Car Dealer Gives Woman Refund —in Pennies

[nylonggamer]

it's a dick move
it's also a stupid business move

[Chael]

You wouldnt be so happy if you had to roll up every single one of the pennies into penny rolls. You cant just take them to the bank loose like that. The bank will deny your deposit and tell you to roll them up. Hours of labor out of spite. Smart move from the dmv

[nylonggamer]

sure you can
it's 2014, banks have coin counting machines these days

[Severs]

This dealership is going to receive a lot of backlash over this. It was their mistake that they did not put that labor was not covered under said warranty, I probably would have wanted labor covered under the warranty too. Perhaps the reason business has been slow for him is the way he treats his customers.

[Bummer]

Refusing to "take sides" on this one but . . .

I'm always amazed when someone buys a Used Car or Truck (very used in this case) and expect it to be the same as a Brand New Vehicle, including the warranty.

[Labonte18]

Originally Posted by Foques

I am having an argument about this on Facebook right now..
I'm pleasantly surprised that most people on here - just like me - see no serious issue with this.
money is money.

Besides, I do wonder if there is more to the story..
Person who has to borrow $400 to fix the car, should not have bought a SAAB in the first place that just shows that person did little to no research.

oh, and to the person who said that 400$ is steep; maybe, in your area it is; in IL you'll be paying ~120-150$ an hour for transmission work.

Money is money, but it's a dumb PR move on the part of the dealer.

I don't have a problem with it.. But.. Not good for business.

I just so happen to have a transmission invoice sitting beside me.. Thanks to getting my truck out of the shop yesterday..

Rebuild Transmission Service - $1411.00
ATF Fluid - $49.99
Torque Converter - $389.00
Labor to remove, rebuild and reinstall transmission - $1250

What I want to know is what about the transmission could be fixed at all for $400 including labor. That seems low even for a torque converter... Which you could get a cheap one for a Saab for $200, but.. I'd think you'd be looking at more than $200 in labor to replace it.

Originally Posted by Bummer

Refusing to "take sides" on this one but . . .

I'm always amazed when someone buys a Used Car or Truck (very used in this case) and expect it to be the same as a Brand New Vehicle, including the warranty.

I expect whatever is in writing. Obviously, the warranty did not exempt labor charges, so.. Winner - Car buyer in this case.

[ackmondual]

Originally Posted by duster1979

Actually, while pennies must be accepted in payment of a debt or the satisfaction of a contractual agreement, merchants don't have to accept pennies - or any other form of legal tender, for that matter - as payment for goods or services.

In this case, I think the court-ordered refund would probably be considered a contractural obligation. So if loose change is what they're offering she probably has no choice but to take them. The article says that some banks are now charging people to run coins through the counter, but most aren't. If her bank does it's time to find another bank because they're probably charging her for a bunch of other stuff that other banks wouldn't.

My only concern would be, what if it winds up being short? I'd probably insist on having an employee of the dealership come along to the bank to verify the amount.

Merchants definitely impose some restrictions on these sorts of things. Some won't flat out take pennies.

Some won't take credit card unless there's a minimum order. According to contract agreements with the credit card companies, they have to take their card if it's above 50 cents. They can't use "vendor fees" as an excuse.