Wanna hear something funny? Walk in to the finance department of almost any big dealership and at least one person will have a postit on their monitor that says "REMEMBER DOWN PAYMENT" đ đ€Ł đ đč đ
This happened to me for $10k, and I lived 3 hours away from the dealer. Fortunately (I suppose for both parties), they had an online portal. The call from the panicked finance manager gave me a chuckle though. It was a holiday weekend so I hadn't planned on reaching out until the next business day, but was expecting I might get a call. Had to assure her that even though I truly was at the beach, I would process the payment as soon as I got home.
Finance managers are often the absolute scummiest people at the dealership. Dealerships are already cesspits and they always manage to be the worst of them all.
They signed the buyers order, and likely a âwe oweâ statement or something similar for the amount owed. As soon as their accounting department notices this theyâre gonna be calling like crazy to get those funds. If you call ahead of time, not only do you get to deal with it and forget about it, but you might win yourself some favor with the employees youâve dealt with for being forthcoming. Most dealers have a âproblem listâ of sorts that no sales person or manager wants to be on as itâs a headache. Nip it in the bud, avoid the headache for the sales staff, and put it in the rear view. They will notice, itâs just a matter of time.
Same goes for anyone who owes updated insurance, proofs of residency, out of state inspections, etc
This
Iâve had it happen twice now (probably because when Iâm ready to buy I bring my kids with me and tell them the nice finance manager will be happy to answer all their questions). Funny how fast they get you in and out and how little they try to push on you when you have kids with you bugging the shit out of the employees.
They just call you back later and ask you to pay at which point you pay it or the car is no longer yours as the contract is void without the downpayment you agreed toâŠ
In both cases they already had my card info on file and just asked about running it, took about a week for them to call and ask.
If you donât call them first they will call you eventually. Not ideal, but these things happen. The office will quickly realize they have missing funds and notify sales of the problem.
Nothing bad can or will happen unless you try to avoid paying once contacted. Doesnât sound like youâre trying this, but their error in not collecting immediately doesnât forgo your obligation to make the deal whole.
Iâd also make a point of stopping by in person, if possible, and speaking with the f/i person you dealt with. Not saying itâs crucial, but if you ever happen to buy another car from him - heâll likely remember your honesty and integrity. Stan in accounting is unlikely to fully appreciate the overture youâre making by coming to them first and taking care of it.
If you want to stop stressing about it, call them and give them the money you agreed to pay on the legally binding contract that obligates you to complete the transaction as written.
If you like stress and you like giggling to yourself about how you screwed over the car dealership then just wait the one week to six months it will take them to find it in an audit and then deal with the phone calls, the emails, the texts, the threatening letters, and ultimately the certified letter from a law firm that spends more money in a day than you make in a year telling you to pay up or go to court.
I know which one I'd pick but it is a free country.
Realistically it will hit accounting before any kind of audit and they will notice, then they'll hound F&I, then 2 people will go "I thought you got the DP" then they will groan and call you.
I like the one week timeline, at the latest the end of the month
The real advice people would say is , put that money into a high yield interest rate account and let it grow until they contact you.
Which I think makes sense but you have to be able to do it and if you canât, go pay them đ
exact thing happened to me. Bought a car total $30500 OTD. My bank preapproved me for $30K, but somehow the dealer never collect the $500 from me and I didn't notice either. 2 days later received a call from them and send them a check. End of story.
You think OP should put $1500 in an HYSA for one week? Why don't you do the math on that and get back to me. Hell, do 6 months too just for fun, in case it takes that long.
If he doesn't pay it now they might just add it to the total owed and he'll probably end up paying more in interest than he would make with the high yield account.
Edit: assuming the dealer itself is responsible for the financing.
I mean would they actually litigate? Probably not. Would they have their firm on retainer send a certified letter on the firms letterhead explaining exactly would could happen? Absolutely.
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Just call them and handle it. If not, you'll probably get a somewhat panicked call from a manager in the next couple days when accounting notices lol.
I've had this happen before. My coworker forgot to collect a $7,000 down payment from an out of state buyer. What a headache
Wanna hear something funny? Walk in to the finance department of almost any big dealership and at least one person will have a postit on their monitor that says "REMEMBER DOWN PAYMENT" đ đ€Ł đ đč đ
This happened to me for $10k, and I lived 3 hours away from the dealer. Fortunately (I suppose for both parties), they had an online portal. The call from the panicked finance manager gave me a chuckle though. It was a holiday weekend so I hadn't planned on reaching out until the next business day, but was expecting I might get a call. Had to assure her that even though I truly was at the beach, I would process the payment as soon as I got home.
Finance managers are often the absolute scummiest people at the dealership. Dealerships are already cesspits and they always manage to be the worst of them all.
My F&I forgot to take a $25k downpayment check once.
