Germain Toyota Of Sarasota ripoffs single mom buying sons first car Sarasota Florida
When my son turned 18 I took him to Sarasota Toyota to get his first car. We had finally saved up enough money for a down payment, and the beat up car he was driving for a trade in.
Sarasota Toyota sold my son a used suzuki, very nice car, and I co-signed for him. We had to trade in the old car, and 1000.00 cash. After having the car for two weeks, they called and said they could not get financing, so we had to come up with another 1,000.00. My son really wanted to keep the car, so we borrowed the money from a friend.
We thought the deal was all done, and two months later, Sarasota Toyota called and told us we were going to have to bring the car back, because they could not get it financed. We had already wrote a check to the finance company for the first payment and given to Toyota! The car was insured in our name, plates were in our name, etc.
BUT, they told us we could not get the trade in car back because they had already trashed it, and we could not have any of our downpayment back, because they were going to treat it as a rental fee because we had the car so long, and my son had put so many miles on it!!!
My son had a fit! I threatened to get a lawyer involved, so toyota offered to give back only $500.00 of the downpayment. We tried to fight it, but that is all we got. We lost the trade in car, and most of the downpayment for them "charging rental fee" while we were paying insurance and registration on the car!
I will never, never deal with those people again! I spit every time I have to drive by their lot!
Carol
Sarasota, Florida
U.S.A.
6 Updates & Rebuttals
Triger
Sarasota,Florida,
U.S.A.
You singned a spot delivery and...
#7UPDATE EX-employee responds
Sat, May 17, 2008
I am sure if F@I thought you would not get financed you would not have been spotted the car. There might have been credit problems for both siners or co-owners that caused this as well as a mistake by getting rid of car. There is a spot delivery disclaimer you signed. If you wanted you could have declined and waited for approval. 90% of Dealers spot deliver cars. If credit were not an issue there would be no problem. This is your problem not Germain's. They pay bills on time.
Kevin
South Berwick,Maine,
U.S.A.
It's called "spot delivery"
#7Consumer Suggestion
Thu, June 15, 2006
Basically what happens is this; the F&I manager runs your credit report and makes a call as to the ability to get a bank to buy the deal. If he feels he can get it bought they will do a spot delivery before a bank approves the loan.
The next day the F&I manager will make contact with all of his "buddies" at many finance companies. Thinking he made the right call as to getting you approved, it falls through and none of his banks will buy the loan. At this point, the dealership will not be funded for the vehicle sold to you. The dealership is in pickle because if you push it, you will win in court unless there is a doc stating that the deal is pending financing.
You have signed all docs, title has been transferred, registration complete etc. this can become the dealerships problem if you refuse to return the unit and you have proof of ownership.
To qualify my comments, I am a multi-dealer principle. We NEVER engage in spot deliveries. If your credit score is 850 at 8 PM, you will have to wait until we have a lender approve the funding. That is the only way we deliver. Spot delivers are unethical and can cost the customer; banks and most importantly, the customer undo distress.
It seems that it is to late in the game to save yourself. If you had the title app, purchase agreement, finance agreement etc. The car was yours.
Dave
New Westminster,British Columbia,
Canada
Still talk to a lawyer
#7Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 14, 2006
Ultimately, it's up to a judge to decide if your son really did relinquish all rights in the matter.
E.g. there's a similar disclaimer on the backs of tickets to sporting events, tourist attractions, etc. That apparently hasn't stopped people from filing lawsuits, and sometimes winning.
Carol
Sarasota,Florida,
U.S.A.
Germain Toyota of Sarasota
#7Author of original report
Wed, June 14, 2006
I cannot sue them, because in order to cash the check for $500.00 that they did give us back, my son had to sign their paper that said he would not try to sue them, or bring any legal action on them.
It also stated that MY SON, not me, would refrain from talking about this matter and making it public . They put that in there because I was listing them on the state websites for fraud with the DMV, and consumer affairs department and better business bureaus.
I tried to contact the state attorney also on this matter.
Mike
Radford,Virginia,
U.S.A.
Value of your trade is what they agreed on the contract.
#7Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 14, 2006
The "rental" thing is bogus and even if you had signed papers agreeing to it it would be illegal in many states. When they choose to give you the car before financing is approved the dealer assumes the risk of not being able to sell the finance contract later.
You deserve all your money back. If they can't return your trade in car they have to give you the amount of money specified on the contract as the trade in allowance.
Mark
San Diego,California,
U.S.A.
Sue Them in Small Claims Court
#7Consumer Suggestion
Wed, June 14, 2006
Based on the information you gave in your complaint I think you should sue them - most likely in small claims court. Unfortunately a situation such as this happens from time to time when a dealership's finance department is unable to locate a finance company to accept the loan for a given car sale (various factors such as low income cause this). However, a reputable dealer would not dispose of your trade-in car until after they knew they had firm financing in place with a lender for you to make your payments to.
Perhaps it would be worthwhile to sue them for: 1. Whatever value you can come up with for the trade-in vehicle (see if you can locate a Kelly Blue Book). Do you have any pictures of the old vehicle? Take them to court with you. 2. The remaining $1,500 downpayment, as they have their car back but you have nothing - they assumed the risk of letting you take the car of the lot before it was financed, so they knew that some amount of miles would be put on it - it's not your fault they took so long to decide they could not arrange financing. 3. If your check for the first payment was cashed, include that amount as well.
Good luck!