Question about 1st auto loan - Military

[JamesB95]

Hi,

I just bought my first new car Saturday.. I feel good about it but kind of ripped off...

I was told they had a $2,500 rebate and that I got military discount. But, I am not seeing that in the breakdown of the papers I got. Is there anything I can do at this point? Maybe go to the dealer? Would it even be worth it at this point since the paperwork is done... I do have 1 more down payment on the 1st, would that give me leverage to still get my discounts?

By the way, I went alone and did not educate myself too much.. which I learned my lesson, now. It is a 2016 Toyota Corolla LE ECO Premium by the way... the loan finance amount is $24,090. Which, I plan to refinance as Ally Fin. gave me 10% which is way too much...

Thanks.

P.S. I did submit a auto refinance app with NFCU which we called Ally but my account is not showing yet since so new.. will check within 14 days and see if it is reporting yet, if not, will cancel that app and reapp later.

[Anonymous]

I'm also military but started where you did. Just basically paid the price that was on the sticker. Since then, I've educated myself and have NEVER paid sticker price ever again. Funny thing, I took one of my soldiers to buy a car.. the same car you just bought lol but it was the next trim up. I literally did all the negotiating for him. They also had the 2500 factory rebate. Buuut never let them use that as leverage as THEIR discount. A factory rebate is something the manufacturer pays, not the dealer so the dealer isn't loosing any money. So I basically acted like the rebate didn't exist and worked on their price before the rebate. Got 2800 off their price THEN we applied the rebate of 2500 on top of that. A 5,600 savings. Now, far as then getting your final draft fixed. There still can be time if the loan wasn't fully funded yet. If the approving bank hasn't set up the account and funded money to the dealer yet then you can still make changes. This is what happened to my buddy. He got into the finance office and they played with the price a bit and added all these dealer add ons such as GAP (a total rip off from the dealer. Get from Your insurance a few dollars extra a month) a hifty warranty and some other nonsense. I stepped in a had them re write the draft. They gave us a hard time but it was fixable because they car wasn't fully funded by the bank yet... so call the bank that approved you and see if they funded the loan yet.. if not, there's hope

[StartingOver10]

Even if the loan is fully funded you can cancel the extra warranty (there is probably one added to the price) and have them credit your loan balance. You can cancel the expensive dealership GAP and get one from your insurance company and have that expensive premium credited to your balance. As pointed out in other threads, make sure you get your new GAP policy before cancelling the old one so you don't venture out in the car and risk having an accident without it. 

Cancel anything else you can find in the contract that you didn't ask for and don't want and that can be cancelled and have those charges credited. Do it right away. You get two benefits by taking care of this immediately:  1) reduction of your negative equity and 2) the F&I guy at the dealership doesn't get the extra commission he built into the deal by sneaking in those extra charges.  

Warning: soap box coming:  I don't mind people earning their living through commission at all. However, it is frustrating that F&I people continually do it through deceit and insert all of these "add ons" in the contract at great expense to you, usually without disclosing the item's total cost up front. If you cancel these items early on, then they won't get the extra commission and at some point may learn to first disclose and only add the item when the consumer says they want to buy it. Off soap box now.

OP, I have been in your shoes when I purchased my first car. But just like you discovered all of these extras I didn't ask for and didn't know how much they cost.  That was many years ago and I have purchased many vehicles.  Now I get my financing outside the dealership before I buy so the F&I people stay out of my financing. It is the best way to protect yourself. 

Make sure you cancel the items before you refi. Make sure you get something in writing confirming the amount credited back to your loan.

[JamesB95]

Yea I have been reaching out to the dealership but have not had a response from the finance people yet.. I left a message with the receptionist. I might try and get my supervisor or a friend of mine to come out with me to the dealership tomorrow before Ally Bank gets the loan finished.

All the information you provided helped me a lot! I will go in there and stand my ground as I was pretty clueless on what I was doing until now. And yes they put in the extra GAP through the dealer which changed the payments by 20 some dollars a month.

What if they lie or try telling me I am unable to remove something I am legally able? Is there any sort of backing I can bring with me in hand? As, I am sure they will not want to get rid of the extra without a fight.

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

Yea I have been reaching out to the dealership but have not had a response from the finance people yet.. I left a message with the receptionist. I might try and get my supervisor or a friend of mine to come out with me to the dealership tomorrow before Ally Bank gets the loan finished.

All the information you provided helped me a lot! I will go in there and stand my ground as I was pretty clueless on what I was doing until now. And yes they put in the extra GAP through the dealer which changed the payments by 20 some dollars a month.

What if they lie or try telling me I am unable to remove something I am legally able? Is there any sort of backing I can bring with me in hand? As, I am sure they will not want to get rid of the extra without a fight.

