I know, its sort of a rant. But hey, I’m allowed that once in a while.
How can people be so casual about a major financial decision like this? For most Americans, an automobile is the second largest purchase any of us will make, with a home being the largest. Yet people go into this like they are buying a pair of tube socks at Wal Mart.
Folks – its a lot of money. Its your duty to protect yourself and get cars inspected BEFORE you buy. After you sign, you own. No, you can’t just take if back because the brake lights are out, or you suddenly realize you like another color.
Contracts are enforcable legal instruments. Read your contracts before you sign them. As soon as you sign the deal, you agree to all it’s terms. No point complaining because you didn’t pay attention to the interest rate or length of the loan.
It seems the old myth of a legal right to unwind a car sale just will not die either. No, you can’t return it under some imaginary “buyers’ remorse” law. If it breaks in half a week later, you own both halves. There is a Q up here right now, with someone hoping a ‘Lemon Law’ will protect him on a car he knowingly bought with a salvage title. Wake up!
When you finance a car for 6 yrs, be prepared to drive it for a minimum of 4 yrs just to get out of the hole you dug when you agreed to a 72 month loan. Don’t agree to the terms, then cry because you are buried 6 months later and you found a shiny new toy you want.
So tell me, YA. When it comes to such a major purchase, why are you so disinterested in all the facts until after you are an owner? People who don’t pay attention to their finances and contracts will invariably be the ones saying “hey I paid too much”, or “I got taken advantage of.”
Would you be so causal about a home purchase too?
@Jenny – The only way you are an “innocent victim” is if you let yurself be one. There are innumerable resources out there to help car buyers if they take a few minutes to use them. Starting right here on YA where many knowledgable professionals give you the benefit of their experience – for free.
No one can take advantage of you without your permission
@Adam – No, you do not. There is no such law anywhere. The only exception is in California where you may *purchase* the right to unwind the deal for 2 days. The laws regarding a 3 day right of recission apply to door-to-door or off-site sales. If you go to a dealership, negotiate a deal and sign a contract there is no unwind rule.
You either found a dealer who knew less about the law than you, or one who was willing to be gracious.
10 Responses
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Jorge Washington Says:
Some people are really free spirited and don’t think that far in advance
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tim g Says:
test drive a lot of cars, know what you want, buy from a reputable source.
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Jenny Says:
Maybe it’s that car salesmen are really good at what they do and there are a lot of innocent victims out there. Some people just lack certain life skills. Maybe this sort of stuff should be a mandatory subject at high school so everybody learns about it before they go out into the real world. Hope you feel better.
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Bourne Ultimatum Says:
Thankfully I can come here to ask questions before actually buying a car..because in the next 2 months I will be asking A LOT of questions about cars..
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Josh Says:
it’s like using a credit card, people see at is infinite money, but don’t bother to read anything before they get it, then realize their mistake later.
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ElGrande Says:
I love Jenny’s answer… because it’s so wrong.
Nobody is “innocent” when it comes to buying a car. If I want to purchase (let’s say, for example) a 2010 Toyota Yaris, I can go to a number of websites and find the invoice pricing, any incentives, holdbacks, etc. — In short, when I walk into that dealer, I can have a fair idea of a fair price to negotiate with. I can find any of that info in a good half-hour of web surfing. There is no other industry in our economy where the provider of the good is at such a disadvantage, with the exception (maybe) of the real estate world. If the buyer is not comfortable with the process or the price, they can walk out before the purchase and all they’ve lost is time.
So, hypothetically, let’s take that one step further. I walk into Wal-Mart and I want a sweater. I see that it costs $20 on sale. I then want to go home, find that sweater’s manufacturing costs, the cost of the good that Wal-Mart paid, and then go back to Wal-Mart and negotiate with the cashier on the price of the clothing. What look do you think the cashier’s going to give me?
