On 4/21/12, I called a MA car dealer about a car it had listed for sale. The list price was $8995. This dealer lists 100% guaranteed financing. I was up front about credit issues. The salesman indicated that with the 40% down I was offering, bank X would finance us with no problem.
Just prior to the dealer closing on 4/23/12, I called to confirm the vehicle was still there and advised I would be there at 10am the following morning. I traveled 190 miles one way to try out/purchase the car. I tried out the car, loved it, and allowed the dealership to run a credit report. After entering the pertinent information, the salesman told us that he could not sell us the car for $8995 because he would only be making a $400 profit. At this point he advised that if I wanted to use the dealer financing, the price would be $9990. (He showed us what he claimed was what he had in the car - $7900). In addition, he then informed us that bank X requires all purchasers to pay for an extended warranty. He stated that his base cost for this was $1390 and because the vehicle was "on the list" (i.e. Volvo, Saab, Mercedes, etc) an additional $600 would be added to to this cost for a total extended warranty cost of $1980 covering basic warranty items for 24 months.
We declined the complete the purchase because of these additional charges.
My questions are as follows:
1. Can a business increased the advertised cost of an item because of your credit?
2. Can they make us purchase a $2K extended warranty that they didn't inform me of prior to my trip to the dealer? (The sales person was clear about what finance company he would use in our original telephone call so he could have/should have disclosed to us this "mandatory" additional expense.)
I drove 380 miles roundtrip in a vehicle that gets 17 mpg and paid approximately $22 in roundtrip tolls. Based on the dealers actions and my direct out-of-pocket costs, plus 7 hours of my time to travel there and back, and the ding to my credit for the hard hit - is there anything substantial here to pursue? The sales man reiterated as we shook hands leaving that if we came back with our own financing, he would be more than happy to sell us the car for the $8,995 advertised.
Really, the ideal outcome for me would be for the dealer to sell me the car at the advertised price of $8995, take my $4K down, and finance the remaining balance of $4995 as guaranteed.
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It seems to me that an offer to sell the car was made for $8995 which you accepted and that forms the basis of a contract. However the financing issue may complicate things pertaining to requirements by the lender. I'd have to see the advertisent to which you responded to see the details of the offer and whether any disclaimers or conditions were identified.
Attorney James Decoulos
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