Q about dealer practices -- re 2004 VUE purchase

Matt:

One question: Did you purchase your other two Saturns from the same dealer? Same associate? If so it could be just plain old bad luck this time around. I'll add this: A signed contract is ...well....a signed contract. In my opinion you'd win any legal dispute unless there are riders relating to the securing of final stage financing.

Also, I believe that you have the right to use the return policy. Your situation qualifies as good enough reason in my mind. Good luck and keep us in the loop on what you decide.

Cheers!

Glomis

Get yourself a lawyer ..I did when they tried to pack my car and did not tell me about the 0%finanic too.. It cost me$300.00. But came out ahead .I got the 0%0 for sixty month ..they took off the packing and gave me some frebies off the car... Once u sign the contract they have to honor it.....That was their mistakes... I repeat don't resign a new contract......Robert

Even if you do return it you can't get money back on a 2004 - you can only exchange it for another Saturn.

Ken

yes, something sounds strange. but, remember, as of 2004 saturn no longer has a 30 day return policy. it's now a exchange policy.

I would see a lawyer. A letter, a couple of phone calls and they are going to likely fold. Never had a problem with cars but a trade in on a single wide when I replaced it with a double wide went sour.

The lawyer told me that suing wasn't worth it so I asked him about writing a strongly worded letter and being point of contact as in take a telephone call or two and convice them that I was mad dog enough to push this to the hilt.

That was 1988 and it was the best 200 bucks I ever spent.

Wes

As one of the others said, "a signed contract is a signed contract." Both parties agreed, understood and are now bound by the document.

If this "no longer works" for the dealer, then that is their tough luck. They do sales day in and day out, and if they screwed up, then that's there problem and they will have to live with it. It appears that you have been much more than reasonable so far, and it's time to put your foot down.

Maybe a lawyer is a good idea. It has been my expereince when a large purchase has several problems in quick succession, there tends to more trouble down the road, which perhaps could be avoided if more drastic action were taken earlier on.

Good luck!

=================================

" ..... I ain't no bandleader!!"

Read the contract to see if there's any wording about "pending approval." If not, then the contract is ironclad and they can't get out of it. If you tell them you won't sign another contract, that you're happy with the one you already signed, what will they do?

If the contract is no good then you don't own the car anyway, so there's no "return policy" to worry about. If they won't accept the contract they already signed, then there's no contract.

If you don't want to deal with the headaches, give the car back (but not without a check for any money you put down). If it doesn't look like it's going to be easy, then tell them you're going to get a lawyer. If they don't change their tone immediately, get the lawyer.

-Alan L.

It "doesn't smell right"?! It's completely unacceptable! Absolutely you should return the Vue! More than that, you should write a detailed letter to GM complete with a timeline and the names of the morons who repeatedly screwed up your contract. These folks have no business being in business.

Buy a Vue from a dealer in a neighboring city, if necessary.

Best of luck,

Brian

P.S. I really like my Vue! My dealer has been painless to work with, too.

Matt Hayden wrote:

A couple weeks ago, one of my employee's daughter had taken delivery of an Ion and had the dealer call back. Her training program didn't qualify her for the student discount after all and they wanted the money ($750?) back. My employee was co-owner/co-signer so he got involved. I strongly encouraged him to tell them, " No F___ing Way," which he did. They backed down pretty quick.

The dealer was the expert and had plenty of opportunity to ensure that the buyer qualified for the discount. Besides, it isn't like the Ion is a hot seller that they were letting go at invoice price. They are lucky to be selling any of these, let alone getting full list price on every one. (They did give her a very generous trade-in allowance on her old Saturn.)

My goodness. You Sir, have the patience of a saint. I think I've done a wonderful job with my anger management over the past few years, but I would have told these people exactly what they could do with their problems, and would have used a lot of 4 letter words in the process.

Personally, I would just ignore them at this point. What are they going to do? You have the car, it is registered in your name, you have the sales contract and the bill of sale. If they want to call the contract invalid and never send you the payment book, so much the better.

They have already proved themselves to be idiots, so I would not even think of going there for service.

-David

Now I'm getting worried. The same thing that happened to you happened to me almost 6 months ago. Please tell me you are not on the OKC area !! I called the headquaters and complained about the whole situation and they promised to follow up with the delearship. They try to re-do the 1.9% per 72 months financing but I gave them my lawyers cell number. They stop calling and the fix the paperwork with the right VIN Number.

The elimination of the 30 day money-back guarantee has given dealers carte blanche to pull the old trick of jacking up the interest rate after you've taken the vehicle home. They're trying to increase their kick-back on financing which goes up as the interest rate rises. Lot's of dealers try this, but Saturn dealers _used_ to have to worry about irate customers taking advantage of the the 30 day return. The elimination of the return policy changed all this.

There is no other Saturn worth buying, and no other one that costs as much as a Vue, so trading it in on another Saturn is not a viable option.

You can tell the dealer that if you can't qualify for the financing that they'll have to take the vehicle back. But you'll likely lose any down payment that you made. Read your contract carefully. There is probably a clause in there that lets the dealer do this sort of thing.

Do you know your FICO score? If you have to get a lawyer to fight the dealer, knowing your FICO score will help determine if your credit is as good as you believe. If you have a FICO score of 720 or more then you should absolutely qualify for the best financing. You can get your credit reports for free. Just call up the three credit reporting agencies and tell them you 've been turned down for credit based on information they provided. You don' t have to pay to get this data, even though there are on-line services that will charge you for it. With the on-line services you can get the reports right away, which may be worth it since you're time-constrained.

($39) It's a shame what's happened to Saturn. The vehicles have never been spectacular, but at least they had the money back guarantee, the polymer panels, and the great dealers. Now the money back guarantee is gone, the polymer panels first disappeared from the fenders on the L series, now they' re gone completely on the upcoming minivan. And the dealers have become like any other dealer. At least they're no longer sticking to selling at MSRP!