What do you suggest if a dealer give you everything you agree to the drive offs ie $880 then they state they forgot to include the amount due to registration? This happened when I went with a friend for a lease on a 3 series. We went to the dealership after he committed to sign the final paperwork and the salesperson was told and paid the $880 via a form to charge his credit card via email. When we got to the finance guy who was trying to upsell with wheel and tire etc. at the end he said I just need $400 and we are done. My friend gave the card and then I double checked the emailed I was CC on and it showed he had paid the original amount. He went to the salesperson and he was flustered and spoke with the finance manager. Apparently the finance manager had screwed up and left out a fee when doing the calculations. They wouldn’t budge when my friend just said take it out from other fees. He tried to play hardball, but then the finance guy walked out and sad I will shred your information since you didn’t complete the lease! In the end he paid the money, but I was pissed and the salesperson was very upset with the finance manger. What would have been the right thing to do?
Call his bluff and walk away if needed. Don’t reward scum tactics
To walk. But it’s personal choice.
Just walk. Finance don’t just “forget” fees. It is automatically calculated when you desk/load a deal. Just another shady sales tactics.
If you had it in writing along the lines of “total due at signing including drive offs” for the most part they must honor it because it is legally binding. If somehow they really forgot, then they will have to just discount the car even further for their own mistake.
I tried that by showing the last email that stated total due at signing then the $800 from the salesperson. I asked them to discount it they said it wouldn’t allow them to remove fees owed for taxes. They wouldn’t further lower the price on the car. He tried to call their bluff but unfortunately it was too good of a deal. The salesperson seemed honest the finance manager did not.
These were parts of the last emails before the pickup.
“This car has a slightly higher MSRP at $53,710, but what if I could do the same deal on this car? $800 up front, $538 a month for 36 months and 10k miles per year.” Then he sent a email once I tried to push him a bit lower, but I accepted the following:
“First I need to let you know that I do not have a true sign and drive program right now where I can do the deal with no money out of pocket so with this deal, the least that I could do for money due at signing would be the first month payment and the DMV fees which comes to $800.” Then I agreed. “The good news is that if you would be prepared to pay the $800 up front I can do the lease on my car for the $538 and10k miles per year. If this would be a deal, I can write it up and take the car off the market today. I know I was not able to lower the monthly payment, but I still think this is a great deal for the car I have.”
The payment of 800 and 538 was supposed to include taxes and all fees except those that were due upfront being the $800.
It was for this 2018 330xi? You should have walked.
I did it for my friend. I was the one who negotiated with the dealer. Dealer only met him at the signing with final paperwork. My friend forwarded me all the info the dealer requested to complete a credit check and for the due at signing. I take responsibility for my screw up of not suggesting walking. I was with him at the signing, that is when things went bad and we went from $800 to 1179.
Ok, but I don’t buy it. Sorry.
Same exact experience on my recent Volvo lease.
The deal agreed over previous conversations/emails was $335 a month and $335 due at signing.
When I went to dealership for signing, it was like… Oops…! Somehow sales person “forgot” to add the registration and they asked for extra $360.
It was an hour drive for me I went with all family members. So I said, I have invested so much time on this that instead of haggling over $360 I can sign $340 a month instead of $335 but that’s pretty much it.
To my surprise sales manager said no, they can’t budge. So I said thanks and started walking out then sales person came rushing at the door and said sales manager agreed for $340.
I exactly knew what was going on but I was too tired and was ready to sign at $340 anyways. So I did.
I think in these scenarios I’d say to the dealer, "we have three options:
- I can leave now, but we don’t want that… or we can
- Print out the contract and go through it line by line, I wouldn’t want you to forget anything else… or
- You can just “fix it” and we can all be on our way!
Your choice!"
Write a review on their social media page and tell others what happened. Very shady sales tactic but I still see it happen all the time. When a client informs me they got an outrageous deal, I am almost 100% certain that that dealership is not fully disclosing the numbers until they arrive. All dealerships purchase their cars at the same price from the manufacturer. There is always a line we rarely cross because that really puts the deal in the red.
By the time they are in f&i and get the bad news, they are so heavily invested that they usually just agree to “bump” since it ends up being the same deal they would’ve otherwise gotten from another dealership who was being transparent in the first place.
Some dealerships still practice this because unfortunately it still works…
Agreed.
I would have definitely taken it to reviews / social media if they would have let me walk out even after offering more money ($340 a month) than agreed earlier ($335 a month).
But I was ready to take in $5 a month hit considering that’s the car color I wanted. And in the end we closed it at $340.
But you right, it ended up being the same deal which otherwise would have been a straight deal from other dealer.
Exactly we had driven almost 2 and a half hours to get to the dealer. Once they got you at the dealership it’s hard to negotiate.
We should put a dealer or salesperson black list on here for when this type of stuff happens.
I’ve been in that boat too. Got almost burned the first time, as I lived in rural areas and nearest city with dealerships was 2.5 hours. What I did was keep the second best price dealership as a back-up option. In case the first one doesn’t fall thru, walk away and take an uber etc to the second one.
Great post for nooby hackers 
On my Lexus lease, they used the $3100 lease cash Towards the registration fees and cap cost reduction. Is this norm with lease cash?
Yes. Drives offs are paid upfront and anything more than the drive offs will go towards cap reduction.
Oh man, never go with your family. 