breach of auto lease

[Owen J. Arce]

I leased a Ford Ranger from a dealership in San Diego, CA; got sick and tired of the color & style and shopped for a Dodge Ram. The Dodge dealership would not accept the Ford as part of a trade-in because it was too "upside-down" so the salesman tells me I can lease the Dodge, do a "voluntary repo" on the Ford, and as long as I continue regular payments on the Dodge it won't screw up my credit if I decide to take the purchase option at the end of the lease. Now the bank, which sold the Ford at auction, is suing me for the remaining balance. Can I assume I'm screwed and there's no way out of this? I thought if a vehicle is repo'd for non-payment, that's it...why does one have to pay the remaining purchase price on a vehicle one no longer owns or is in possession of? Can I sue the Dodge salesman for misleading me, giving me the wrong information which has lead to ruining my credit?

 

[loku]

Car repo

Unfortunately the reposition of a car does not erase the excess of the amount owed over the sale price at auction, so it sounds like you have no defense on that suit. However, you very likely can sue the Dodge salesman and the Dodge dealership for any loss you suffer from this. What the salesman did is called fraud in the inducement of the contract. In such a case you are entitled to rescind the contract if you want and to get damages.