Good afternoon, I have spent most of the day searching for my particular situation and haven’t really found anything. Hoping the folks here can possibly shed some light on what might be happening. I leased a vehicle on 11/24/23. I traded my car in with about 1k negative equity (know better now from reading on this site). I live in NC but leased from a dealer in GA. I took delivery of the vehicle and have driven it about 3k miles. About 3 weeks later, the finance guy calls and says there is some 3% lease fee in NC he didn’t know about. I said I hope your aren’t calling trying to change this deal. He states he is just informing me, but they are taking care of it and my deal won’t change. I then get a call from the bank the trade in was financed through, the dealership hasn’t paid it off yet. I call the dealership and the sales rep says it sometimes takes 30-45 days to pay off the car. Car has still not been paid off, and i have left several messages for the finance guy and he won’t call me back. I spoke to someone in Accounting today and she stated the lease had not yet been funded and they would not pay off my trade until it had been funded. I think it is clear that there is some issue with the paperwork They have never asked me to sign new paperwork. Is there any legitimate reason for a dealer to wait 6 weeks to send the contract to the bank? Am I correct in thinking that if/when they ask me to sign a new contract I can refuse and ask to turn in the vehicle and get my old vehicle back? thanks for any help
Make sure you keep making the payments on time on your old vehicle until this is resolved. (They’ll refund any overpayment that may result).
I would hate for you to wake up one day with an ugly surprise on each of your credit reports.
Yes, you can refuse with a couple of caveats. You may be on the hook for the mileage/wear & tear on the new car on return, and your previous car may no longer be available to be returned to you. Just some things to be aware of.
I call bullshit
No.
Genuine questions: if the OP is asked to a sign a new contract and asks to unwind the deal, how could they be charged for excess mileage and why would the previous car not be available to them?
I am also curious. If the deal fails to fund, shouldn’t the burden be on the dealer for not properly structuring the deal? Also, if the traded car was not paid off, they could not legally get rid of it.
3k miles driven already in 5 weeks? There’s usually language in the lease agreement for situations where the deal isn’t funded and some manner of reasonable use. Dealer probably doesn’t even want the car back at this point. Not impossible, but pretty hard to sell a “new” car with 3k miles on it. Could put it into a demo program but that may have time/duration requirements on it before they can recoup additional $. Plus with 3k miles, there will be some wear/tear on it. Whether it’s excessive or not 
For the trade-in, who knows where it is by this point or if it’s even still on the dealer’s lot. If it is, then great. From a sales perspective, it’s an asset I procured (relatively speaking even if it’s not paid off yet) and I need to turn it around ASAP. Is it already sold, wholesaled, or auctioned off?
If it’s a highly desirable trade-in with good margin, a dealer may keep it on their used lot for sale. But is it already sold with the year-end rush? Too many moving parts and variables. Sometimes the dealer employees won’t know what happened to it , thus the radio silence. Not saying this is what happened, just possibilities.
Valid points, and this is where OP will need to dig in for details.
Not unknown for dealers to sell cars without the title in hand. Just look up Carvana in NC.
I assumed that if I continued paying, the dealer would call my bank when ready to pay off and get the reduced payoff amount. I did give them the 10 day payoff and per diem, so that may not be the case. Honestly this is the first time I have traded in a vehicle in over 20 years.
The accounting department specifically told me today they were holding off paying off my car until the lease was filled, so that is it didn’t find for some reason they can return it to me.
Your obligations to the current creditor aren’t suspended because you are having difficulty with an unrelated third party.
There’s an old saying… “there’s what’s right and what is. You have to deal with what is.”
I’m sure it’s not unknown, but, it the lease isn’t paid off, I assume that, regardless of whether it is commonplace or not, the final seller will need to return the car.
OP, what does your lease contract say about excess mileage and such, if the deal doesn’t fund?
The title does take a little while to receive so I can perceive the idea that they sell the car after making the payoff with the expectation that the title will be released at some point. But from a legal perspective, it seems like it would be a very improper move to sell a car which they have not even paid off yet. Not just from the OP’s side, but from the purchaser of the used car’s side as well, it would be a major nightmare for them to do this.
OP definitely has to check the language of his signed contract but if he signed in good faith and the error is solely due to the dealer’s negligence, there’s definitely cause to fight this.
Agreed 101010
NC Highway Use (Sales) Tax is 3% on the payment. If you aren’t paying that, are you paying GA tax, or no sales tax at all? That is the first thing I would look up on your contract. Also, keep paying on your trade, if you overpay, you will get it back, like others have said.
You probably won’t have option to unwind since you put on all these miles. Your trade in is probably already at the auction. You will be on hook for miles and wear/tear.
Usually 3% in NC but not much unless your payment is really high. I would tell dealer to just eat their mistake and call it a day.
Most states will not allow you to sell the car (retail) without the title
Try to call your funding bank and see why your loan is held up. It may be something small (like address verification).
So you missed 1 or 2 payments of your previous car already? I would start with making those payments first.