Dealership Hijinxs!

[DrPlastic]

Has anyone else had something like this happen to them during the purchase of thier new jeep?

Signed the paperwork and drove home with my new jeep on 14 Dec 2021. Dealer called Suntrust for payoff of the F150. Dealer bought the truck from me outright, not a trade in.

Phone calls from Suntrust started around Christmas day about a late payment.

After several messages and visits to the Jeep dealership, they sent check based on initial 10 day payoff on 21 Dec 2021 and was rejected by Suntrust. Evidently it was insufficient to pay off the note as they waited more than 10 days to send check. A new 10 pay off was sent to the dealership. Phone calls and emails continued about payment.

Dealership finally sends a new check on 11 Jan 2022 to pay off the note. This was approx 1 month after they bought the F150. Phone calls and emails stopped. A third 10-day payoff was not reqested.

Went and checked loan info and showed that there was a balance owed of $156.67.

WTF!

Received phone call from Hall Ford on 27 Jan 2022, thanking ME for bringing MY F150 in for service! WTF! Evidently they sold my truck and the new owner brought it in to get an oil change and they never took me out of the computer!

Informed dealership and they finally sent the check for the balance on 28 Jan 2022.

Went and checked loan info online and it now showed....wait for it......

A balance owed of 41 cents. Ya can't make this shit up!

Sponsored

 

[Sdsteph]

Oh ya. Happened to ne too. $12.41... $12 friggin bucks. Bank never called or anything. Didn't notice till my credit rating took a 40 point hit.

 

[sharpsicle]

This sounds more like the bank not giving the dealer a proper payoff amount and running them around. I don't see the dealer being at fault, clearly they're stuck in the middle and are trying to correct it, but are getting payoff amounts that don't include accrued interest. And remember, the dealer can't sell the vehicle without the title, which they won't get cleared until the bank has a zero balance on the note.

Either way you always need to follow up on these things to make sure it all went down correctly. I kept an eye on my old car through the state's VIN lookup until I saw the leinholder removed.

 

[DrPlastic]

No...it was the dealership. They waited too long to send out the check, triggering another 10-day pay off. Then the sent the checks without contacting the bank for the most current payoff. They had the initial 10-day pay off dated 13 Dec 2021, but decided to send out the check over 1 month later on 21 Jan 2022, after 30+ interest had now accrued since the initial 10-pay payoff was requested.

 

[sharpsicle]

Signed the paperwork and drove home with my new jeep on 14 Dec 2021. Dealer called Suntrust for payoff of the F150.
...
they sent check based on initial 10 day payoff on 21 Dec 2021 and was rejected by Suntrust. Evidently it was insufficient to pay off the note as they waited more than 10 days to send check.

That's 7 days. Maybe I'm missing where they waited more than 10? If the payoff amount was insufficient within the 10-day window like you said then they were given a bad payoff amount.

In the end they're getting it squared away and can't do anything with the F150 until they do, so they're very clearly on the hook for this too. If they decide to delay and let the interest keep adding up that's on them. No need to get worked up as you have the documentation to show they bought it.

 

[Kblanton]

Had a similar issue. Dealership bought my car outright. Called for the payoff but it took them 2 weeks to cut a check and get it to them. I don't understand why they don't do some kind of bank money transfer to get the payoff at the lowest amount? If I call they will take my money over the phone.

As for the title. They don't have to have it. It's call "title attached". As a dealer they are banking on you not having cash. If you have to finance it you never see the title until it's paid off. They just do the paperwork and it gets handled later.

 

[dcmdon]

when you call for a payoff, the best thing to do is to get a number called a "per diem". or per day. That is the interest that accrues per day.

The payoff may be 10,000 today and tomorrow it will be 10,002.45

 

[DrPlastic]

In the end they're getting it squared away and can't do anything with the F150 until they do, so they're very clearly on the hook for this too. If they decide to delay and let the interest keep adding up that's on them. No need to get worked up as you have the documentation to show they bought it.

They got a 10-day payoff on 13 and 14th of Dec. they sent the payoff check on 21 Jan 2022. 39 days after the 10-day payoff was given to them by the owning bank. In Virginia they use a 10-day not a 7-day payoff.

The dealer is in legal hot water since the sold my old truck before getting the title to it form the owning bank.

 

[ilmostro]

Traded a motorcycle in once. The dealer didn't pay off the loan but took over making the payments.

6 months go by and I check my credit report and the motorcycle is still showing with a balance owed. Called the finance company and was told I was still showing as the owner and were still making payments on it.

Called the dealer and lost. my. shit. on them. They knew they were busted, overnighted a check to the finance company and gave me a bunch of stuff to try and shut me up. They closed less than a year later.

 

[sharpsicle]

The dealer is in legal hot water since the sold my old truck before getting the title to it form the owning bank.

Are you sure they didn't just take it somewhere for service after buying it from you? They go through a process before listing it for sale, and being that it was a Ford it wouldn't be uncommon for them to farm out the inspection and service work to a Ford dealer.

I still think this is a lot of noise over nothing.

 

[Rockabillyroy]

I owned my JKU and traded it in for my JT.
I didn't have the bank issue, but I did receive a call letting me know to pick up 'my JKU' because the service had been done.


Which was double strange since it would have been the first time any dealership has service my jeep. Hahaha

 

[johnparjr]

Yep happened to me as well with my wife’s Hyundai and the dealer took care of it but I watched the account til it said $0

 

[dcmdon]

They got a 10-day payoff on 13 and 14th of Dec. they sent the payoff check on 21 Jan 2022. 39 days after the 10-day payoff was given to them by the owning bank. In Virginia they use a 10-day not a 7-day payoff.

The dealer is in legal hot water since the sold my old truck before getting the title to it form the owning bank.

When I sold cars, if we got a trade in and sold it before we got the title back from the bank we sent the buyer out on a dealer plate until we got it.

The real problem here is that they sold it before they paid it off. Either way, they screwed up big time.

I'd suggest that you pre-emptively have the dealer write you a letter explaining what happened in case your credit score takes a hit. You can get a free report from each credit bureau once per year. Give it a couple of months and then see if the finance company reported you as 30 days late, if it went that long.

If I did go 30 days late and it was on my credit reports I'd probably sue them in small claims court for something. That kind of dicking around really annoys me. Small claims is a great equalizer.

 

[DrPlastic]

Are you sure they didn't just take it somewhere for service after buying it from you? They go through a process before listing it for sale, and being that it was a Ford it wouldn't be uncommon for them to farm out the inspection and service work to a Ford dealer.

I still think this is a lot of noise over nothing.

The Truck was listed for sale on their pre-owned lot, selling for $52,200.00. A month later it was gone off the lot.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

This sounds more like the bank not giving the dealer a proper payoff amount and running them around. I don't see the dealer being at fault, clearly they're stuck in the middle and are trying to correct it, but are getting payoff amounts that don't include accrued interest. And remember, the dealer can't sell the vehicle without the title, which they won't get cleared until the bank has a zero balance on the note.

Either way you always need to follow up on these things to make sure it all went down correctly. I kept an eye on my old car through the state's VIN lookup until I saw the leinholder removed.

What I've run into in the past is that they give the correct pay-off amount if paid within xx days. Dealer misses that date and interest accrues. Had that happen with a couple of things. I always make sure to ask for a payoff amount in the future, and then get a refund if it gets there sooner.

Interest accrues every day - so if they are slow paying or the mail is delayed or whatever, it can lead to pennies still owed.

Sponsored