Dealer says I cannot get license plates unless I agree to new lease

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Hello,
I’ve searched/read many threads about dealers requiring the resigning of leases, but I haven’t found one that is the same as my situation…so, here’s my problem.

I’m going to keep the details as short as I can, but I will supply more if you need them: My first ever lease experience has become so stressful that I now hate the 2019 Lincoln Navigator Reserve L which I leased the end of June, 2019.
I traded in a smaller SUV which worth (at retail) approximately what I owed BMW on a 0% loan. The sales contract for the trade is exactly the payoff amount and my loan was paid off by dealership in mid July. I got my Lincoln Financial welcome letter about same time and set up automatic online payments in time for the second payment to be made. All was well…or so I thought.

End of August I start getting emails from Finance dude saying the original lease needs to be rescinded and I have to sign a new lease. He says problem is with the County objecting to the way taxes were collected and the car cannot be titled/licensed with original contract.
New contract and rescission agreement are sent to me along with second temporary permit. I discover my payment is increasing slightly, but the Capital Cost Reduction is more than doubled! AND it’s BACKDATED to June. The rescission agreement says original is rescinded but also says new contract is taking it’s place…so it’s not really a rescission.

I do a quick internet search and read about yoyo scams and such. I’ll be a 69 year old lady next month and didn’t appreciate the condescension I was getting during the original negotiations, so this just was too unsettling for me to feel comfortable. Therefore, I said if the original contract could not work, I would agree to rescind that contract, but I would not be signing a new lease. If that meant the car must be returned, then so be it.

Since then I have been threatened with numerous consequences: being charged $50/day and $0.50/mile if I returned it; ruining my credit by reporting a “voluntary repossession” and having a car I must pay for but not be able legally drive.

I just keep repeating my position and they continue to refuse take back the car. Then, in mid September, I receive two letters from Lincoln Financial. One is a credit denial and second is saying they are making a Counteroffer through the dealership. So now I’m really confused.

My credit report shows 4 hard pulls (the last one in August) which has caused my score to drop from 800ish to 750. I signed one credit application only and that was in late June!

At this point I just want my trade in back and to be done with Lincoln!

There is no paperwork on file with the County and I cannot get license plates. The second temporary permit expires near the end of October when I will be out of state on a road trip. What should I do at this point?

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Good for you :muscle:t3:

This isn’t optimal but you are still A-tier just about everywhere so it shouldn’t affect a new loan/lease. But if they threaten to ruin your credit just tell them their malpractice already did.

It sounds like they goofed on the taxes and the contract wasn’t cashable, the deal didn’t get funded (which means it wasn’t ever titled as new with dmv) which is why they won’t issue you plates. Unless you signed like a promissory note with those terms ($50 and 0.50) they can try and charge you for mileage closer to the contract overage (0.20 or 0.25) - how many miles are on this future “executive demo?”

It BMW Financial is saying your trade is paid in full, and they gave you the payoff on the trade, I’d move on and don’t worry about getting the trade back.

If they can offer you the same exact lease terms for the same payment, would you keep it? I’d offer them one more chance to do the deal as agreed otherwise you’ll drop it off and good luck to them. The dealership themselves would have to come after you for mileage. How long have you been driving this thing?

Considering that your trade-in was done in June, the chances of getting it back are slim to none. The chance that the dealer hasn’t disposed of it now are just so low

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That’s the thing…it has been funded! Lincoln Financial says my account if fine; I have made payments for August, Sept and October. LF says the rescission was sent “at the request of the dealership” and that dealer did not give them a reason for this. LF says it has not been told by the dealership of any issues. LF also said they have not received the title which is overdue from the dealership.

I’ve had it since end of June and had already taken a road trip before the dealer first contacted me end of August. I put it in the garage and stopped driving it, but I have recently started driving it again…I am paying for it and it’s the only SUV I have now. It has about 4400 miles on it.

My trade in is still on the dealership’s website, but who knows how often they update that. Problem there is I had a 0% loan and BMW would probably not reinstate that!!

I signed my contract 3 times and all of them back dated (with overnight mail) so that it would be accepted by creditor. In your case it is even funded by LF but they have messed up taxes which sometimes happens. They probably had some rebates that was not applied correctly so it was not taxed correctly (or the other way) if your payment is not changing just sign the new one. You won’t be getting your trade in back. And I think you won’t be paying for two navigators if you re sign the contract.

Do you mean they’re asking you to double the down payment/asking you for money out of pocket to keep the car?

yea I think they are asking her to put more money down – In which case I would just return the car and walk away – Ask for a complete refund…

Also I would press them on the multiple hard pulls without consent over the three months. Kind of a big deal.

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Seems like as others said they messed up the tax part, and it’s completely their fault. They should honor the same deal, because that’s what you agreed on.

I can’t give you legal advice but maybe you can post this question to Avvo and see what lawyers say about it. No one should treat you this way for something obviously not your fault.

This sounds like the perfect thing to call the local news station about.

As for the hard pulls, I’d contact the credit bureaus and let them know that these were unauthorized. Also tell them that they’re threatening to report negatives on your account when it’s actually in good standing. The dealership can’t actually do that anyway. It would need to be a creditor you’ve established an account with (LFS in this case). I doubt they’d actually be stupid enough to falsely report your account status, but make sure you get statements from their site now showing that you made all your payments and are up to date so you can dispute the negatives in the future.

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I like B5RT’s suggestion about calling the news. But it also sounds like you have a lawsuit on your hands.

It’s as if I promised you that if you fly to Alaska (trade in your car) I’d let you stay at my hotel for $20 a night. Then when you get here, I try charging you $100 a night (the renegotiated car payment). You obviously don’t think it’s fair, but based on my dishonestly you’ve put yourself in a horrible situation. Contact a layer.

This is the least of your problems, but four credit inquiries will not drop your score by 50 points. Four automotive pulls in close proximity are only scored as one, and one barely matters (even if they were spaced apart, four inquiries would not equal -50 points).

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You need to contact a lawyer immediately. Go seek legal council. Thousands of your dollars are the line.

The auto credit pulls also don’t lower your credit score that much… something else is going on with your credit reporting.

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A consumer does not have to authorize a credit pull, the Fair Credit Reporting Act defines when a business has permissible purpose to access a consumer’s credit report(s).

The bureaus don’t care what anyone is “threatening” to report. If a data furnisher provides incorrect information to a credit bureau, the consumer can dispute the information. You cannot preemptively dispute information that isn’t being reported.

Besides, the lessor is the data furnisher of lease information to the credit bureaus, and not the dealer anyway.

Not a big deal, it’s a big zero.

The FCRA does not limit how many times your credit report can be accessed by a company with permissible purpose to access it.

Its not about accessing. You can do as many soft pulls as you want. I’m talking about hard inquiries - A lender typically does a hard inquiry once – Three hard pulls over three months is fishy.

You are confusing what may be common practice with actual law.

The FCRA doesn’t differentiate between a hard and soft (doesn’t even mention the concept), nor does any other statute or regulation that I’ve ever seen.

I learn something new every day, so if you have a citation from an authoritative source please post it.

If it is funded, I fail to see what the issue is. Let LFS go to work for you. They paid the dealership for the car and have yet to receive title on a vehicle they now own. So LFS should be fighting with the dealer, not you. I would also press LFS on the plates. I would ask that they request them from the dealership on your behalf since LFS owns the vehicle and take your money each month.

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Astounding how many people write random babblers on online forums when faced with clear legal issues. Call. An. Attorney.

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Astounding how many people lawyer up rather than make a couple of phone calls and/or get all the facts first.

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