advertised prices

I had been discussing the purchase of a pre-owned auto with a local (north Carolina) dealership. I was to return on Saturday with my wife to possibly purchase a vehicle. On Friday evening I visited the web site for the dealership and discovered that they had over 26 listings for pre-owned vehicles and the first 20 had no price listed just a note to Contact Us. The last six had all been priced at $19,616. I assumed that there was some special reason for these prices such as a sale or some high mileage, etc.. I called the dealership and explained that I wanted one of the cars and would be in on Saturday to me with my salesman. I was informed that they did not have any such prices and had to lead the internet manager to the site to prove the pricing was there. When I arrived at the dealership they refused to talk about a vehicle at that price. The auto's in question range from a 2000 Lexus with 800+ miles to a 1996 Lexus with 50K miles. The Sales Manager said the ad was a mistake and he was not going to loose money on a Lexus. They refused to make any consideration at all. Do I have a case. If there had been one digit wrong then I would understand that someone made a typo. But in this case 6 cars were priced totally wrong according to the dealership. Am I wrong to hold them to a price that is advertised for the general public. I ran a copy of the ad because within 10 minutes they had removed the pricing.

[This message has been edited by mgknc (edited March 21, 2000).]

[This message has been edited by mgknc (edited March 21, 2000).]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by mgknc:
I had been discussing the purchase of a pre-owned auto with a local dealership. I was to return on Saturday with my wife to possibly purchase a vehicle. On Friday evening I visited the web site for the dealership and discovered that they had over 26 listings for pre-owned vehicles and the first 20 had no price listed just a note to Contact Us. The last six had all been priced at $19,616. I assumed that there was some special reason for these prices such as a sale or some high mileage, etc.. I called the dealership and explained that I wanted one of the cars and would be in on Saturday to me with my salesman. I was informed that they did not have any such prices and had to lead the internet manager to the site to prove the pricing was there. When I arrived at the dealership they refused to talk about a vehicle at that price. The auto's in question range from a 2000 Lexus with 800+ miles to a 1996 Lexus with 50K miles. The Sales Manager said the ad was a mistake and he was not going to loose money on a Lexus. They refused to make any consideration at all. Do I have a case. If there had been one digit wrong then I would understand that someone made a typo. But in this case 6 cars were priced totally wrong according to the dealership. Am I wrong to hold them to a price that is advertised for the general public. I ran a copy of the ad because within 10 minutes they had removed the pricing. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>


My response:

Please look at the top, left, corner of this page. It says, "State Laws vary greatly. Include your state in all postings."
A lot of you have "State specific" questions, yet you good folks are not reading, and FAIL to tell us your State. There are 50 States in the Union, all with differing laws. We cannot help you with anything but "general" concepts of law if we don't know your State, and "general concepts" may HURT YOU.

NOTICE:
Therefore, this writer will, from now on, IGNORE all questions and entries unless they include your State.

IAAL

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try www.clarkhoward.com, he's a consumer advocate that has dealyt with this type of advertise versus actual price problem before.
You might also consider contacting a state agency to file a complaint. the howard site might tell you which agency is applicable