Complaint Review: Cal Worthington Ford

And why didn't your son do research like calling insurance companies to find out how much it would cost to insure?

I see no fault on the dealerships part; they followed through on their end, and your son and grandmother agreed to the contract they signed.

THIS is buyer's remorse, plain and simple.
Not doing your due diligence in finding out how much it would cost this 18 year old to own a vehicle, is not the problem of the dealership.

Didn't any bells go off in your son's head about this? This is a $20,000 car ,ad your son is 18 years old, probably a college student and part time employment? As a parent, why didn't YOU teach these basic "financial" techniques to him?

The onus is on your son and your grandmother. As a cosigner, the dealership and lender take into account her "earnings' along with your sons, and together, they felt that both of them could afford their lending costs; The insurance should have been found out by your son, PRIOR to buying/leasing the car. That is not the problem of the dealership.

Your best bet is to try and buy out the lease (ie SELL THE CAR TO SOMONE), take a $5,000 loss and tell your son to buy a bicycle.

And why didn't your son do research like calling insurance companies to find out how much it would cost to insure?

I see no fault on the dealerships part; they followed through on their end, and your son and grandmother agreed to the contract they signed.

THIS is buyer's remorse, plain and simple.
Not doing your due diligence in finding out how much it would cost this 18 year old to own a vehicle, is not the problem of the dealership.

Didn't any bells go off in your son's head about this? This is a $20,000 car ,ad your son is 18 years old, probably a college student and part time employment? As a parent, why didn't YOU teach these basic "financial" techniques to him?

The onus is on your son and your grandmother. As a cosigner, the dealership and lender take into account her "earnings' along with your sons, and together, they felt that both of them could afford their lending costs; The insurance should have been found out by your son, PRIOR to buying/leasing the car. That is not the problem of the dealership.

Your best bet is to try and buy out the lease (ie SELL THE CAR TO SOMONE), take a $5,000 loss and tell your son to buy a bicycle.

It is not the responsibility of a car dealership to determine if someone is able to buy or lease a car, that is up to the lender in question. If your nephew and his grandmother both stated they wished to jointly lease a Mustang, the dealership must honor their request. Were the dealer to even suggest they could not afford the car the dealership opens itself up to discrimination lawsuits.

Since they're both on the lease, there's no reason they can't both be on the registration and insurance. Likely the title and registration could be flipped to grandma's name with your nephew as the 2nd signer. The vehicle could then be insured on grandma's policy, and simply list nephew as a driver on the policy. Her insurance would go up (since he's now able to drive her car and the Mustang) but it would still be less than what he would have to pay by himself, to say nothing of less expensive than a potential reposession to both credit reports.

Keep in mind, once the vehicle is reposessed it will go to auction. If it's a lease, he's probably about $7-8,000 out of equity. Once the vehicle sells at auction, both he and grandma will be billed for the balance due on the note. Seven years after the balance is paid off, the reposession will drop off the credit report. That's $8,000.00 over however long it takes to pay it off and seven years of signing for the highest possible interest rates for ANYTHING they want to borrow.

I'd look into alternative ways of insuring the car.

Sorry to say, but the previous poster is exactly right. Your son is stuck, and so is grandma. Her name as co-signer means that she is equally liable on the debt. A co-signer does not have more or less responsibility to pay; they have equal responsibility with the primary party on the loan (or in this case, lease).

Your son's only real option (and Grandma's) is to tough it out and pay the lease. Man, that is a heck of a hard lesson for a young man to learn, but hopefully it's one that will make a deep impression. He certainly would have been better off buying an early to mid 90's Mustang that he could have picked up for $4,000 to $7,000 cash. Then he would have only had to have liability insurance, which is the same no matter what vehicle he drives (Liability premium is dependant on age and the driver's record, it has nothing to do with the model/make of the car).

So if the quote from your agent is $150/mo for liability only, it would be the same no matter what vehicle he chooses. Obviously, that only works if you own the vehicle outright. If you have a loan or a lease on the vehicle, the bank will require you to have full coverage insurance, and that IS dependant on the make & model of the vehicle.

I'm really sorry to hear about this...but unfortunately, car dealers often have dollar signs in their eyes, and they are blind and deaf to the actual needs and budget of the buyer.

First of all, if he bought this car in California, there is NO 3-day period to return the car and unwind the deal. There are signs all over car dealerships in California telling you this. You say that everyone told your nephew NOT to do this -- good advice -- so how is it the car dealership's fault that he didn't follow the very good advice that everyone else gave him? Also, does grandma have any sense? She co-signed -- is she afraid to say "no"? I think this is going to be a very, very expensive lesson for your nephew. It is not the car dealership's responsibility to take your nephew by the hand and guide his financial decisions. Making minimum wage and buying a new Mustang? I have a feeling that with that level of intelligence your nephew might be making minimum wage for a long time. This dealership did not "prey" on your nephew -- they refused him financing, remember? So he went and got grandma and he brought her in to co-sign for him. The dealership had to have run a credit app for grandma and determined that she did have the money to pay for the car. Grandma is going to learn a very expensive lesson too -- the definition of a "co-signer" is a fool with a pen. I do hope your nephew can find some way out of this mess -- perhaps cheaper insurance. Did he check out how much the insurance was going to be before he bought the car? I think anyone would a little bit of smarts would call their insurance agent and tell them what kind of car they were planning on getting, and get an insurance quote so they could put the entire financial picture together. Also, what did he plan to do when the lease was up? If your nephew doesn't get some financial education soon, he is going to end up in these kind of situations his entire life.

Despite what you may have been told or heard....there is absolutely NO 3 day right to rescind rule! Read that again!

The ONLY exception to that is if somebody comes to your house and sells you there!

Despite what you may have been told or heard....there is absolutely NO 3 day right to rescind rule! Read that again!

The ONLY exception to that is if somebody comes to your house and sells you there!

There are laws out there to protect consumers. Try calling your local legal aid. They may represent your nephew for free. This is called deceptive and unfair trade pratices. The dealership is suppose to make sure that a customer has insurance before transfering a vehicle to a buyer. There is also a right to rescind if it has been less than 3 days. I would also call the Dept. of motor vehicles. and report this dealer. The Department of Financial Services governs the licensing of retail sales and finance. My daughter is in a similiar situation, but the dealer completed her credit application and did not fully disclose her financing. So far the Attorney General has given us a case number. who knows what will happen with that, but we are hopeful. The Dept. of Financial services told my daughter that they would get this fixed. So don't give up without a fight. These people have got to stop preying on these young inexperienced 18 year olds. These dealerships have no integrity! They could care less how this will affect the lives and futures of these kids. Good luck.