I've got a dilemma with my dealer. I bought my Cooper last November. I planned to put down as much as I could afford for a down payment and finance the rest through Mini Financial. When I picked up the car, the dealer told me that I would also have to pay them for the sales tax (about $900) and that they would then take care of paying the tax and getting the license plates. So I wrote out a check for my down payment plus the sales tax amount.

A couple of days ago, the dealer called me. Through a "computer glitch," the dealership applied the entire amount of the check I wrote to my down payment (thereby reducing the amount that was financed back to the dealer through Mini Financial). The problem is that the dealer didn't discover this until after they had paid the sales tax on my car. Now they expect me to reimburse them for the amount of the tax. I don't have a problem with paying for the sales tax, but I want it added to the amount that I financed instead of having to pay it out of my pocket right now. The dealer said he didn't know if this could be done. My feeling is that they made the mistake, so they should fix it. Do you think I'm being unreasonable?

 

Tell him that since his computer screwed it up, his computer can fix it.

 

I agree with Bob. They can fix it. They're just trying to get you to cave first so that they don't have to. You might suggest that since they didn't use your money to pay the sales tax as you'd instructed, they can now pay it themselves from their money. That'll probably inspire them to figure out a way to include the 900 in your finance package.

 

Sounds like they're playing with you. The sales tax ploy is a bunch of BS. So, they've already sent the check for the sales tax to the state? I don't think so.

Don't forget about the dealer rating system!
_________________
2003 Red/White Cooper - Brookline, MA

 

You could always say you are going to stop payment..unless
it has gone through. Sounds like their screw up and they should
re-do the paper work... :evil:
I would think a call to the State Attorney generals office might be indicated.
I am sure some states do not allow dealers to deposit (deposit) checks,
months prior to delivery, unless it is in an interest bearing acct.

 

Why didn't they roll it all into the final cost from the beginning?
Is this a state specific thing?
My total cost was added up, I was asked what I would be putting down, that was subtracted from the total
and the rest, taxes included, was then financed.

Get the dealer to fix this.
As far as computer glitch, sounds more like human error blamed on technology to save their own ***.

Lobo

 

Word of warning:

Make sure when they add this fee to your "financing" that is added to the loan amount, not as a financed fee. Adding it as a financed fee will jack up your apr.

R

 

I bought the car from an out-of-state dealer. I had planned on paying the taxes on my own when I registered the car back home. But when I arrived at the dealer to pick up the car, they told me that I had to pay for the taxes there and they would forward the money to the DMV in my state. I was a little skeptical, but they said it had to be done that way in order to ensure that car would actually be registered.

I know the dealer did in fact pay the sales tax because I got my plates and registration last week.

The dealer's purchase agreement has everything listed as it's supposed to be. But somehow, on the finance agreement, the sales tax didn't get added into the deal and all the money I paid went towards the price of the car.

The thing that really annoys me is that the business manager at the dealership won't admit that he screwed up. In fact, he implied that I was to blame because I signed the finance agreement without noticing that it had the incorrect amount on it.

 

I'm confused...

Is it true that you have your car, and you have your plates/registration (which indeed indicates that the state tax was paid)? You also have a signed finance agreement for 900 less than what you thought it would be...since your dealer applied your tax payment to the downpayment thereby reducing the amount financed?

NOW, your dealer claims that you still owe them 900 to cover "their expense" of paying your taxes for you?

If I've got this chain of events right, the ball's entirely in the dealer's court to solve this thing. What's basically happened is that their finance manager made a $900 dollar error/typo, and he's trying to get you to fix this to cover his a$$. :evil:

 

Wait a minute. You have already paid for the sales tax. The dealership simply applied it to the downpayment. If you pay for the sales tax again, even if you spread it into your finance package, you will be giving them an extra $900.

You are done. You have a signed, sealed, and delivered car. Let the dealership worry about it. It is not your problem.

