So I called them to see if I can go in there and show them my contract... This is what they said.

Me: I want to stop by and show you my contract.
Dealer: The contract means nothing if you don't have a "paper" receipt.
Me: So you're saying it's pointless for me to come in?
Dealer: Our records indicate not receiving the down payment so if you want to come in, come in with the money.
Me: So you believe your employee's word over mine?
Dealer: I didn't say that.

I pretty much hung up after that because I didn't want to say anything stupid.
Filed complaint on BBB and e-mailed the necessary people. I'll keep you guys posted.

Just want to add to this point. From my experience, collection agencies don't really care if whoever they're collecting for is wrong or not. Their goal is to just get the money and that's it. You'd have to talk to the dealership and get things resolved with them to have the collection agency off your back.

It hasn't actually gone to collection yet, his conversation was with the dealer's collection department, but I agree in general.

OP, if you were talking to the GM on the phone, it sounds like they are a lousy dealership. Did he offer up any proof you owe the money? On the face of it, as others have suggested, the fact that you have the car, financing, and an executed contract that shows you paid a $1000 down payment puts the burden of proof on the dealership to show that some portion of the contract that you were responsible for was not satisfied -- Do they have a signed promissory note for the $1000 dollars that you have no proof was paid?

You might still want to go down with the contract showing a $1,000.00 cash deposit was made and explain that, that is your receipt.

Also, call me paranoid, I wouldn't drive down there in your Z. Have a friend or family member give you a ride...

+1 , they may try and take it back or box you in.........not sure where I have seen this before:rolleyes:

I would also check the "financed amount" in the contract and verify it matches your starting loan amount. Perhaps the screw-up was with the financing and your loan was for $1000 less than agreed upon.

From what I understand this would be theft -- The dealership released title to the financing company -- I assume the OP has his plates and registration.

Hmmm interesting... yes, the contract is not proof of payment.

I was given TWO contracts the night before - one for $X down and one for $X+y down, and I got my total down payment the next day. (I only paid $X the previous night).

Then I had them destroy the contract that says I pay $X down, and the contract saying $X+Y went live.

Point being, contract isn't proof of payment - it is just the INTENDED DEAL all have agreed with, the DEAL happens AFTER u sign the contract.

They won't probably go so far for just $1000 though.. they're probably just scaring you. But in theory, your contract is not proof of payment.

(Curious, why didn't you just deposit the $1000 in your ATM and make a credit/debit card payment? I got so many free credit card payments by making my downpayments via my credit card :) )...

I learnt a lot of lessons in buying my Z too. They have SO MANY tricks in their books compounded with their mass-high pressure attacks on kids. I will follow up in this thread till the end to help you man.

That maybe right, but the reverse is true as well -- the contract is not proof he owes the money. The OP has the car, title (finance company has that actually), registered in his name, etc. I think the burden of proof would be for the dealership to show he owes the money.

Honestly, it sounds like you never paid.

Whoa ... That came out of left field. If he didn't pay, the dealer is a fool for letting a 30K+ car off the lot with no out-of-pocket and not even a promissory note for the down payment. Do you often make "handshake" deals with young buyers and let them pay the down payment later without any documentation that they still owe money?

It happens all the time.

You make a deal with let's say 1000 down. All the numbers get punched into the computer, the loan is processed, the paper work is printed you sign the loan contract with the the dealer (which says 1000 deposit made on the contract) customer is excited, you go over the car, customer leaves. F&I manager forgot to collect the 1000 deposit. No receipt was made for deposit.(so the 1000 was not collected) Now the dealer is short the 1000, but the bank contract shows it was apart of the deal. It happens all the time!

So.... are you going off the contract that the 1000 was paid or that you recall handing the guy a 1000.00 cash and you never got a receipt.

"F&I manager forget to collect the deposit" and "happens all the time" seem like two phrases that shouldn't appear together. But I guess "all the time" is relative -- Do you mean "once a week", "once a month"?? Seems sloppy to me.

Even if that were the case, I think it still leaves the burden on the dealership to prove that he did not pay. Their own fault for letting him leave without paying. Just like with a disputed credit card charge, the burden is on the retailer to show signature proof that the purchase was made (or some kind of proof, like delivery confirmation to the person in question).

I can see this happening (BTDT as a Sales Manager for a dealership)....Especially because of the "rushed" transaction/closing described by the OP...

Both seller and consumer should be paying attention during these deals. It's an exciting, emotional event for both, so things can be easily overlooked. True, it's more exciting for the consumer, but dealerships are in business to make money, so it can be a lot for them.

I don't know if the OP was boned, or if no money exchanged hands. I wasn't there. I'm willing to give him benefit of the doubt, but even so his may be a hard case to prove.

But that's the difference with a cash transaction. The burden is on the consumer to hold on to their receipt as proof of purchase.

Maybe I should choose my words better. It's not a very common thing, but yes over 20 years of this, I have seen it many times.

It does happen here and there, now I don't know if he paid or not, but I have seen an F&I manager forget to collect a deposit. Which we call the customer and they recall and pay.

Just becuase it's noted on the bank contract doesn't mean it has been collected.

I agree it will be up to the dealer to prove it, but there is no receipt of transaction. Know will a contract count, I don't know I am not a lawyer or Judge.

Does the op have proof he paid, nope. So which side do you choose.

I am not trying to stir it up, I am just saying I have seen it both ways.