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You legally can't just remove the GAP insurance or any extended warranty because you found out afterwards or changed your mind.  You signed a valid contract so if the dealership insists, they do not have to redo the contract.  Being 'clueless' unfortunately is not a legal term for voiding or altering a legally signed contract. What you can do is cancel the insurance and any other added item like an extended warranty.  Depending on the policies you may have to do this thru the dealership or the insurance/warranty company.  The best approach is to go into the dealership and ask to speak to either the General Sales Mmanager or GM and explain to them your situation and want to know how to go about canceling any unwanted add on.  If they haven't sent the contract in, and it's entirely possible that they have done so already, you might be able to get them to redo the original contract.  If not then you will have to cancel them but the payments on the loan will remain the same.  The best approach is to be polite and how they respond because legally they haven't done a thing wrong.  Good luck.

[Sandman771]

You can cancel any extra products you purchased in the business office and that finance manager will get charged back to them. You will not get a refund nor will your payment change. The only thing that will change is your balance owed will decrease. I would do that keep it six months then go to NFCU and refinance and get their $299 GAP. 

[JamesB95]

I am quite disappointed.. I went to the dealer yesterday. I was approached by an individual as I was walking into the office. I asked to speak to the GM or GFM, he had me wait outside and wrote down what I was asking about and my name and number... I was very polite. I was told he was busy but would give me a call back later (which they did not).

I also tried emailing them (2 times now) a few days ago for general questioning about the GAP, extended warranty and the rebate of $2,500 that I am not seeing and would like help to find on my contract...

I might just have to take the loss of the rebate, and GAP, but I am concerned as I feel stuck in this extended warranty and no one will answer my questions... I even emailed the original sale person who sold me the car, at first she answered until my next reply, inquiring about the above.

What if I contact the manufacturer about the rebate? Would they help at all keeping me satisfied as a customer if the dealer will not even reach out to me? Maybe leaving a negative review explaining my experience so far? Of course I will wait a few more days, but, I have been trying for almost half a week and I just got the car the 9th.

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

I am quite disappointed.. I went to the dealer yesterday. I was approached by an individual as I was walking into the office. I asked to speak to the GM or GFM, he had me wait outside and wrote down what I was asking about and my name and number... I was very polite. I was told he was busy but would give me a call back later (which they did not).

I also tried emailing them (2 times now) a few days ago for general questioning about the GAP, extended warranty and the rebate of $2,500 that I am not seeing and would like help to find on my contract...

I might just have to take the loss of the rebate, and GAP, but I am concerned as I feel stuck in this extended warranty and no one will answer my questions... I even emailed the original sale person who sold me the car, at first she answered until my next reply, inquiring about the above.

What if I contact the manufacturer about the rebate? Would they help at all keeping me satisfied as a customer if the dealer will not even reach out to me? Maybe leaving a negative review explaining my experience so far? Of course I will wait a few more days, but, I have been trying for almost half a week and I just got the car the 9th.

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Do you have copies of the extended warranty and GAP insurance plans?  If so, there should be information on both of those abut how to cancel them.  As this point, that's the route that you're going to need to go because the dealership unfortunately seems to be uwilling to assist you.

While leaving a review is certainly something that I would do it's not really going to help you much.  I would contact the auto manufacturer and explain to them the situation.  Are you absolutely positive that you did not receive the manufactuer rebate?  Usually there is a form that you sign dealing with the rebate.  Rebates are usually an either or situation.  As in, you get a $2000 rebate or 0% financing for 60 months but you don't get both.  It's really hard to know without seeing all of your paperwork.

Edit-reread your first post so I see you didn't get any 0% financing.  You need to verify the rebate situation and don't just let it slide by.  It's possible that it was part of the discounted price of the auto but hard to know for sure.

[JamesB95]

I have a copy of the GAP ($895.00), vehicle service contract, and the VERY LONG yellow retail installment sale contract - simple finance charge (with arbitration provision). I looked and see no rebate listed.. I do not know where to look but I did look at the break down and see no discounts at all on it. The total finance is 24097.54 @ 10.85 % with Ally Financial 74 months.

I asked my sales person several times before stepping in the finance office that she was sure the 2,500 rebate would apply.. and she assured me several times. I didn't think of anything else of it after that. 

[Anonymous]

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@JamesB95 wrote:

@I have a copy of the GAP ($895.00), vehicle service contract, and the VERY LONG yellow retail installment sale contract - simple finance charge (with arbitration provision). I looked and see no rebate listed.. I do not know where to look but I did look at the break down and see no discounts at all on it. The total finance is 24097.54 @ 10.85 % with Ally Financial 74 months.

I asked my sales person several times before stepping in the finance office that she was sure the 2,500 rebate would apply.. and she assured me several times. I didn't think of anything else of it after that. 

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Ok, then you need to read the GAP and extended warranty contracts and if you want to cancel, follow their instructions.  You should have a copy of the purchase order as well which should show the price of the car before any insurance and warrnty add ons.  I would need to know the MSRP and the sale price (not the amount financed) to know if the rebate was included or not. If not, you should get that because that's where you would see any rebate discount.  I'd give them to the end of tomorrow to respond and then call the customer service line of the manufactuer and get tehir assistance.  Emphasize that you're in the military and feel that you have been treated poorly.