shaocaholica
New Member
I'll try to make this brief. Some of you may find this 'trivial' but I'll do my best to explain why its not, at least from my perspective.
I purchased a new car on 2/6/2011(signed all the paperwork, put money down, got financing) but I did not take delivery of the vehicle because the specific I wanted was not on the lot and needed to be retrieved from a storage lot.
Now in CA, all cars need to have a front license plate. For the specific car I purchased, there are 2 options for installing the front plate: center and off center. Before I even talked about purchasing the vehicle I asked the salesman if it was possible to have my new car with the off center license plate. He said it was totally fine and showed me that all of the cars on his lot did not have the front license plate installed so the option was open to have any installation I wanted. The thing is, once the license plate is installed, there are permanent holes in a very expensive bumper and if you decide to use the alternate install location, the previous location will have 2 holes that will need to be plugged which is aesthetically unpleasing. Its also expensive to fix nicely.
During the negotiation, I asked again about the alternate install and he said it was no big deal and that many customers ask for it. He even offered to forgo the install altogether so I may choose the option at a later time on my own. After I finished the paperwork I reminded the salesman again. I also reminded the salesman yet again when I called with the date I would take delivery.
When that date came, the salesman notified me that 'they' had drilled and installed the front plate in the center location, not the side location which I had requested multiple times. He apologized and tried to get me to take the car anyway but I refused. He's now claiming that he's going to 'talk to his manager' about trying to get another car for me but I'm not sure if hes just burning my time.
So what I have going against me is that none of this is in writing mainly because other customers who request this get it and the proof is that all the cars on his lot are undrilled. So all I have is this verbal contract which I think I can the salesman to affirm but I'm not sure whats thats worth.
As far as I'm concerned, since I asked for the side install, the car they are trying to deliver to me has two holes in the front bumper in the wrong place and I would consider that damage.
So...what are my options? I know CA doesn't have a cooling off period for new car sales but do I have anything I could use considering the circumstances? Can I claim the car is 'damaged' and legally require them to produce an 'undamaged' car? Some other angle?
I'm just pissed off that I brought this issue so many times and they still messed it up all the while exuding confidence that this exact scenario would never happen.
I purchased a new car on 2/6/2011(signed all the paperwork, put money down, got financing) but I did not take delivery of the vehicle because the specific I wanted was not on the lot and needed to be retrieved from a storage lot.
Now in CA, all cars need to have a front license plate. For the specific car I purchased, there are 2 options for installing the front plate: center and off center. Before I even talked about purchasing the vehicle I asked the salesman if it was possible to have my new car with the off center license plate. He said it was totally fine and showed me that all of the cars on his lot did not have the front license plate installed so the option was open to have any installation I wanted. The thing is, once the license plate is installed, there are permanent holes in a very expensive bumper and if you decide to use the alternate install location, the previous location will have 2 holes that will need to be plugged which is aesthetically unpleasing. Its also expensive to fix nicely.
During the negotiation, I asked again about the alternate install and he said it was no big deal and that many customers ask for it. He even offered to forgo the install altogether so I may choose the option at a later time on my own. After I finished the paperwork I reminded the salesman again. I also reminded the salesman yet again when I called with the date I would take delivery.
When that date came, the salesman notified me that 'they' had drilled and installed the front plate in the center location, not the side location which I had requested multiple times. He apologized and tried to get me to take the car anyway but I refused. He's now claiming that he's going to 'talk to his manager' about trying to get another car for me but I'm not sure if hes just burning my time.
So what I have going against me is that none of this is in writing mainly because other customers who request this get it and the proof is that all the cars on his lot are undrilled. So all I have is this verbal contract which I think I can the salesman to affirm but I'm not sure whats thats worth.
As far as I'm concerned, since I asked for the side install, the car they are trying to deliver to me has two holes in the front bumper in the wrong place and I would consider that damage.
So...what are my options? I know CA doesn't have a cooling off period for new car sales but do I have anything I could use considering the circumstances? Can I claim the car is 'damaged' and legally require them to produce an 'undamaged' car? Some other angle?
I'm just pissed off that I brought this issue so many times and they still messed it up all the while exuding confidence that this exact scenario would never happen.
