the next morning I brought the T-Bird back. The dealership was just opening up for the day, and the sales person told me, "I'm sorry, you bought that car yesterday. I was pizzed with a real bad feeling. I carried my old car's spare key and a screw driver with. The maintenance man came by to open the fence where my "trade in" was, I had removed the tag from the T-Bird and once the man cleared the fence, I casually walked to my old car, unlocked and drove it off. I put my tag back on my car and that was the last I heard from them.

I would back out and threaten them with a suit if they give you BS. 'Hub

[df04527]

My humble understanding is there is only a 3 day cooling off period for mortgages. Not auto contracts. I did try this once several years ago.

[AngelinaCatHub]

My humble understanding is there is only a 3 day cooling off period for mortgages. Not auto contracts. I did try this once several years ago.

I believe you may be correct, but buying a car is also a mortgage. Screaming to the FTC about foul in the way this car dealer handled the situation may make them want to silence the dispute. A very good "Clark Howard" idea is mention you will walk up and down the sidewalk with a billboard expressing their poor sales habits. Be careful, advise the local police, walk only on the right of way, and state only the truth on the sign. Be careful of committing libel or slander. 'Hub

[faroff]

Thanks to everyone for their responses. For the record I did read everything,saw nothing stating contingent upon financing.
This was a signed contract. I spoke extensively to the salesman who stated "we are gonna get this right". Now I go in and
speak w/the finance mgr. again. The issue that was explained to me was my BK was still showing my credit report as still open.
I had an AP filed against me and in order to get that dropped my attorney (worthless as he is/was) "settled" to have us voluntary
drop our want for discharge in order to have the AP dropped. therefore the AP was dropped but of course we did not get a discharge.
So what they needed was something showing the AP dismissed and the BK was closed since we voluntarily stated we did not request
a discharge. We were able to provide that. Now it seems we can still finance the car back to the original terms.

However the finance mentioned something interesting. The banks were more concerned about if the BK were still open we could
put the new vehicle under the BK protection. So we had to prove it was closed. Then he said the banks "BK specialist" stated we could still
file again for the same debts???? I questioned him on that but he was adamant that what was said and we could. I was always under the
impression we could not file again the same debts?? But if we voluntarily agreed to drop the case is that still a possibility, if we ever were to
decide to do so. I frankly was sickened by the system I'd rather take my chances with any creditors popping up again.

[shellbell]

faroff. That just happened to me with my Chapter 13. I went in and it wasn't showing discharge on my discharge paper. Just CLOSED. This is because I had filed for a Chapter 7 in 2005 (before the change in the laws) and then filed a Chapter 13 (after the change). Therefore, I couldn't qualify for a Chapter 13 discharge at the end of my plan payments. It clearly states that on the paper that I happily gave to the Dealer. They claimed the car was mine. Lo and behold, It wasn't yet. The Finance manager had to scramble to find me financing. Luckily, my case showed in all 3 Credit Reports as discharged.

Capital One was the original finance company and they were adamant about my Discharge Paper showing Discharged (even though I had no debts to discharge. They were paid by me in full)

What is your case? A 13? A 7?

[jetsfan2010]

very interesting. I had a co worker go through a similar situation late last year, fresh out of his bk/divorce, he had to buy a new car. Had worked out a deal with a local ford dealer for a pre owned focus, with 500 down. He said he signed it, and 2 days later, they called and said he needed to put down 1500, as the company they approved him had requested that. Long story short, he ended up doing it, but was pissed.

[Guest123]

Yeah it is what happens when the finance person can't get you financed at the agreed rate. BUT you do not have to accept it, you can easily walk away.
The original contract is void if the numbers don't match.