A friend is buying a car in California and the dealership is kind of giving him the shaft.... he has signed his title over to the dealership and was waiting for the new car to be delivered to him which could take 3 weeks... in the mean time another dealer has called him and offered him a better deal ... what can he do to get out of the first deal........

Has he signed all the contracts?

yep... signed contracts and title over to dealer

Congratulate him on his new purchase.

how do we know is this for sure..... is there no way out of the deal? he has not taken posession of the new car yet

yep... signed contracts and title over to dealer

that's all the answer you need, a signed contract is binding. has your friend asked the dealer to let him out of the contract? That's the only way without things getting nasty... Now I have to ask, don't they sell cars in FL? How is the trade in and delivery being delt with?

As for getting the shaft, it sounds like your friend just found a better deal elsewhere and wants to give the orig dealer the shaft... Maybe there is a part of the story being left out?

apparently he's already given his old car to the dealership.

I would have held onto my car until I saw my new one.

I thought I heard somewhere that even with a signed contract, there was a three day period where either party could cancel. Maybe just in Massachusetts? Or maybe I was just mis-informed?

Since this takes place in California, I believe that there is a cool off period for such transactions.
Since the car you are buying has not been delivered yet that may be a way out. I’m not sure, but I think taking possession of the new car would be necessary for the contract to be valid.
I don’t understand the signing over of your car part. Is this a trade in? What’s so special about this new car that you had to go all the way to California to buy it?
I need more details.

I think a big part of the deal being binding is when you physically take delivery of the vehicle you're buying. That's why they always want to get you to drive the car home. Anyway, if he hasn't taken delivery of the new vehicle, I don't understand why he would have handed over the old one to begin with. But that might be his way out.

The three day cooling off period is only applicable if the contracts were signed at your friends home as opposed to on the dealer's property. Otherwise, your friend pursued the deal as opposed to the dealer coming to him.

I was a manager both sales and finance in the car biz for over 5 years. Besides the fact that the dealer already has posession of his trade with a signed title. Therefore the dealer now owns the trade and probably has sold the trade, or could. He may be able to get out of the contract, if the dealer wanted to let him out, but the dealer would not necessarily have to give back the trade.

I agree with Dennis....the dealer didn't screw your buddy...your buddy made a deal, a deal he obviously felt comfortable with or he wouldn't have signed the contract let a lone turn over his trade and title. If anyone is screwing anyone , in my opinion, your friend is screwing the dealer in this case.
there will ALWAYS be a better deal somewhere.

Those are the laws in GA...CA may be different...but sounds to me, based on my experience, your friend has bought a car.

Sorry.

Just as I thought:
http://www.nolo.com/definition.cfm/Term/8E10B654-B219-45DC-88CE3008FEC4994/alpha/C/

Must be a door to door type sale. Your friend sought out this purchase...not the other way around.

FL has a cooling off period but it doesn't apply to motorvehicles, more of a financing home siding, major appliances and second mortgage thing.

Link didn't work...just search California Law Cooling Off Period.

It states that a three day cooling off period applies to door to door sales, and home mortgages in certain cases.

I KNOW for a fact that is how it works here in GA. I have had people try to back out on car deals here in Ga on me under this "law". The bottom line was always that they came in and signed the deal....that's why I would never let my salespeople take a contract to a customer's house unless we had prior business dealings with them. Especially if the buyer was an "aggressive shopper type".

Sorry the link didn't work.

Try this link:
www.bbbsilicon.org/topic043.html

This law and the "lemon Law" were two we dealt with regularly in the car business....both VERY misunderstood by most customers.

They were almost always wrong on these two.

As per the California DMV, there is no cooling off period: http://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr26.htm

ok here is the missing info.... buddy lives in LA and signed over the title to the dealer... but the dealer let him keep the car until he could take possetion of his new car.. he is buying a 2006 civic and trading in a 05 .. the difference between the purchase and the trade is about 5000 but the dealer told him that they would not finance 5000 and that he would have to finace 8000 so they tacked on a bunch of extra fees like gap and then gave him back about 1000 cash.... long story shot my buddy owes nothing on the 05 and wanted an 06 with a low payment and only wanted to finance the diffenece.. I think the dealer fed him a line of crap and made him pay for more then what he wanted... Dealer B contacts him as offers to give him what he wanted in the first place and has the car on the lot.. Dealer A says it will take 17 days to get the car..... moral of the story he wants out ...

