Your rights when buying a new car

Viewers Ask Amy if Dealer Can Change Terms of Contract

Buying a new car can be exciting. You shop around, sign the sales contract and then drive off in your new wheels. But sometimes the car dealership calls customers back to try and change the terms of the deal.

When it happened to one Pearland man, he called consumer expert Amy Davis for help.

When a dealership lets you take a vehicle home before financing is fully approved, it is called a spot delivery.

The seller typically has you sign a document that says if they are not able to find a lender who will take the loan with the interest rate you agreed to, then they will need the vehicle back or you may have to pay more.

They have to give you notice that your deal is not final. If they don't, they have no right to take that car back.

The 2016 Dodge Ram silver Eco-Diesel truck Frank Wisniewski purchased in January was the only one like it for sale anywhere near Houston when he shopped around.

"Kind of my dream truck, really... everything I wanted," Wisniewski told Davis.

Wisniewski signed a retail installment sales contract at Auto Nation Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram in Katy, drove it home and started decking it out with a bed cover and nerf bars. Fourteen days later his salesman from the dealership called and asked him to come back.

"(He) said there was some warranty paperwork that needed to be updated," Wisniewski recalled the phone call to Davis.

When Wisniewski went to the dealership, he was presented with a new contract with a higher interest rate and monthly payments.

"I said, 'can I go home and think about it? Get back with you later?' They said 'no. we can't let you leave. You either have to sign it or give us the keys and take your old vehicle back,'" said Wisniewski.

Not sure what to do, Wisniewski signed the new contract.

"I went home pretty much devastated," he told Davis.

He immediately reported what happened to Davis, the Houston Better Business Bureau and the Office of the Consumer Credit Commissioner, the state agency that enforces laws that apply to retail installment contracts.

It was only then that the general manager of Auto Nation Katy called Wisniewski back to re-do his contract a third time. The GM lowered the price the truck to get his payments back down to what he originally negotiated. 

Wisniewski was satisfied with the outcome in his situation, but thought others might not be as lucky.

"How many other people has this happened to in the past?" he asked Davis.

No one at the Auto Nation in Katy would talk with Davis, but Auto Nation spokesman Marc Cannon emailed her, explaining  that Chrysler Financial changed the terms of Wisniewski's deal because dealership employees had driven the truck so much, it could no longer be financed as a new vehicle.

Cannon's full statement is here:

"The mileage on the vehicle is because the vehicle is a retired service loaner. Chrysler Capital would not accept an actual invoice for the evaluation of the vehicle, even though the vehicle is an open MSO (Manufacturer Statement of Origin) unit.

"We had to discount the difference in the price of the vehicle compared to what the approval was in order to keep Mr. Wisniewski's payment the same as it was before. 

"Nobody was terminated, but everyone has been counseled as by policy and remind on how to handle the issue if it ever happens again going forward. It is not in AutoNation's belief to change any terms. This was a mistake on the CFS (Customer Financial Services) associates and Chryslers part when the deal was submitted to the lender, due to the fact that the vehicle was a retired service loaner, and the manager was not aware that Chrysler Capital does not accept an invoice for the valuation of the vehicle."

The Federal Trade Commission calls what Wisniewski described as yo-yo financing.

Whatever you call it, if a seller lets you take a vehicle home before they finalize the loan, they have to make it clear in writing that the terms may change.

Auto Nation did fix the mistake is Wisniewski's case, but if this happens to you with any car seller, call the Office of the Consumer Credit Commissioner.


About the Author:

Passionate consumer advocate, mom of 3, addicted to coffee, hairspray and pastries.