“wanted to get back to an EV”.
That’s not a need.
And refloating negative equity at high interest rate AND paying 10% sales tax on top of that probably is not the wisest financial decision. You’re digging yourself a bigger financial hole and now you don’t even have your new EV.
Hope the dealer at least gave you a free loaner-otherwise, you’re making payments and have no ride.
Can the OP just cancel the deal, since he hasn’t received the vehicle yet? Seems like the negative equity cycle will continue if he changes his mind on this new vehicle.
He drove it off the lot.
I did take the delivery. It just died about 5 minutes later on the freeway.
I’m wondering if I have any pull to refuse to take it back considering the whole car died right after I bought it and I almost got into a car accident because of it. Would think the circumstances would at least help me negotiate something.
Not really… Refuse to take it back and do what exactly - should they somehow eat your $11K because your new car broke down 5 minutes later? I’d be hoping for a lemon law situation in your case (and hopefully you got a loaner).
Like @Carbuster1 advised already, pull the PDI and service history if any (buy CarFax if needed) and talk to an attorney. See if they can argue that you traveled such a minimal time and distance that you didn’t really take a delivery (I’m not a lawyer, in accounting it’s called de minimis, even IRS respects it). Good luck!
If you do get it unwound, see if you can refi your negative equity if it comes back to you: credit union, line of credit, etc.
Do not threaten lawsuit or mention lemon law to the dealer even if you are seeking legal advice.
Oh? What’s the best way to approach then? Just take the car back when they say it’s repaired? Was hoping to use this to at least attempt to get a better deal here or turn it in.
Why did you do this? What was the car with the negative equity?
EDIT:
What mileage terms? 10k per year?
And what was wrong the MB that you were willing to take an $11K+ hit on it?
New vehicles break all the time, and unless it happens to fall under the lemon law, this isn’t grounds to return the vehicle IMO.
The dealership did nothing wrong and you made the adult decision of entering into a contract with MBFS. You were happy with paying the ~$1,300/mo effective then and you should be happy now. The lease is nearly besides the point. You willing burned $11k (upfront) to satisfy a want, not a need. That is totally fine if money is no object, but we likely wouldn’t have this thread if that were the case.
Enjoy the new vehicle and good luck with the repair. A reputable dealer should provide you with a loaner or rental vehicle.
There is no de minimus exception for driving off the lot. Once you do so, the deal is final.
If I were the OP, I would contact a lemon law lawyer.
I’m confused, why do you think either returning the car for an unwind or a renegotiation is on the table?
I personally would put both unwind and renegotiation on the table if a brand new Mercedes died after five minutes. Whether the dealer will do anything is a different story.
When I bought a Camry in 2011, I noticed a scratch on one of the wheels, and the dealer agreed in writing to swap it out later that week. They also agreed I could bring the check for final payment at that time.
I showed up on the appointed day, and they decided to swap out a wheel from another new car, which was ok with me. However, they had an older guy try to do the work off by himself, and he apparently did not know how to reprogram the TPMS sensors. I was wondering around the dealership, and saw him trying to do so. He had let all the air out of all four tires, and the entire weight of the car was sitting on the four flat tires. I was incensed to see this, and I went and asked to speak with the manager. I told him I wanted a different “new” car, and I wanted it that day. He asked me to go across the street for lunch (which he would pay for), and he would try to resolve the issue.
When I returned from lunch, the TPMS issue had been solved, and the manager offered me $500 off for my troubles, which I accepted. If I had not put unwind on the table, I would not have received anything.
Had you already taken delivery of the car though? Or was it on the lot the entire time? This situation here stinks since it happened so quickly after OP took delivery. I’m assuming there was a test drive and there were no issues then for them? There’s really no leverage to unwind anything however I would still be raising hell if my new car crapped out like that 5 minutes after driving it off the lot. They might not end up canceling the deal but I’d make them try to do something to make the situation right somehow.
How would plan to carry through with the threat of unwinding or renegotiating?
I do not think OP needs to make a threat. If it were me, i would contact the General Manager of the dealership and explain what I wanted. I would stress that having the car die on the freeway was terrifying, and that I would not feel comfortable driving that car again.
I dont disagree that one should express frustration with the situation to the gm and see what they can do, but one should also be aware that renegotiating and unwinding are out of their control.