TL;DR at bottom.
Hi guys,
I’m not entirely sure where to post this but personal finance seems like the best place. In June of 2018 I purchased a used car through a local dealership.
I got scammed. Hard. I now work in public finance in a federal position. After doing an in-depth training at my current job regarding loans, I decided to go back through my auto loan terms. I found out that the dealership changed my trade-in amount (which was going to be my down payment) from ~$2,000 to $1.00.
Of course at the time I was not aware of this. Not an excuse, but an explanation: One of their employees sexually harassed me while they were running my credit and I was kind of out of it when I went to speak to finance. Naturally, they seat you in a dark office and print the contract in the lightest ink possible.
My auto loan is ~$22,000 with 11% interest at 72 months, making the total over $31,000. Having that $2,000 trade in/down payment would have brought me down to the KBB price, meaning I could have traded it in for something cheaper now that my financial situation has changed. I tried contacting the dealer but they were extremely rude and naturally refused to even listen to me.
At this point I just want to know how to get myself out of this hole. My monthly payments are high and due to the interest, the principle isn’t going down.
Unfortunately, trading in and eating the losses isn’t an option for me right now. 1. I need a car for work, and no the bus doesn’t service my work. 2. I am unlikely to be approved for a personal loan to cover the difference, or even a new car loan for a cheaper car.
Is my only option to continue paying until I can refinance? And at that time, my amount owed cannot exceed the value of the car, correct?
TL;DR: Car dealer changed trade-in/down payment to $1.00 without my knowledge or consent. They’re refusing to correct this.
Edit: Thank you SO much for all of the thoughtful suggestions here. I agree that the “real” scam is the interest rate, however right now I want to focus on the trade in value swap. But seriously, thank you guys!
I have contacted the BBB and reported this. Apparently they’ve sent the complaint to the dealer and the dealer now has until the 27th to “respond.” Is this normal?
Submitted February 13, 2019 at 07:09AM by alloftheothernamesar http://bit.ly/2IamBcG