ok here is the missing info.... buddy lives in LA and signed over the title to the dealer... but the dealer let him keep the car until he could take possetion of his new car.. he is buying a 2006 civic and trading in a 05 .. the difference between the purchase and the trade is about 5000 but the dealer told him that they would not finance 5000 and that he would have to finace 8000 so they tacked on a bunch of extra fees like gap and then gave him back about 1000 cash.... long story shot my buddy owes nothing on the 05 and wanted an 06 with a low payment and only wanted to finance the diffenece.. I think the dealer fed him a line of crap and made him pay for more then what he wanted... Dealer B contacts him as offers to give him what he wanted in the first place and has the car on the lot.. Dealer A says it will take 17 days to get the car..... moral of the story he wants out ...The dealer still legally owns his trade. As for the financed amount, that is correct, most banks (teir 1 types) will not finance less than 7K +/-, so that makes sense. As for "tacking on fees"....the buyer did not, nor does not have to accept those fees, sounds like your buddy did. Gap insurance is not a bad thing by the way.....(in fact banks REQUIRE it on all leases and some loans and I have put it on my cars where I have "overborrowed" in the past, but seldom do it now that I can afford a good downpayment)......which it sounds like your friend has. If he owes nothing....there would be no need for Gap Insurance because Gap insurance is there to cover the difference between what is owed and what the car is worth....thereby covering that gap if negative equity were rolled into a loan for example.

Sounds confusing, but still sounds to me like your buddy has a legal contract with the original dealer. It would seenm that if he owes nothing on an 05 and is trading it on an 06 the positive equity would negate the need for Gap. They can roll extra money into the loan to get it to the bank approval level then cut him back the check for the difference, which it sounds like they did.

Honestly, and please don't get mad at me for saying this, but like I said earlier....if anyone is "screwing" anyone here...it is your buddy trying to renig on a deal he agreed to in writing for no other reason than a better deal came along after the fact. Doesn't work that way or everyone in the stock market would always win.

If I were the dealer...i'd hold your friends feet to the fire and there is NO WAY I'd let him out of that deal. The buyer ALWAYS has the right to turn down a deal offered to him by the dealer...your buddy accepted what he obviously felt was a good deal at that point in time....and signed paperwork agreeing to that fact. Just because something better came along does not legally give him the right to unwind the clock.

Sunds to me, absed on my experience and the info you have provided, that the dealer actually has done some nice things for your friend here.
They are:

1.) Figured out a way to get a loan for your friend and got him money back from it to get it worked out so your friend would not have to come out of pocket for the 5K difference. Sure they will make a little on the finance rate, but even if it is a whole point....which I doubt it is on a Honda, what is one point on 5K...not really worth the trouble of doing the paperwork to be honest. Your buddy shoulda found the 5K on his own ie Home equity loan etc. Woulda been easier on him and the dealer.

2.) Put him in the trade they hold title to do, which is ABSOLUTELY FOOLISH! What if he wrecks that car and totals it, they are screwed because they have no car and your friend has no liability other than his ins covering it. The SHOULD have "dehorsed" him out of that trade and given him a loaner to drive instead...foolish move on their part, but still a nice gesture. The dealer went out on a limb on this one in my opinion....I wouldn't have done that.

3.) I am sure they would LOVE to have the car there to deliver and I am sure they are busting their butts to get it there for him so they can count it in their monthly numbers.

Obviously, your friend felt he had a good deal or he wouldn't have signed the deal.....really at 5K...how much better was the other deal couldn't have been too signifigant, would had to have been within a grand +/-. Stil money, but once deal is done it's done. That's like selling stock on the way down and being mad because they won't GIVE it back to you because it went up the next day.

Sounds like your friend may just have learned a valuabl;e lesson in buying and contracts....which in the long run will be worth whatever the difference in the two deals was.

Come on ....the dealer was nice? you gotta be kidding! They took advantage of an obvious rooky car buyer. They let him drive "thier" car because they wanted to get the title signed so he could not back out.

Your friend got creamed on the deal..but it is a deal. I hope he learns something.

Come on ....the dealer was nice? you gotta be kidding! They took advantage of an obvious rooky car buyer. They let him drive "thier" car because they wanted to get the title signed so he could not back out.

