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Recently I had been receiving an email ad advertising a $99/month $0 due at signing lease. I go to the dealership to inquire about the deal and they said they had one in stock. Throughout the process and before signing I repeatedly spoke with the salesman to confirm that this deal would be $99/month plus tax and all that but not have any down payment required. The salesman confirmed this. During the entire process with the finance guy, he does not mention any down payment and even said all I owed that day was the first month payment.
Fast forward two weeks later and I receive a call from the dealership asking for the $1600 down payment. I look on the contract and sure enough the $1600 is on there. Please, I do not need to be lectured on needing to read contracts carefully. I know this for the future but at the time it was a big contract that I was not familiar with he structure of. I briefly looked it over but missed the down payment bit. Again, the ad said $0 down , I had confirmed repeatedly with the salesman this was the case, and no one ever mentioned a down payment when I was at the dealership.
What if anything can I do?
Last edited by GiantMickey; 12-22-2015 at 08:22 AM..
Did the ad say $0 at signing or $0 down? First you said it said $0 at signing. Then you said "again the ad said $0 down", but you didn't say $0 down, you said $0 at signing. Anyway, the contract is the contract, and it was obviously a $0 at signing deal, so you have to pay the $1600 "down". It just didn't have to be paid immediately "at signing".
$0 down lease doesn't mean you pay nothing upfront. All leases have what's called "Total Drive Off" which includes 1st month's payment, DMV fees, Bank fees, etc.
Did the ad say $0 at signing or $0 down? First you said it said $0 at signing. Then you said "again the ad said $0 down", but you didn't say $0 down, you said $0 at signing. Anyway, the contract is the contract, and it was obviously a $0 at signing deal, so you have to pay the $1600 "down". It just didn't have to be paid immediately "at signing".
The ad says $0 due at signing. I did repeatedly ask if it was $0 down payment though. Anyway if what you say is true, that is extremely deceptive. I looked at many other lease deals and they all say $xxx per month with $xxxx due at signing. When I see $0 due at signing I think it is reasonable to expect no down payment is necessary especially if the salesman confirmed that is the case and the finance guy never brings up a down payment.
Is there nothing that protects the consumer from things like this?
If you have the emails that show this from the dealer, print it and go back.
I checked for all leases at $99.00 with 0 down and found only one from Mercedes. It was the Smart ForTwo Pure Coupe for $100.00 a month for 36 months.
Most everything else was closer to $200.00 a month but all had some type of large down payment.
I forwarded the ad to the salesperson. This is for a vw JETTA.
Quote:
Originally Posted by IShootNikon
How did the dealer let you walk out the door without the $1600 downpayment?
Exactly... They said all I owed was the first month payment and made absolutely no mention of a down payment until two weeks later after I had already signed and driven the car off the lot!
If you signed the contract, you're on the hook for the $1600. They might let you out of the lease (but will probably charge you some sort of fee for having the car for two weeks.)
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