In april of '04 I went into a toyota dealership and along with my father, we traded our 2 cars (a 97 T-bird and a '99 daewoo leganza both in excellent condition and realy low mileage (under 70k miles for the tbird and just above 30k for the daewoo).
The 2 cars were traded for my father's new sporty ride, the Spyder (2 psgr convertible.. he was like a teenager again) and for a Toyota Prius.
Now, the prius back then was just being launched in the US so the dealership said it would be a 2 to 4 month wait on the vehicle. We agreed on a package and priced at $23,017 with tags and everything included.. we both signed on it and I gave the mandatory $500 deposit which in the contract stipulated it was non-refundable.
As the 4 months went by the dealership called me to say there would be an even further delay in the vehicle yada-yada-yada... which worked out quite good for me since i had lost my job in april of '04.. just a week after i signed on the car.
Throught the months theyve called me in saying they've received cars that didnt match the model i signed for but it was avaliable now if i wanted it..and of course it wastn 23k pricetags but 27k and up. I declined of course and told them id only take the one i ordered.
This morning i get a call and im told that a car that matches my order will be coming in...
except that its an '05 and has a toyotaguard option (which i didnt order) and its priced at 26k.
Since its been almost a year now they agreed to take off the pricing of the extra feature i didnt order.. putting it at 23,750. (and this price includes the 500 deposit i gave).
The dealership is arguing that they cant give me an '04 because of production issues (being '05 now) and that the 05's are more expensive so the price cannot match what we agreed and signed on.
I tried to be as nice as possible and told the guy that when I sign a document and give a deposit thats a contract and that I expected the price to be at least close to what I agreed on. I told him that $23,200'ish would be as far up as id go to pay more than what i agreed on and thats being generous since its been over 3X the amount of time i was told id be waiting for my car. A signed deal is a signed deal imo, if they cant deliver in the stipulated time thats their problem, i shouldnt have to pay a thousand bucks more for their problems.
The salesman said hed talk it over with the sales manager.
As I was typing this the sales manager calls in.
In a very dry conversation he pretty much told me that he could not give me the price of an '04 because it was an '05.. and that he could easily refund my money (when the document i signed said it was non-refundable... heh. anyways theyve had my money for almost a freaking year) if i wouldnt take the car. That there were many other people on 'the waiting list' that would take the car if i didnt.
He did say toyota was sending out some price cutback checks since the vehicle's price was lowered in april '04 as some part of a promo to launch the vehicle, so i 'could' be getting about 400 bucks back from toyota. I told him that'd be fine as long as its 400 to 500 money back from toyota (not the dealership but the co.), because thatd put what i end up paying in the price range i consider acceptable under these circumstances. But I told him i wouldnt take a 'could' .. its either a yes or a no.
The manager said hed call toyota and let me know on monday.
But I know they are trying to sell their cars so he probably hung up and went to the next guy in the list to see if he'll take it..and probably on monday ill get a 'yeah youd get 500 bucks back but we sold the car we offered you on sat' .
This whole thing has me pissed off. From a legal standpoint, isnt the dealership suppposed to honor their written and signed contracts?
Thoughts?