Your friend got creamed on the deal..but it is a deal. I hope he learns something.

I completely disagree. They were under no obligation whatsoever to allow the buyer to drive the car that had already been traded, in fact they were VERY foolish to do so. Your assuming the guy was a "rookie" car buyer, so that is nothing but conjecture. For the record...not ALL car dealers are crooks, though you seem to be of the opposite opinion based on your comments. Fact of the matter in this case based on the information provided is that they buyer in this case is far less reputable and honest than the dealer.

If the dealer had backed out on this deal you'd be calling him a crook anyway.
If another buyer had walked in and offered more money on this particular car the dealer would be bound by contract to not accept the offer since he had a contractual agreement to sell the car to the original buyer. This guy bought the car, signed the paperwork...and now has a better deal and wants out after legally agreeing to the purchase.

I was a VERY honest salesman, sales manager and Finance manager. I know the car business is full of crooks....but in this case the dealer is 100% in the right as far as I can tell.


Once the title was signed...they don't have to let the buyer drive the trade...the smart business move would have been to put him in a loaner car so as not to expose themselves to the possibility of him totalling their asset.

Whatever....I just think it is unfair to assume that the dealer ripped him off, to assume this guy is a rookie and to not call this guy on trying to back out on a legally binding contract.

for the reccord my friend is samew age as me 28 and has not dealt in too may new/used car deals.... but I agree that the dealer was foolish in letting him keep the car.... I asked the same question fo him "what if u total it" he said that they told him if there was an accident it was no problem cause the insurence would pay and if there was a total they can just use the money from that.... also he called 4 other dealerships and everyone is telling him that he can back out if he likes.... including the origional dealer that he is buying the car from ....(they told him before he signed if he wanted out it was no problem) I just wanted to know for sure what was his legeal stand point.... a bargining chip sort of speak..... no word yet as to what will come of this....

I thought I heard somewhere that even with a signed contract, there was a three day period where either party could cancel. Maybe just in Massachusetts? Or maybe I was just mis-informed?


I think that is true in Ca. too? At least I have heard about it. But he signed his car over and I assume he special ordered a new car. He is probably just going to have to wait for his new car now. There is always a better deal just around the corner!

I have a friend of mine on tuesday sign a deal on a new truck. They took his truck in trade, but because the truck is coming from a location 12 hrs away they are letting him drive his trade-in until it arrives. The dealer install dealer tags on the trade-in to cover the truck until his arrives. If the truck arrives and for whatever reason it's not what he expected they agreed to cancel the deal. The reason for doing the signing before arrival was to be able to recieve the rebates which ended the same day. My friend is 38 yrs. old and this is his first new truck. moral of story: You can be a rookie at any age, never rush into the unknown, and ask a friend for advice (preferably before you screw up it makes it easier on us) thats what we're here for.
AIN'T THAT RIGHT FRIENDS.

I think that is true in Ca. too? At least I have heard about it. But he signed his car over and I assume he special ordered a new car. He is probably just going to have to wait for his new car now. There is always a better deal just around the corner!

There have been other posts in this thread providing links that show there is no cooling off in CA...

[QUOTE=also he called 4 other dealerships and everyone is telling him that he can back out if he likes.... including the origional dealer that he is buying the car from ....(they told him before he signed if he wanted out it was no problem)

[/QUOTE]
If you , and he, knew the original dealer gave him the option to back out before he signed the papers...then why are you even asking these questions? Furthermore if you knew the orig dealer could let him back out why would you even imply, let alone come out and say, the original dealer is giving him the shaft?

AGAGIN...based on the info, it sounds like the dealer is the good guy here, I fail to see where they did anything wrong.

As for the rookie car buyer thing.....I don't agree with it...educate yourself before you go buy a car, there is MORE than enough info out there as to how to buy one and to be quite honest most of the guys I met in the car biz weren't al that bright, and most of them are rookie salespeople. A lot of turnover and no educational requirements to sell most cars.

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It doesn't sound like the selling dealer did anything wrong and is being very accommodating. The other dealer is going to say anything he can to get your buddy to switch over to him and I wouldn't be surprised if something out of the ordinary happened once he switched over. If i were your buddy I would just wait for the new car to come in.