Average profit on a new car is what, 2 percent… maybe 3? What do you think the average profit margin is on a simple item from a retail outlet? As high as 90 percent on some items. Yet I don’t see anyone moaning about that on here. Daily, in this section, we answer many questions regarding “I got screwed” or “Can I return this car” or “Can I sue”… and each one would have been saved if the consumer knew their rights beforehand. Instead, they believe the silly “1-800-Lemon-Law” commercials and think that any and all issues with a car is cause for raising absolute heck.
Yes, there are dishonest sales folks out there in the car world. But there are also thieves that work at Wal-Mart, Target, etc. Any industry in the USA is going to have its crooks. If you buy a defective product from Target, do you blame Target, or the product? No, you simply don’t buy that brand any longer. But you don’t go running back to Target yelling “hey, you KNOWINGLY sold me this, I wanna sue!”
We’re a society full of victims. And it’s only going to get worse.
**EDIT — Adam — Incorrect… that “72-hour” law is a myth. If the dealer allowed you to do so, that is up to them. However, there is no statute in place that forces a dealer to take a vehicle back if you wish to bring it back. If you can prove otherwise (not just “well, I did it back in the day”), let us know.
**EDIT2 – I had to laugh… the icing on the cake was the spam answer…
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jay Says:
Well Satan, I can tell you are ranting because you and i both know the answer to this.
1. Some people just arent’ too bright, plain and simple.
2. Then there is the thing called impulse and excitement. It’s your job to get them excited and help them make an impulse decision.But remember, there are stores that only get the smart ones. I happen to have the luxury of 750+ buyers whom are quite intelligent.
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adam Says:
You do have 72 hours to return the vehicle no questions asked… I do not know the exact name of the law but I know you ARE allowed to do so.
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alfredb1979 Says:
Well done, my forum brother.
Now how do we get Yahoo! to get on the ball and make this forum a format where we can sticky these kinds of things?
Like I said in the earlier question where you said your head would explode. I really should not keep browsing at the earlier questions, but I doubt I can resist!
Some days I just have to ROFL when we get people who think that cooling off period applies to car sales….I can only be a tad understanding when the intrawebz is out there and you can google this stuff up!
Maybe that ffgurl75 person who always asked us our opinions about every single Autotrader posting with some POS Land Rover in it would be a welcome sight right now…
Either way, this goes right up there with the spot delivery “The dealer broke our contract, can I sue???” junk.
P.S. I’d like Adam to prove his findings, in writing of course, but if he has not in three hours, I doubt he will come through for us.
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Sage Says:
This isn’t the Da Vinci Code for God’s sake.
People have grown to expect to be entitled to whatever they can justify to themselves without any feeling of personal responsibility. It’s not like we’re going through a period of record foreclosures because people with $20,000 incomes figured as long as somebody was willing to give them a million dollar mortgage it meant that they could afford to repay them and when they couldn’t they claim to be taken advantage of or anything.
No career busboy or car wash attendant cried the day they moved into their McMansion or cashed any of their 5 home equity loan checks. After living in their 6 bedroom estates with swimming pools for a couple years and leaving a million dollars of bad debt in their wake, all without ever earning more than minimum wage, a lot of them claim to be victims because nobody forced them to read and understand the contracts they were signing.
The fact is that most couldn’t care less about anything else once they’re handed the keys, and a lot of sales people don’t exactly help by muddying the details in four squares or putting buyers in 7 year loans just to get them a payment at 19% that’s less than their rent. It doesn’t make an “innocent victim” of any buyer, but there are plenty of dealers willing to go beyond playing on buyers’ selfish greed to take advantage of their ignorance and naivety.
Even so, all it sometimes takes is bolting on a set of 22″ rimzz to make a lot of buyers forget their own names, let alone how much they’re actually paying or whatever their payments happen to be. Most figure as long as the world’s going to hell in a handbasket anyway, they might as well drive there in the biggest hooptie with the shiniest spinners they can get their hands on for as long as they can hide it from the bank. About the only positive trend in the industry are lenders who’ve made finance money harder to come by.
And you wonder why people don’t take buying a car more seriously? Girlfriend, please.
