Shady dealer pulled my credit

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

It's illegal for them to pull credit without your permission. Go back, threaten a lawsuit and see how fast they move. Sorry that my advice is extreme and maybe late, but those are facts. If you deal with FACTS, you find that your negotiations are faster and things like this get taken care of. Because the pull was NOT authorized, I bet you CAN get the agencies to remove them. That said, it isn't easy. I noticed some posts here that say you can't do this. I bet you CAN. It is a basic tenet of law that if something is illegal, it cannot be part of a legitimate transaction and any court in the land would force the reversal. 

I am sure they will claim you verbally authorized it, but check and see if, by law, they need a signature.

If there was ANY damage to your credit score, you have a legitimate formal complaint. I would sue in circuit court, not small claims because they have to answer in a different manner, hire a lawyer, etc. You can also get punitive damages because this is not a contract case. You can also demonstrate that they KNEW (or should have known - that is legal language) that you were shopping for a car, and that pulling your credit would do a number of things;1) Tell them or their competitors where you've been shopping 2) lower your score in a time when a) you are shopping for a vehicle and that the pulling of your credit at every dealer would eventually lower your score, thereby causing you damage, a reason to sue.

Wind up? :  Call the dealership, threaten them with a lawsuit using this information, tell them to call the agency and have it removed by telling the agency it was in error.  If they don't....................sue them in circuit court.

---

 I know of no dealership who will crunch numbers and come to an agreement on a vehicle on just your word of what your score is.  If they worked like that too many would be losing money by being hoodwinked by people.  

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@RobertEG wrote:

Even if they did not, one does not go into a car dealership and give them ID unless you are "negotiating."  Prio contract of sale is not required.  Otherwise, the entire negotiation process would come to a standstill

---

Really? That doesn't seem right to me. We were negotiating the purchase price of the vehicle. Obviously that doesn't tie them into the sale of the vehicle if it turns out I can't finance the car. If I was paying cash we would still be negotiating the price of the sale, but they would have no reason to pull my credit. We needed to come to an agreement on the purchase price of the car before we moved forward with the transaction. There's no reason prior to that for anything to ever be signed, at least there hasn't ever been any of the other times I've purchased cars. Why would a John Doe be needed to indicate negotiations? If a car is 15K and I offer 14K, nothing needs to be signed for them to tell me yes, no, or how about this price instead. I'm not seeing how the negotiation process would come to a standstill without a signature. Giving them a copy of my driver's license (and often insurance card) has nothing to do with negotiations, it has to do with their liability while letting you test drive their vehicle.

---

You really expect them to believe you when you tell them your credit score?  And expect them to negotiate a price without really knowing your score?  

[Anonymous]

Yes and here is another dealer that does this too:

O'Brien Team Fort Myers
2850 Colonial Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL 33966
Sales: 888-461-3831
Service: 888-343-9015

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Yes and here is another dealer that does this too:

O'Brien Team Fort Myers
2850 Colonial Boulevard
Fort Myers, FL 33966
Sales: 888-461-3831
Service: 888-343-9015

---

That's very interesting, I'm nowhere near Fort Myers but the dealership that pulled my credit is part of an O'Brien group of dealerships also.

I still fail to see why the interest rate should be part of the negotiations. I was not applying for dealer financing. The best rate available was through the credit union I belong to and that the dealership is CUDL'd with. The financing would have zero affect on the price they would be willing to come down to on the vehicle. I told them what I was willing to pay, and they were not able to come down that far. I was not willing to come up, and did not buy the car. I have never had a dealer pull my credit just because we were discussing purchase price. I've been shopping for a car for a month, and have test driven several cars at another more above board dealership, and gone so far as to negotiate price on two of those cars. They never pulled my credit until after we came to an agreement on the purchase of a car this weekend, at which point they filled out the credit application, I signed it, and they pulled my credit. I was very clear with the other dealer that I didn't want my credit pulled until we had come to an agreement on the purchase price of the car. They told me they had no problem with that. When I called the next day to say I'd seen that they had actually pulled my credit they were extremely apologetic, blamed it on a new finance manager, and told me that they were not allowed to pull my credit without my written permission. So with all respect I would think that yes, I would have a case.

All that being said, I have purchased a vehicle now through another dealership and luckily it was within two weeks of this unauthorized pull. I had checked my score that day before the dealer actually pulled my credit and it was 767. I checked it again after the inquiry, and it had remained 767 so luckily I had no issues whatsoever at the dealership I ended up going with.

[Anonymous]

A few things that everyone shopping for a car should be aware of.  When shopping for a new or used car, always know beforehand what your FICO or beacon score is.  Some dealers may say that they use a specialized vendor score.  The only score that matters is your FICO score.  The score that the three major credit agencies use.  You did this.  People going into a dealership not knowing their score is like going into war without even having basic training.

