Car Lease Contract Dispute

[vbx]

California.

Hi,

I believe that I am a victim of a bait and switch. Now, I fully understand that it is my fault for not reviewing the contract before I signed it. But, I spent 3 hours at the dearlship, it was Friday night and I wanted to leave ASAP.

Long story short, we agreed on a 24 month lease for a car for $43,500. The sales guy went over all the numbers and it came down to $450 a month.

After signing the contract I went home and took a look at the contract. The numbers have changed!

Instead of $43,500, I am being charged FULL MSRP for the car. Also, my monthly payments increased by over $100 a month.

The only proof I have of the numbers is the sales guy business card where he wrote down $43k and his cell phone number where I spoke with him 2 weeks before.

Is there any way I can get them to either re-write the contract per the original agreement or for them to take the car back?

Thanks

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Bait and switch is when one item that you would find attractive to buy is not there and when you go there, they "up sell" you to what they really have. What you have is negligence on your part for signing a contract without reading the terms.

 

[vbx]

Bait and switch is when one item that you would find attractive to buy is not there and when you go there, they "up sell" you to what they really have. What you have is negligence on your part for signing a contract without reading the terms.

Here is what I found from another site.

Number 1: Bait and Switch – False statements about the price of the car.

You walk into a dealership and a salesman gives you a price quote. But when you are preparing to finish the deal, the price on the contract is not the same price that you were quoted. You may also notice that your contract contains other fees that increase the Total Cash Price of your vehicle. Click on this link see what you should watch out for: Sample contract - English: (Front | Back). Sample Contract - Spanish: (Front | Back)

What you should do:

Make sure that the Total Cash Price on the written contract matches the price that you were told. If the prices are different, you may be the victim of fraud.
If the dealership refuses to honor the representations made to you by the salesperson, refuse to sign the contract and walk away from the dealership.

 

[quincy]

Here is what I found from another site.

Number 1: Bait and Switch – False statements about the price of the car.

You walk into a dealership and a salesman gives you a price quote. But when you are preparing to finish the deal, the price on the contract is not the same price that you were quoted. You may also notice that your contract contains other fees that increase the Total Cash Price of your vehicle. Click on this link see what you should watch out for: Sample contract - English: (Front | Back). Sample Contract - Spanish: (Front | Back)

What you should do:

Make sure that the Total Cash Price on the written contract matches the price that you were told. If the prices are different, you may be the victim of fraud.
If the dealership refuses to honor the representations made to you by the salesperson, refuse to sign the contract and walk away from the dealership.

I am not sure what site you found your "bait and switch" information from, but it is wrong.

Bait and switch, as defined by Black's Law Dictionary: A deceptive sales practice. Such tactic usually involves advertising a low-priced product to lure customers into the store, then inducing them to buy higher-priced models by failing to stock sufficient quantities of the lower-priced item to satisfy demand, or by disparaging the less-expensive product. Such practices are prohibited by statute in most states. See Model Penal Code §224.7(5). Tashof v F.T.C., 437 F.2d 707, 709.

You are expected to read any contract you sign before signing it - and if there are terms or conditions you either don't understand or don't agree to, you don't sign the contract.

You can always go back to the dealership and see if you can negotiate better terms than you agreed to by signing the contract. You could always say you cannot afford the vehicle and you can always say you misunderstood the terms and you can always admit you didn't read what you were signing. It might work.

 

[vbx]

Cannot post links. But if you google "Common Auto Dealer Scams" the site will pull up.

 

[sandyclaus]

Here is what I found from another site.

Number 1: Bait and Switch – False statements about the price of the car.

You walk into a dealership and a salesman gives you a price quote. But when you are preparing to finish the deal, the price on the contract is not the same price that you were quoted. You may also notice that your contract contains other fees that increase the Total Cash Price of your vehicle. Click on this link see what you should watch out for: Sample contract - English: (Front | Back). Sample Contract - Spanish: (Front | Back)

What you should do:

Make sure that the Total Cash Price on the written contract matches the price that you were told. If the prices are different, you may be the victim of fraud.
If the dealership refuses to honor the representations made to you by the salesperson, refuse to sign the contract and walk away from the dealership.