See ya,
JS

 

>>I'm confused...
>>
>>Is it true that you have your car, and you have your plates/registration (which indeed indicates that the state tax was paid)? You also have a signed finance agreement for 900 less than what you thought it would be...since your dealer applied your tax payment to the downpayment thereby reducing the amount financed?
>>
>>NOW, your dealer claims that you still owe them 900 to cover "their expense" of paying your taxes for you?
>>

Yes jsun, that's exactly what happened. I called Mini Financial this morning to verify and my loan is indeed for 900 dollars less than I had expected. I can't really afford to come up with another 900 dollars right now to cover the dealer's mistake. And more importantly, I don't think I should have to. I think the dealer should fix the problem. The finance guy is supposed to get back to me after he looks into it, but I don't know what I'm going to do if he says the loan can't be corrected.

 

... just to clarify my earlier post, the dealer is just trying to keep from having to refinance the car and eat the administrative fees associated with that in order to get their $900 out of the downpayment. Of course, if they choose to refinance the car, your monthly payment will increase slightly, but you would have to agree to that.

And since you have a signed contract and have taken possession of the car, I'm not sure where you stand legally. You may have just gotten yourself a little free financing. I think it would be best to ask a lawyer. Many times they will give you advice over the phone and will not charge until they are asked to get involved with letter writing, etc. It can't hurt to ask.

See ya,
JS

 

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I can't really afford to come up with another 900 dollars right now to cover the dealer's mistake. And more importantly, I don't think I should have to. I think the dealer should fix the problem. The finance guy is supposed to get back to me after he looks into it, but I don't know what I'm going to do if he says the loan can't be corrected.
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But that's my point exactly...you SHOULDN'T come up with anything to cover the DEALER'S mistake! Furthermore, they have nothing for leverage over you. You have the car, MINI has the paper. The dealer is simply holding the bag...which they should be since this was their mistake. The reason why this finance guy is all over you is that he knows that this "mistake" is only known by you. If he can't intimidate you into paying up, the money comes out of his pocket. As far as MINI financial is concerned, there's no issue. They made a loan for a specific amt (900 less than you thought), and who are they to question the amt.??

I agree, call a lawyer (you aren't related to one, are you?). It seems that the worse these folks will be able to do is to try to take you to small claims...and first, I'm not sure they'd want to do this...and second, even if they did, they may lose since the bottom line is that it was their mistake.

Doesn't this make sense?

 

>Wait a minute. You have already paid for the sales tax. The dealership simply >applied it to the downpayment. If you pay for the sales tax again, even if you >spread it into your finance package, you will be giving them an extra $900.

>You are done. You have a signed, sealed, and delivered car. Let the dealership >worry about it. It is not your problem.

What JS has said sounds exactly right to me. It is now the dealer's problem, and his responsibility to move the money around to the right place. I'd bet that if you are firm with them about this, they will back off. But again, JS is right. Give a lawyer a call if the the dealer continues to be such a pill.

Good luck with this pain-in-the-patootie situation!

Cheers,

Leslie

 

One more thing...Vincenzo, can you tell us which dealer this is? This finance guy sounds like someone others may want to avoid, or at least be aware of.

 

Tell the dealership you want the interest back on your $900.00 deposit - you lost the use of that money while waiting for your car. That's free money to them that they earned a return on. So they took $900.00 from you -made more money from your $900, made a mistake and want you to pay more again -hummm not the best thing in customer service.

I'd make a direct call to the GM and se what s/he knows about this.

 

>>One more thing...Vincenzo, can you tell us which dealer this is? This finance guy sounds like someone others may want to avoid, or at least be aware of.

I don't want to mention the dealer by name until I see how everything turns out. Other than this, they've been pretty good to deal with and I don't want to smear their name until they've had a chance to make good. I'll report back once I know more.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your viewpoint), I don't know any lawyers. Plus, I'm hoping that it won't come down to that.

 

OK, but we'll be pretty disappointed in you if you end up forking over another $900 bucks to this guy.

If you don't go for the big guns right away (the direct threat of lawyers), and don't decide to simply ignore them (which you have every legal and practical right to do), then at least take your issue directly to the General Manager (GM) of the dealer. Like I said, I think this problem will go away once it sees the light of day (i.e., isn't just between you and the finance guy). Good luck!