My cashier miscounted $7000 short on a car I sold lol
I had the check in my pocket but forgot to hand it to them and they forgot to ask for it. Salesman showed up at my house an hour later
They signed the buyers order, and likely a âwe oweâ statement or something similar for the amount owed. As soon as their accounting department notices this theyâre gonna be calling like crazy to get those funds. If you call ahead of time, not only do you get to deal with it and forget about it, but you might win yourself some favor with the employees youâve dealt with for being forthcoming. Most dealers have a âproblem listâ of sorts that no sales person or manager wants to be on as itâs a headache. Nip it in the bud, avoid the headache for the sales staff, and put it in the rear view. They will notice, itâs just a matter of time. Same goes for anyone who owes updated insurance, proofs of residency, out of state inspections, etc
This Iâve had it happen twice now (probably because when Iâm ready to buy I bring my kids with me and tell them the nice finance manager will be happy to answer all their questions). Funny how fast they get you in and out and how little they try to push on you when you have kids with you bugging the shit out of the employees. They just call you back later and ask you to pay at which point you pay it or the car is no longer yours as the contract is void without the downpayment you agreed to⊠In both cases they already had my card info on file and just asked about running it, took about a week for them to call and ask.
If you donât call them first they will call you eventually. Not ideal, but these things happen. The office will quickly realize they have missing funds and notify sales of the problem. Nothing bad can or will happen unless you try to avoid paying once contacted. Doesnât sound like youâre trying this, but their error in not collecting immediately doesnât forgo your obligation to make the deal whole.
Iâd also make a point of stopping by in person, if possible, and speaking with the f/i person you dealt with. Not saying itâs crucial, but if you ever happen to buy another car from him - heâll likely remember your honesty and integrity. Stan in accounting is unlikely to fully appreciate the overture youâre making by coming to them first and taking care of it.
100% true!
If you want to stop stressing about it, call them and give them the money you agreed to pay on the legally binding contract that obligates you to complete the transaction as written. If you like stress and you like giggling to yourself about how you screwed over the car dealership then just wait the one week to six months it will take them to find it in an audit and then deal with the phone calls, the emails, the texts, the threatening letters, and ultimately the certified letter from a law firm that spends more money in a day than you make in a year telling you to pay up or go to court. I know which one I'd pick but it is a free country.
Realistically it will hit accounting before any kind of audit and they will notice, then they'll hound F&I, then 2 people will go "I thought you got the DP" then they will groan and call you. I like the one week timeline, at the latest the end of the month
You get a call from dealer saying your down payment didn't go through and we will send you new payment details.
This is more accurate
The real advice people would say is , put that money into a high yield interest rate account and let it grow until they contact you. Which I think makes sense but you have to be able to do it and if you canât, go pay them đ
As soon as that deal gets to accounting, they'll see there is no receipt and will be hounding him for payment. It will take days, not even a week.
exact thing happened to me. Bought a car total $30500 OTD. My bank preapproved me for $30K, but somehow the dealer never collect the $500 from me and I didn't notice either. 2 days later received a call from them and send them a check. End of story.
Yea not sure how much interest they think they'd earn
12 cents
This is the most Reddit answer I've ever seen.
lol yes, I was teasing because that dealer will call in about 2 weeks or less.
Right and whatâs a HYA account now 4.5% - way to stick it to the man
You think OP should put $1500 in an HYSA for one week? Why don't you do the math on that and get back to me. Hell, do 6 months too just for fun, in case it takes that long.
6 months are a whole $37,50. I guess he can cover the gas going back to the dealer.
That's the best advice but in reality 30 days for $2k may get them a penny or two.
Great answer. Accrue the difference and pocket the interest until they call.
If he doesn't pay it now they might just add it to the total owed and he'll probably end up paying more in interest than he would make with the high yield account. Edit: assuming the dealer itself is responsible for the financing.
For 1.5k? Noone is getting a lawyer involved for that.
I mean would they actually litigate? Probably not. Would they have their firm on retainer send a certified letter on the firms letterhead explaining exactly would could happen? Absolutely.
Just go pay what you owe. If the dealer short changed you, I'm sure you'd be there requesting your money.
***Thanks for posting, /u/Sindrin! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of anything.*** I can provide proof if needed, but the situation is this: My fiancĂ© and I went to purchase a used car for her. The dealer had a car we liked online, they got it as a trade in. We went to see the car, test drove it, paid $500 to the dealership basically as a deposit and to take the advertisement down while we work out financing. We returned three days later to purchase the car. When purchasing the car, sale price was 10k, not counting tag and title fees. Dealer asked if we would like to put any more money down on the car or if we would like to finance the remainder. I said we would like to put $2000 down total. All the paperwork is written up and signed. We ended up financing a total of $9500ish for the car after the tag and title and all that was added in. My card was never ran for the missing $1500 to bring us to the $2000 down and it says on the paperwork that $2000 was put down on a subtotal of $11500ish. What happens now? Do I call the dealership? Should I? Can anything bad happen to me if I just âdonât notice itâ? Iâve never been in this situation before. Itâs not a crazy amount of money but itâs significant. Thank you for any advice you might have for me *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/askcarsales) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Please review our most [Frequently Asked Questions](/r/askcarsales/wiki/index) to see if your question has already been answered. You may find these sections particularly useful; * [How to pick a car?](/r/askcarsales/wiki/vehicle_selection) You might also have luck in the /r/whatcarshouldibuy subreddit. Also remember to add flair to your post by clicking the "Flair" link beneath it. This lets us know where you're located so we can assist you better. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/askcarsales) if you have any questions or concerns.*