Car dealer backing out of a contract

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DrBenway

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My jurisdiction is: California

I entered into an agreement with a car dealership to purchase a new car. It's an extremely popular car (new Camaro), and there is a wait of several months to get them from the factory.

Several months ago, the dealer gave me a written, signed offer to sell the vehicle at MSRP. I accepted the offer, and put down a deposit of $1,000.

Now it is several months later. Dealers have discovered that if they have the car on the lot, they an sell it for several thousand dollars above MSRP.

My car just arrived, after months of waiting, and now the dealer says he will not honor our contract. He is demanding $3k above the MSRP we agreed upon, or will else he will cancel the contract (and likely sell the vehicle for $5k-10k above MSRP).

The dealer claims he can just back out of the deal, and all he has to do is give me my deposit back. Can this possibly be true?? Isn't this a straight-up breach of contract claim, with damages equal to Market Value - MSRP?

Moreover, if the dealer did not intend to honor the original offer when he made it, wouldn't that be fraud?
 
Enjoy your new Camaro. :) Unless the contract/agreement you made had some clause that allowed the escape the dealer is talking about, if you have an offer, an acceptance and "consideration" (the MSRP price) the deal is done. Moreso, you have a specific Camaro built for you - that Camaro is yours and he has your deposit. A "unilateral" mistake is not a defense to a contract, only mutual mistake - and I'm not even sure I'd call this a mistake. Unless the dealer can point to something certain, tell him that you want your Camaro or he'll never sell another car in the area... I'm jealous. :p Good luck and read over your agreement... enjoy!
 
Similair situation

Well I had a contract with my Dealer for a Camaro as well. The dealer was sold several months later, and the new owner does not want to honor the previous owners contract and he states that he only bought the assets of the company and not the companies name. In my case I did not put down a deposit but I have the ordering information with my name on it, and paperwork in their office with my name on it. And the new owner has a copy of my contract from the previous owner.

But as I have spoken to a few people, the assets he purchased also included the car that was on order from me and that would make the contract that I had a breach of contract and he should be held to it...

Any help qwould be appreciated... thanks!!
 
Ok, so I have a simalair problem. I got a written contract for MSPR with my dealership on the Camaro I preordered. It was signed by me and the salesman. Recently I went to the dealership and found out that someone had bought it. So when I asked if they were going to honor the previous owners contract, they stated that they bought only the assets and do not have to honor the previous owners contracts.

It is my understanding however that a vehicle is an asset and that they should have to honor the contract. Is this true?

Enjoy your new Camaro. :) Unless the contract/agreement you made had some clause that allowed the escape the dealer is talking about, if you have an offer, an acceptance and "consideration" (the MSRP price) the deal is done. Moreso, you have a specific Camaro built for you - that Camaro is yours and he has your deposit. A "unilateral" mistake is not a defense to a contract, only mutual mistake - and I'm not even sure I'd call this a mistake. Unless the dealer can point to something certain, tell him that you want your Camaro or he'll never sell another car in the area... I'm jealous. :p Good luck and read over your agreement... enjoy!
 
The vehicle is an asset; that's why they bought it and sold it to the new buyer. Whether they breached your contract in doing so depends on whether they were bound by the contract, and that is an open question.

You might want to verify with whatever business registry you have in your jurisdiction that they did indeed buy the assets only, not the business.

Even if they did buy the assets, you might still have recourse against the new dealer. When they bought the assets, they may also have bought your contract from the previous dealer. It is common for a purchaser in an asset transaction to get the former owner's contracts assigned to them; it saves them from having a bunch of unsold inventory.

If they did not, then you have no recourse against them, and your claim is against the old owner. He still owns the business, your contract is still with him. He's obliged to sell you a Camaro at the agreed price.
 
Utah:
I signed for a used car on saturday and found out it had some problems so it has been in the dealer shop for over a week. I am rethinking the purchase. They called and said I need to come in and sign for the new financing they got for me on it. Can I legally back out and not sign for the new financing?
 
You are not obligated to sign anything. If you fail to sign they may have the right to take the vehicle if they choose.
Have you already taken possession of it or has it been in their shop the whole time?
 
My state of jurisdiction is South Carolina. I just had a dealership agree to lease a brand new Camaro for $500 down and $461/month. We had several email back and forth and once he stated that this was a convertible, I emailed him that I accept the offer, please deliver the vehicle. Every email he and I exchanged were signed with our names. After that he emailed back that he needs a credit application. When I asked why, he stated the offer is only good with approved credit. No mention of credit of any kind was mentioned in any prior conversation. My question: did we have a contract? I was under the impression that he was making a bona-fide offer and I accepted his terms. Now he is changing the terms...
 
No, you didn't.
It sounds like you never made any payment, and besides the contracts typically allow for the dealer to cancel the contract within a specified period after the sale.
Your email agreements are useless.
Had you made payment, signed physical documents, and received the vehicle then MAYBE you would have a complaint.... but probably not.
Besides, credit checks are standard. I don't think any reasonable person would expect to get tens of thousands in financing without a credit check.
 
California:
Hey guys, my wife just leased a brand new 2013 VW GLI and she used my old 2004 Hyundai as a trade-in. She signed all the paper work and we have the lease-agreement, we'v had the car for about a week now but the thing is she does not work and she used my income for the finance. Now the dealership is telling me that I have to co-sign on it and they have to redo the paperwork and if I don't co-sign it they will terminate the contract. Can they do that? My wife already signed for it, the car is hers, how can they fill out all this paper work and give someone a car then later on decide that they need a co-signer.. Thanks any help will be appreciated.
 
California:
Hey guys, my wife just leased a brand new 2013 VW GLI and she used my old 2004 Hyundai as a trade-in. She signed all the paper work and we have the lease-agreement, we'v had the car for about a week now but the thing is she does not work and she used my income for the finance. Now the dealership is telling me that I have to co-sign on it and they have to redo the paperwork and if I don't co-sign it they will terminate the contract. Can they do that? My wife already signed for it, the car is hers, how can they fill out all this paper work and give someone a car then later on decide that they need a co-signer.. Thanks any help will be appreciated.

You can sign the contract, or they'll probably try to have your wife charged with fraud, and maybe car theft. Who knows, they might try to get you charged with fraud or conversion, too?


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How can she be charged with fraud? She told them she was not working plus my name is not on the contract and she never brought them proof of income it was basically word of mouth that was our house income. She already made a $1895 payment on it and the car is already under her name theres no way they can charge us with car theft and all information given is correct.
 
How can she be charged with fraud? She told them she was not working plus my name is not on the contract and she never brought them proof of income it was basically word of mouth that was our house income. She already made a $1895 payment on it and the car is already under her name theres no way they can charge us with car theft and all information given is correct.

You are entitled to your opinion.
I never said she WOULD be charged, rather that she MIGHT be charged.
But, if you knew all of this, why post a question?
No need to answer. I'm closing this thread.



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