If you are worried that the dealership will pull your credit again when you hand your drivers license over to them.  Get them to sign a pre-made document that they would not pull your credit based on your address and name.  I know this may sound extreme, but it will give you written proof that you requested a nondisclosure agreement.  I've done this before.  They will probably scoff at it, but at least they'll know that you are dead serious about it.  Most dealerships will not pull your credit if you request.

Always have financing lined up BEFORE going to the dealership.  Show them the APR rate that you were given by the credit union, bank or independent lender.  If they can't beat it or say "We can promise that" then say, "I'll use my lender".  This will give them an incentive to respect you and shows that you are a serious shopper.

Some people find inquiries on their credit report from an auto dealer and never stepped foot inside a dealership.  I opened up a police report when this happen to me, because I was sure someone was trying to steal my identity.  You can file a FTC inquiry but not a local police report UNLESS your identity was stolen to make an actual purchase (at least from my experience).  Inquiries are annoying, but there are worse things that could happen to your credit.  My recommendation is put a fraud alert on your report so that when anyone tries to pull your credit, you have to approve certain actions on your account.  Instructions are put into your report along with a number to reach you at.

I've never been able to successfully remove an inquiry from my report.  But it is generally recommended that you do all your shopping in a short period of time so that it doesn't have an overall impact.

[Anonymous]

Use a Broker...

I never go to a dealership to purchase a vehicle.  I look up all the information on MSN Autos or a website like that, get the invoice price and call my car broker who charges $600 over invoice and not a penny more and gets me the EXACT car that I want (dealers want to move cars from their lots, you might not get all the specs you are looking for and its hard to get the exact invoice price when you listening to a high pressure, polyester suit salesperson).  A broker can also arrange for test drives without the dealers hassling you.  Years ago, I had a jeep come directly from the factory because he could not find one in Colorado with the specs I was looking for.  I would suggest; however, that you get a broker that charges a set fee over invoice, that way you will know EXACTLY how much your car will cost.  They can also arrange financing.  They are not big on major customer service, so if you need to be hand held and cannot do the research on your own, I guess the dealer experience is for you.  Knowing the exact price and getting what I want when investing that much money is a great thing.   I believe that some states do not have a thriving broker business, thats too bad.  I might go to a state where they exist, buy a car and drive it back to my state if that were the case.

[Anonymous]

I went into a Toyota dealership with similar reservations a year ago.  I was committed to buying a Prius and did in the end, but I was exhausted and near tears by the end of the process.  One of the worst experiences I've ever been through!

[Anonymous]

I've had such positive experiences (3 times now) with the Toyota dealer I eventually purchased through. But I knew beforehand that the other dealership (which is owned by a different group) was not at all the same. I went there anyway because of one of the cars they had in their inventory, and like you left exhausted, starving and in tears. When you tell someone that many times that you're going to go home eat dinner and think about it, and they start a new line of questioning or tell you they'll get you take out to get you to stay you feel trapped, even though I know I could have walked out of there at an time. And in reality, they actually had my car keys, and when I did finally insist (I'd already asked several times, this time I had to insist!) that they get them for me so I could leave, I was treated with hostility. It's unbelievable. I'd rather pay more to the people that gave me customer service rather than hustle me, but ultimately got the service AND the price I wanted at the better Toyota dealership.

[IOBA]

I was paying cash for a car -- told them that from the very beginning, refused to sign anything giving them permission to pull credit.  They did it anyways.  I found out after the fact.  This place required my soc card, DL, and proof of residency.  They said it was because I was paying cash for the car.  Will NEVER go back to them, ever!

When I test drive a car now, I refuse to leave my DL with them.  I tell the sales person to come with me and drive.  They always let me drive the car later, often off the lot.

[Anonymous]

---

@IOBA wrote:

I was paying cash for a car -- told them that from the very beginning, refused to sign anything giving them permission to pull credit.  They did it anyways.  I found out after the fact.  This place required my soc card, DL, and proof of residency.  They said it was because I was paying cash for the car.  Will NEVER go back to them, ever!

When I test drive a car now, I refuse to leave my DL with them.  I tell the sales person to come with me and drive.  They always let me drive the car later, often off the lot.

---

My credit was pulled when I bought my car for cash as well.  Their explanation had something to do with verifying that I wasn't a terrorist or something like that.  I posted on the auto loans board and was told it was common.  Really threw me.  I guess the recent fiasco with the bomb loaded car in Times Square and the fact that the owner was able to purchase his vehicle for cash without going through the system sort of helped me understand.  My dealer said it was required.  I said next time I'll buy from a private owner.