Tips on Buying Cars: Contracts, confessions of a former car salesman, lemon law buyback

Question
Hi Ron,
About 2 months ago I trade my car in to dealership,to lease a new car for my sister.
My car is a lemon law buyback. I informed the salesperson of that, and also inform him that we cannot purchase a new car if they don't take the trade. They finally agree to accept the trade. Now two months later they sent me a letter stating that my vehicle is a lemon law buyback and that changes the value of the car.
They also sent me a copy of a form that I signed stating that the car is not salvage, it's not a lemon law buy back, the odometer was not altered, and so on.
I feel that they screwed me because they want to make a sell at that time, so they accepted the trade, but now they are saying I didn't tell them it was a lemon. I did tell them, it's also on my registration.
Please help, what can I do?  

Answer
Hi Sam,

Thanks for your question. I’m sorry to hear about your problem, but it’s not a surprise. Let’s take a look at this.

Car dealers are all about the sale, so you’re right in that they wanted to close the deal with you right then and there. As I state in my book, $ave Thousand$ Buying Your Next Car: Confessions of a Former Car Salesman (www.Make-Me-Smarter.com), if a potential buyer leaves the lot, chances are that they will never return. Knowing this, dealer’s would rather do the deal, and then work out any problems after they have your signature on the dotted line later, if needed.

Based on what you’ve told me, it appears that you’d given clear and complete disclosure to them, regardless of the paper you signed to the contrary. And since the Lemmon Law notation is clearly on the registration (as you state), which is a legal state document, I believe they bear the legal responsibility to check that prior to accepting your vehicle on trade and completing the sale, regardless of any statements on your part.

They could be doing a couple of things here, one of which is just trying to make more money on the deal after the fact by pressuring you as they are. The other is to try and prove the deal was based on false pretenses and fraud on your part. Again, they bear the responsibility to verify and validate all legal documentation before closing the deal, so if they are accusing you of fraud, they should have known, and done so, at or shortly after you made the purchase. Know they think of it—two months later! Of course I can’t say for sure, but having had a first-hand chance to see how dealers work, my guess is that they just trying to get more money out of you.

Here are a couple of recommendations to consider:

First of all, document everything that happened as you remember it, write it down longhand if you have to; who you talked with, specific names, times, what you recall you told them, what they said, etc. Basically, everything you can think of when you did the deal.

Second, you might want to have a brief conversation with an attorney about this, either a private firm, or county (city) legal aide. I can’t give you legal advice on what to do; they can. It’s possible that you can just ignore the dealer’s letter, but a little legal advice can go a long way towards making sure this situation doesn’t escalate any more than it has.

Finally, I’d like to tell you how to avoid problems with car dealers in the future, but I can’t. Don’t get me wrong, and again as I state in my book, there are some good dealers who will do what it takes to do a good, clean deal with you. But generally, when it comes to selling cars, profit is the only bottom line they care about. This is the biggest single reason I wrote my first book: I saw the way people were being treated, and the sometimes tens of thousands of extra dollars to pay for something they didn’t have to pay for. Four weeks ago, using the same Six-Step Approach™ that I developed in my book, a person I know saved, by her admission, about $5,000 on a 2003 Honda Civic. That means that, if she hadn’t used my techniques and just walked in off the street as I used to do, she would have $5,000 less in her pocket, and gotten nothing more for it. I don’t know about you, but to her, and me, this is a good chunk of money that I would rather not throw away.

I hope this help, Sam; please let me know now this works out for you.

Regards,


Ron