Consumer Law

Top Ten Auto Scams

By M. Stan Herring

We ran across this good article by the lawyers at Krohn & Moss. We recommend reading this entire article (and looking through the rest of this excellent website) but this one scam resonated with us as we have had numerous clients deal with this one:

Scam 3 ? Spot Delivery Scams Spot Delivery is when a dealership allows a consumer to drive the vehicle home off the dealer?s lot even though the sale is not consummated and complete. When a consumer seeks to finance the purchase with the aid of the dealership, the dealer most often does not get a banks acceptance while the consumer is there at the dealership, and will let the consumer take the care home while the dealer?s finance department works on financing. While in most states spot delivery is not illegal in and of itself, and can be helpful to both parties, the situation opens up opportunities for the dealer to implement various scams. For instance, once the consumer has grown accustomed to the car, perhaps proud of their new purchase and has shown it to friends and family, they would not hesitate to agree to sign a new, revised contract that has increased the payments. Also, the consumer would agree to bring more money for a down payment. Depending on how or why the dealer got the consumer to consent to come back in, certain consumer rights statutes may be violated. These are also referred to as ?yo-yo? scams because the dealer sends you out and pulls you back in like a yo-yo. Most importantly, if a dealer is unable to obtain financing on the terms previously agreed upon, the consumer does not have to agree to new terms, and can elect to cancel the deal altogether. In that case, the consumer is entitled to whatever down payment or trade-in vehicle that they gave to the dealership with no amount to be withheld.

If you are buying a car, educate yourself on not only the car and the right price to pay but also on some of these common scams so you can avoid them or deal with them in the right manner. If you need legal advice, please contact us or another consumer attorney so you can know what your options are in your situation.

Full post as published by Alabama Consumer Blog on February 09, 2008 (boomark / email).