Pwyll

Anyone have any resistance / refusal from dealer refunding a holding deposit on a cancellation?

Thanks

kensteele

Sure the dealership will try. First you need to look at the deposit contract you signed. Second, you need to look to the laws of your state. It would seem to me that even if a dealership brought in a special order car, if they can sell it, you deserve your deposit back. It would only be if they had to do custom work to that car per your written request that would make the despoit non-refundable. So that's my non-legal opinion.

fwiw, if you order a car and the car arrives and you don't like what you see, I don't see how the dealership should take your deposit on a perfectly good car that they can still sell for value.

al503

yup. the provisions of the deposit agreement would control. If it says it's non-refundable, then you're out of luck.

Not really. If the dealership can show that it could have sold your car and sold an additional car to the person who ended up buying your car, they are entitled to the profit they would have made on you.

sdub74

I had an interesting experience. Working with one dealer, had a deposit in place on a deal for when I was ready to buy (had to move the old car first). The whole time they were doing the whole butt kissing thing (just let us know when you're ready to buy and we'll take care of you, yadda yadda). When I finally sold my car, I called them and told them I was ready to buy that night, but they didn't have the color I wanted in stock, and seemed reluctant to put in the work to find one. I called around to the local dealerships (this is in the greater LA area, so there are at least 5-6 within a 30 mile radius) and found what I was looking for at another dealer who matched the deal, so I went and picked it up that same night. When I went to get a refund on the deposit, their attitude towards me was a complete 180...the sales manager just dropped my receipt on the desk and turned his back to me. Another guy asked if I was going to bring my IS there for service....yeah right, not after the way I was treated by your sales manager! What did he expect me to do? Wait around for a week without a car until he got one in? I don't think so buddy.

IS3FIDDY

sdub74, are you in SoCal? Can you reveal which dealership this was? If you are in SoCal, I have a strong feeling on which one it was based on my own personal experience, but I don't want to make any assumptions here...

Tony1

If deposits can be refunded for any reason (on the buyers end) then what's
the point of leaving one? Nowadays dealerships usually refund deposits
just for the sake of the person not "bad mouthing" the dealership...
The whole point of leaving a deposit is so the dealer turns down all
other inquiring potential buyers.. Now If 2 other ppl were interested in that
car, and he turned them away. and now after you changed your mind, the dealer
did incur a loss, as far as I'm concerned. (I'm not a car dealer, BTW.)

kensteele

Really? I thought the deposit to just to show that you were interested.

Joe Z

iTrader: (10)

When I bought my IS300 six years ago....

I signed my order form & left a $500 -> 100% fully refundable deposit..

That was the terms on my contract.

What were the terms on your deposit slip?

What SoCal Deaership is this?? It never hurts to mention their name too...


Jz

Tony1

It shows your interested as well, but that's not the main reason ppl leave deposits.
especially when it's regarding hot selling cars that are already on the lot and used cars...
You leave a deposit on any item you buy for the main reason of the seller "holding it" for you..
That being said, as Joez stated, you can always 100% refundable deposit for any reason" written on the contract, as I always do, and you'll have no problems

kensteele

i think we all put down deposits on our lexus cars but that's more of a function of the type of buyers we are. Who couldn't put down a $500 fully-refundable credit card deposit, it's a no brainer. we probably leave two or three deposits all over town, but I can't see the dealers seriously holding a car for you under those circumstances. But to your point, the class of vehicle we are into probably doesn't lend to dealers selling the car out from under us either (altho i do recall reading about some expections).

Tony1

It actually happened to me in 2001, they sold a Bmw that i waited almost 2 months for,, Of course
they lied and said "there was a mistake made, and it was never ordered".. I never took
any legal action, as I'm not the type to sue anyone..(that dealership went out of business 1 year later) I actually edited my last post, because
I realized you might of took offense to it, but you read it before I could post the edited version, sorry

15951

When I put down the deposit on my special ordered IS350, I asked the dealer what the consequences were if I changed my mind. I was told, simply, that they are not allowed to steal my money, so I would receive a refund.

sdub74

This was at a dealership in the San Fernando Valley with a catchy advertising jingle....I'll leave it at that

Are you thinking about the same place?

Bichon

If I were to put down a deposit to hold a car that was inbound from the port or on the lot, I'd expect the dealer to give me right-of-first-refusal if another customer wanted to buy it.

If I wasn't given that courtesy, I'd get my deposit back and take my business elsewhere.

IS3FIDDY

Hmmm...that sucks...there is more than one bad dealer in Southern Cal...

My dealer was in OC, and I would never, ever buy from them again. My customer experience was too painful and compounded to get in to, however, I made sure I came away the victor...and I did...an IS350 with all the options and colors I wanted! I'm just glad they didn't key my vehicle before handing it over...j/k