I think this is a simple situation that a peanut butter and jelly sandwich should clear up nicely.

Now that I think about it, when I put 10,000 cash down on mine, I can't for the life of me remember if I got a reciept at the time. That would suuuuck if they called foul on that amount..lol!

My last F&I Manager forgot to collect a down payment once. I stress "once" because he was let go within the next couple of days.

Actually, there is no such burden on a consumer to keep receipts for purchases. Taking delivery of an item where there is no further documentation that additional moneys are owed -- like a promissory note -- is prima facia evidence that the item was paid for in full.

The dealer may be able to mitagate that prima facia evidence by showing circumstances that make it likely the money wasn't paid -- F&I guy specifically remembers he didn't get the money, the books for that night show $1000 short, evidence of a timely phone call or correspondence by the F&I guy or general manager to the effect that "sorry to bother you, but in the rush we forgot to get your deposit".

But, we don't know if the OP's dealer has any of that evidence. According the the OP he got a cold call from the collection department at the dealership months later saying he owed the money.

hmm. ok. But paying with most other methods would have made this more cut and dried. A check or credit card involves a third party who can verify or refute the claim from their records. Makes it a lot easier to prove one way or another.

^^You are right. We have no idea really what is going on.

It will really come down to how they handle there policies and procedures on taking deposits.

If I have receipts for 99.99999% of my transactions, because that is our policy and we are missing one deposit and don't have a receipt for said deposit, and neither does the customer, who do you think will win???

I honestly wonder how this is going to play out.

Quite right.

It's going to come down to the dealers practice on handling deposits in my mind. If the dealer had receipts for only half their deposits his done in court.

I'm giving the OP the benefit of the doubt. The dealer sounds fishy in this case. Someone just bought a 30k automobile, you forgot to get his deposit. And furthermore you forget that you forgot his deposit (or just couldn't be bothered to call him up) and it is assigned to a credit collector for the dealership months later...

The contract is not proof he owes the money sure. But the contract is promise that the customer will pay - so the customer is liable, and in this thread's case, with no proof he paid.

PS: I recorded my entire deal on the cellphone as backup. p h a c k stealerships.

LOL... new twist.. I doubt that the OP is making it up, but hey its 3.30pm and the boss is out.

Subscribe thread.

:drama:

When I bought my car, I put 7k (or 9k) down. I had a large amount of it in cash, and the rest I put on my debit card. The told me that I had 14 days to give the whole amount, if I needed. The contract shows the down payment, the receipt shows the proof it's paid.

I got 2 receipts, one for the cash...one for the debit.

I hope it doesn't end up being an expensive lesson, but you really should always get a receipt. It become even more important when it's cash, as there is no transaction recorded anywhere else.

Maybe the dealership "forgets" in bulk selling cars, I would say (I bought from Smithtown Niassn they say they're the 2nd largest) even the biggest Nissan dealers don't really sell Z's that often... it can't be that they slacked off.

I will certainly not buy that "because it was getting late , they forgot". . . they MAKE it get late so they can rush u into high pressure situations and make you walk out with the car ASAP so you don't change ur mind.

They have no such thing. Well at least not one signed by me.

Thanks for the tip but at this point I'm losing all patience and am really considering legal action myself.

It will cost you more than $1000 to recover your $1000.. the dealership knows this too.
You must be young, they must've seen you're inexperienced and excited, you must've gone alone while signing... they're putting you in pressure. My opinion.

+1 This is good advice. If you end up going to court keep this in mind, along with your contract (which they wrote up) showing the $1000 cash as part of the agreement. Also express why 3 months later this is all of sudden turning up? This will show how un-organized they are and how it is very possible they screwed up the paperworks and anything else for that matter. Good luck man!

Yes. If this were a run-of-the mill "in the excitement we forgot to get his down payment" situation, the OP would have received a call from the dealership the next day saying "oops". The paper trail would have started there. The fact that it started 3 months later is suspect

i'd get paid in cash in a heart beat, however, i rarely PAY in cash, unless i'm avoiding some kind of credit fees, or the person isn't charging me sales tax. Tires, i buy in cash. Cars and Real estate, get a certified check so you have a paper trail. however, the fact that they released the car to you, and you signed all the paper work, implies that you paid what it said on the paper work, and the burdon should fall upon them to prove otherwise. If i had a store, and one of my employees forgot to collect the money from the customer and didn't realize until a long time after, you had better believe its coming out of the employees pay. Sounds like the financing manager is an as$clown.

I counted the cash twice before I handed it over and the gentleman that worked my contract counted it twice. I mean he showed me where in the contract that stated $1000.00 was paid. I guess it was dumb of me to think that this was a receipt/contract. But yeah I would not go out of my way to accuse a business. I once used to own a business and I know word of mouth is #1 for advertising.

I'm sure it happens but what makes you think that the dealer asked to bring in cash knowingly... I didn't mention this in the OP but now I think about it I think they pulled a fast one on me.

Man, I would fight that one then. Sounds like you have at least 2 people that are involved, and I bet one doesn't know the other took the money.

It's not dumb of you( you trusted the company to handle the transaction properly), I didn't know all the facts, just stating the different scenarios.

I'm 30... Is that young still? :rolleyes: I guess I'm inexperienced with dealerships and law. and yes I went alone.

Thanks for the advise.
I checked 4 times what it stated on the contract and kept it in a safe place.

I know you were throwing different scenarios out there. But I do agree more than one person was involved in this as well.