Despite my car being on the way, and that I had a deposit down, the dealer changed the terms of my deal, thus proving that most dealers are in fact....well you fill in the blank.

I can certainly still afford the terms, but the fact that they changed because "market conditions changed on my trade-in" is just ludicrous.

They contacted me after they gave me my trade-in appraisal, and after my deposit and order were placed only to tell me that now they cannot honor the trade-in appraisal.

Whole thing pretty much sucks..

 

I've always done *considerably* better selling my old cars privately. There are a number of free on-line sites where you can advertise your vehicle. The last two cars I sold went within 48 hours of the first listing, and I got my advertised price in both cases.

Your local legal requirements *may* add some complications to the process, but in my case it was: get the car safety checked, get an emissions test, get the package that my local jurisdiction requires for car sellers and place the ad.

Good luck.
--
Darryl

 

Yes, MINI of Charleston "devalued" our trade by $500 in the 6 weeks it took for our MINI to be delivered due to "market conditions." They sure couldn't claim it was anything else because the car sat in the garage during the whole 6 weeks with no additional mileage. Private sale is the way to go!

 

That blows!!! Sorry to hear that Enthusiast. I sure hope my dealer doesn't pull that BS on me. If you don't mind me asking, what dealer did that? PM is fine if you would rather...

 

I just read Suzanne's response now too. I don't understand how the dealer can not stick to the appraisal that they gave us originally. I mean, they know that they will not have the car for 6 weeks, so plan for that accordingly on the trade value.

My dealer charged me MSRP for the car and bumped up the trade value to make the deal work. I'm getting about $2000 over KBB "excellent" rating for my car. Reading these posts makes me a bit nervous...

 

I did a pre-trade on mine and got fair market value. But they took the car and applied it to my order.

I had a second car luckily so I was able to continue to drive while I waited for my order to show up.

 

My dealer discussed the pre-trade process and warned me that it was very likely that my trade in would be worth much less when my car arrived. Makes sense since I was trading in a convertible and my Mini will arrive in the dead of winter. The offer they gave me on my trade in was very low...I went to Carmax the next weekend and got $4k more.

I don't fault them though...they gave me a price and it was my call to take it or leave it and they were up front about the decreased trade in value of time.

Now just need to wait until Feb or so for my Mini to arrive (ordering with Connected+Nav)

 

Did they tell you what market condition changed? I would assume that you asked, did you get an answer? No answer, no deal if it were me, there are other dealers out there although it may be a problem distance wise.

 

that suck.. did u try othert dealership?

 

My dealer would not even take a trade unless it was a MINI or BMW. He would call his buyer in to give a us quote but that would not be part of the new car deal. I sold it (98 Civic) in one day on CL for probably 3X what the buyer would have given me.

 

There is a wholesale market for used cars. Unless they expect to be able to sell it themselves on their lot, a dealer will give you a bit below what they determine to be the going wholesale rate (aka what they could sell it for at auction). Prices can change at least weekly based on how many, if any, of your trade in model sold at auction.

If they did not tell you that the price was likely to change in the 6 weeks it took your Mini to arrive, they did a bad job.

 

On the other hand, my husband just traded in his '98 Corvette for a 2011 Z06 he ordered 8 weeks ago and the Chevy dealer not only offered him a good trade in when it was ordered, but kept his word on the value when the car arrived.

 

Different market, different car......

You can't expect a dealer to hold the trade in for 2 or 3 months while your car gets built, the best you could have done was sell it to them on the spot for the amount they offered then pay the balance when your new car came in. The dealer is not in business to lose money, if your trade in dropped in value, it's not their fault - they don't control the market, they just work within it like everyone else.

Your remedies are what the others have offered - sell it yourself or wholesale it somewhere else, or take the lower value and make the deal. Did you relly think your car would continue to hold it's value indefinitely?

You don't say what your trade in is, but some cars are very easy to sell on Craigslist or one of the other free sites. If yours is one of those, it will be worth your while to do so, and you can still be driving a MINI.

 

Appreciate the input, however, the dealer made it clear in writing via email that they would honor the appraisal as a "least" value despite when I take delivery.

I came there on an off day to fill out my credit application and the manager flagged me down to tell me these things had changed, based on the fact that my trade-in now has 0% financing available and this has seriously affected my trade-in value. I explained, and have the back and forth emails to prove it, that my order was hinging on my trade-in value that they guaranteed not two weeks beforehand by email.

So from my point of view, they simply didn't honor the terms they had earlier agreed to...in writing mind you.

Again, affordability is not a problem, it's a matter of principle.

 

You're leaving a lot of blanks here, but if the car you're trying to trade is the 2010 VW in your signature, and it was me running the used car desk, the 0% financing would definitely have an effect on the value of a used one vs a new one - epsecially on a current model car.

Think about it for a minute......so many people buy on payments any more rather than the actual price of the car, if you can get a new one for $XXX/mo and a used one will be considerably more due to the financing terms, the only way you can then sell the used one is if it's cheap enough.

Another thing that could have happened is that they had a wholesale buyer for your car and their buyer backed out. Either way, your car is now worth less...... at least to them.

Does the purchase order you got "in writing" have any disclaimers about how long the deal or the trade value is good? I can't think of another way for you to prevail here other than something saying they'd guarantee the trade for a certain amount of time.

But my point is, absent a written guarantee of trade value, they did nothing wrong here. Market circumstances changed, they didn't change them.....

 

I politely disagree. They overpromised and underdelivered.

Within my emails and phone conversations after my written appraisal it was said that my appraisal would be honored and would be a minimal value at time of completion of sale. There was no mention of market conditions or change of my trade-in values.

I'm certainly well aware the value of a car is a dynamic thing and certainly 0% financing would make a huge difference.

However, I've bought no less than 6 cars in the past 4 years and I've always successfully negotiated terms, with no surprises at time of signing, in advance. I just happened to find a dishonest dealer this time.

It's not my fault that market conditions changed in such a way that made the deal unfavorable for the dealer, but the dealer just should not have assured me, in so many emails and phone conversations, that this was the guaranteed deal. The deal literally went as "if you place and order and deposit, we will give you 'x' amount of dollars for your trade-in at time of delivery" . They even went as so far as to give mileage allowances on my car for the period of time it would take my order to arrive.

Guess I'm just old school and take people at their word, email, conversation, etc..if you find this behavior acceptable I guess your just more tolerant than me.

 

I'm with you Enthusiat, stick to your guns, they are the ones who will loose in the long run. I'm not sure why so many others aren't seeing this??

 

Mini Dave is right on

 

I agree with RJ. Tell them they changed the terms of the agreement and you want your deposit back.

They'll then have to decide if they can sell the car you've ordered quick enough not to incur costs. And weigh that risk against the anticipated loss on your trade-in. The ball will be in their court.

Good luck

 

The issue isn't what is 'market fair' for the dealer. A deal offered must be honored. My dealer gave me a trade in offer with no discussion of reduction in value other than vehicle condition. Reading this, I'm certainly wary well see in 48 hours...

 

if the dealer didn't mention about changes in market condition and explicitly told/emailed you about honoring your trade-in, then it's definitely dishonest of them to pull this bait-n-switch scheme.

i would definitely not deal with them even if they come back honoring the original deal. i hope you can find another dealer for your deal. good luck.