I would have let my lawyer have a field day with this. Nothing pisses me off more than dealerships who are unethical in their business tactics to close a sale. First, I would never bring my business to that dealership again. Second, you have every right to get your full deposit back. I would have probably caused a scene @ the stealership the next day after that kind of response/treatment from the sales person.... and thats after being polite and apologizing for changing your mind. Know your rights...get your money back.

 

Right--but your lawyer will write a letter and make 2 phone calls and you've just spent that $500 he'll get back for you.

 

They are trying to f---- you for $500, IMAGINE what they'd try to do to you if you spent $35G's to buy the car?? What kind of shenanigans they'd try to slip by you in the paper work. I'd call the GM, tell him what's going on, tell him that this BS only proves you were right not to buy a car from these guys, and all the complaints and web postings you are going to file, naming names.

I bet you'll get your $$ back pretty quick.

 

You're right, but not if you lawyer is your highschool buddy.

Either way, im going to bet that he's gonna get his money back.

 

You're absolutely right, of course. I hate confrontations, but I guess I'm going to have to do it on this one.

 

I already tried the lawyer route (ie. neighbor's lawyer). That not only proved to be a dead end but actually quite damaging to my plight.

 

You told your neighbor and he told his lawyer. Somewhere in there the story probably got a little jumbled. You need to get your deposit back.

 

You'll get lots of advice here, but it is only worth what you paid for it ...... Zero. In the real world you actually made a verbal contract to buy that car, and put down a deposit. From your original post you said, "The "internet manager" offered me an 07' TL-S for $33,500. Too good of a deal to seemingly pass up, I decided to go for it and put down a $500 deposit through my credit card." At that point you bought yourself a car. Now you are trying to renege and walk away. The dealer could actually turn around and sue YOU for breaking the contract. They won't, of course, because it isn't worth the time and effort to pursue you and make you complete the sale. They are trying to hold the deposit to make you come around and complete the sale. You can't blame them, they work hard to sell cars, and once an agreement is made between purchaser and seller they just want to complete the sale and move on, that's why there is no 'buyers remorse or cooling off period' in car contracts. You'll get your money back because neither party wants to actually force the issue with legal action. But don't treat verbal agreements so lightly in the future. A contract is a contract, doesn't matter whether it is verbal or 20 pages long. That is one reason why I won't go into a dealer to 'just browse', it is too easy to get sucked in to a negotiation and before you know it you wind up with a new vehicle. That's how the car business operates, they entice you in, spin your head around and make you feel you really need and want that car, and bingo, you're explaining to your wife why you have a new car.

 

Once I read that I remembered that lady who couldn't afford the lease in the car chat forum because the dealer inflated her income to get her approved.

 

well--it's good practice when you are totally in the right

 

this could not be further from the truth. and even if it were the case, no court would enforce a "verbal" contract with an individual consumer for the purchase of a $35k item.

 

exactly. statute of frauds under the UCC states that all contracts for the sale of goods over $500 must be in writing.

Go get your money back. Unless you actually filled out a purchase contract or signed your name on any paper declaring you would purchase the car... you are straight.

 

Where are you getting your information from? What you are saying is not correct. Have you even bought a new car before? He didn't even sign a contract but that would not matter anyway. Dealerships pull the bait and switch all the time including my example in my previous post. They said they had the car I wanted on another lot or could get the car I wanted in a week for $500 over invoice. I gave the dealership a $2000 deposit and signed some paperwork. Then they called me and tried to sell me a color I didn't want for $250 under invoice after I told them I found another dealer that had the car I wanted for $100 over invoice and that I wanted my deposit back and got it with no hassles. My friend is a GM and said they cannot keep your money, period. The only thing going on here is a salesman trying to use a scare tactic to this guy.

 

pretty funny stuff here ...

my sales associate didn't want a deposit from me .. he said that the dealerships have no legal right to any deposit at all ...so its pointless to ask or take one..... he once had a guy give a $10,000 deposit and the next week changed his mind - lexus gave it right back to him.

 

The bottom line is the dealer will break your ***** for awhile and then give you a deposit back.