right or wrong

What is the name of your state?What is the name of your state?CA
We had a car for sale and a former friend put 500.00 down on the car and then lost his job. We offered to pay him back but he said he still wanted the car. After months of going back and forth with he does and he doesn't want the car. He now says we owe him his 500.00. I told him that since we have been holding the car for him for many months and all he paid was the first 500.00 that he would now have to wait until we sold the car. At first he said yes, but now he says no and he will take us to court. We are still tring to sell the car. What can I do?

Figure out how many days he had possession of the vehicle, determine a fair rental rate for similar vehicles in your area, then send the person a bill for the car rental. A local used car dealer rents cars off his lot starting at only $9.95 a day. Even at that low rate it would take less than 2 months to run up a $500 bill.

racer72 said:

Figure out how many days he had possession of the vehicle, determine a fair rental rate for similar vehicles in your area, then send the person a bill for the car rental. A local used car dealer rents cars off his lot starting at only $9.95 a day. Even at that low rate it would take less than 2 months to run up a $500 bill.

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"we have been holding the car for him for many months"

so basically what you're saying is that you spent his deposit before completing the transaction? i'm sorry, but that's really your fault, and you owe him the money immediately.

So, even though he changed his mind about the car MANY times and in since then we have had work done on the car to make it better for him. Which was not part of the deal. You think we still owe him the deposit. If you buy a car from a dealer and only put a down payment on the car. They hold the car and if you change your mind and don't want the car you don't get your deposit back. Do You???

puppys said:

So, even though he changed his mind about the car MANY times and in since then we have had work done on the car to make it better for him. Which was not part of the deal. You think we still owe him the deposit. If you buy a car from a dealer and only put a down payment on the car. They hold the car and if you change your mind and don't want the car you don't get your deposit back. Do You???

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it really doesn't matter how many times he changed his mind. if the work you did was not part of the deal, then you are entitled to no compensation for it. also, if he didn't sign anything saying that his deposit was non-refundable, then he gets it back. actually, if memory serves me correctly, even if he did sign something like that, he can still get his deposit back. i don't think legally in CA such a document is binding, except for a few special circumstances that don't apply in this case. one example: a customer orders a specific car with options that make it difficult to sell. deposits in those cases can be non-refundable. but i'm not sure if that applies only to car dealers or private sales too. the only way you MAY get to keep the deposit is if there's a time limit on the time period that he is able to ask for a refund, but i'm not aware of one. sorry, but it sounds like he strung you along and he's screwing you. you can always keep the money and wait for him to take you to court. one key point would be if you are able to demonstrate that you let other potential sales go because of his deposit, and now can't sell the vehicle. or, that the value of the vehicle has depreciated from sitting around. you could possibly collect the difference. but i doubt you'd get far with either of these points. with major pieces of property like this, the rules for selling them are usually somewhat stringent.

you haven't "bought" the car from a dealer until you physically take delivery of the car and pay for the entire thing (or arrange financing and have it dispersed to the dealer). your deposit is fully refundable up until that point. the rules vary state by state, but not by much. most people don't realize this!

**Teflon Jones, you do realize that the rules at the top referring to lower case letters was not intended to keep people from using capital letters at the beginning of their sentences.

Happy Trails said:

**Teflon Jones, you do realize that the rules at the top referring to lower case letters was not intended to keep people from using capital letters at the beginning of there sentences.

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Sorry about that! I have a habit of using all lowercase letters when I type a lot!