The above reference assumes that you have actually READ the contract and caught the salesperson/dealership swapping out prices and writing in different figures and totals than what was discussed. Note that the second sentence suggests that you REFUSE TO SIGN THE CONTRACT if this happens, and insist that the dealership rewrite the contract to match what was discussed. In your case, not only DIDN'T you read the contract before signing, you didn't catch the alleged misrepresentation (bait and switch) until later that night at home - AFTER you signed the contract and drove home in your new car.

Of course you were tired, and wanted to get out of there because it was getting late and you wanted to go home. Many car salespersons count on that and use it to their advantage. If you weren't in such a hurry, you would have taken the time to look over the figures and ensure that they matched what you say you discussed - and you wouldn't have signed a contract that wasn't in agreement with what you claim to have discussed.

Your supposed recollection of having discussed a lower price isn't proof that they switched out prices on the contract. On the other hand, the dealership can prove that you agreed to the price on contract, as signified by your signature on that contract and the statement you'll likely see that says you have read and understand the terms of the contract before signing it.

Legally speaking, I'm pretty sure that you're quite out of luck on this one.

 

[OHRoadwarrior]

Who ever wrote that article was trying to generalize on a complicated negotiation in a poor manner. The fact is the price and terms of a car can change several times during the negotiation/finance phase in order to create a package that is agreeable to the buyer, seller and loan company.

 

[vbx]

Your supposed recollection of having discussed a lower price isn't proof that they switched out prices on the contract. On the other hand, the dealership can prove that you agreed to the price on contract, as signified by your signature on that contract and the statement you'll likely see that says you have read and understand the terms of the contract before signing it.

Legally speaking, I'm pretty sure that you're quite out of luck on this one.

Yes, we clearly shook hands at 43,500 with a momth payments ofm $450.

Who spends 3 hours to negotiate msrp pricing?

Again my first visit, he wrote thst exact price on his business card along with his cell number.

When I went back, the sales guy was still claiming i got the car for 43500 lol.

However, the finance guy clearly saw saw the numbers. What the finance manager did was some trickery. Basically applying some 3k coupons to the money do at signing. Which has nothing to do with what the monthly payments was based on.

I was suppose to get a call back a week ago from finance but never heard from him again.

 

[swalsh411]

What you're not getting is that you signed this sales contract. You agreed to the terms in the contract.

How much were you putting down or did you have in trade? 450 / month on a 43,500 car even at 0 interest is a 96 month term.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

California.

Hi,

I believe that I am a victim of a bait and switch. Now, I fully understand that it is my fault for not reviewing the contract before I signed it. But, I spent 3 hours at the dearlship, it was Friday night and I wanted to leave ASAP.

Long story short, we agreed on a 24 month lease for a car for $43,500. The sales guy went over all the numbers and it came down to $450 a month.

After signing the contract I went home and took a look at the contract. The numbers have changed!

Instead of $43,500, I am being charged FULL MSRP for the car. Also, my monthly payments increased by over $100 a month.

The only proof I have of the numbers is the sales guy business card where he wrote down $43k and his cell phone number where I spoke with him 2 weeks before.

Is there any way I can get them to either re-write the contract per the original agreement or for them to take the car back?

Thanks

The short answer is no. (The long answer is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

Your verbal agreement is not enforceable, since it is for either (a) a tangible item priced over $500 or (b) a contract that cannot be performed within a year. The Statute of Frauds makes many verbal agreements unenforceable, where (a) and (b) are the two most likely to appear.

The business card you have is not an enforceable contract, since there is nothing but a number written on it. It does not specify if the number represents a purchase, or some other number associated with the lease.

You mentioned that nobody negotiates for three hours to arrive at MSRP, and want to use the figure written on the card. The argument against that is why would anyone negotiate for three hours AFTER they have already agreed on the price?

The last point is the parol evidence rule. You cannot introduce evidence that contradicts the written agreement, and claim that the contradicting evidence is part of the agreement.

The best argument that I can see is fraud in the inducement, but that's a very weak argument, and it doesn't look like you meet the requirements. Fraud in the inducement requires that they intentionally mislead you into signing the agreement that you had a reasonable belief had different terms. Not reading the contract would not constitute a reasonable belief. If they had two contracts, let you read one, and tricked you into signing the other would constitute fraud in the inducement.

 

[swalsh411]

The short answer is no. (The long answer is noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo)

All that was very informative thank you.