can a dealer legally hold your deposite?

[Viperrick]

If you never signed a document why did you give him 3K. Ask him to tell you what your VIN number is. If he placed an order than he should have the VIN number. With the number in hand we may be able to find out what the scheduled build date was to be. That is if he ever placed the order.

 

[2charmed]

I have vast Auto sales/management experience. In a short answer
no. I don't see how they can keep your deposit. If you have not
taken delivery or had custom work done to the car than all you
need to do is say you are going to your lawyer and the BBB. If
the dealer dosen't back down than do it. You haven't actualy bought a car, you only put a deposit down on a car that doesn't even exist yet.

 

[Hisser]

Straight up: Its illegal for any dealer to keep your deposit. See a lawyer and he can send them a demand letter and get the money you pay him.

 

[SoCal Rebell]

It is illegal for the dealer to hold your deposit if you request it back. I had a similar thing happen to me when I was buying mr 2000 RT last year, gave the dealer a deposit got months of song and dance finally found one for immedate delivery and bought it. The dealer gave me my deposit back no problem.

 

[Daffy]

I had a similar experience at a Ford dealer. I had $1,000 down on an order for a '99 Cobra Convertible, no special order I picked one they had coming. After several months of delay, another dealer had one come in that was acceptable & I bought it. Went to get my deposit & the Manager said they were going to hold it until the car came & was sold. I calmly told him I was told it was a refundable deposit & no caveats were given, I had a receipt for the deposit with no stipulations except I had the sales person write "refundable deposit" on the receipt. He said he would cut the check, which they did right then, but he said they could keep the deposit if they wanted to. I can't imagine how that could be legal. I would think you'd not run into this sort of thing with these hi-line cars, it's a shame.

Dave.

 

[Mike Brunton]

It probably varies from state to state... in MA, the dealer cannot hold your deposit unless they can demonstrate "financial harm" by you backing out of the sale.

Some dealers will try to push your limits by saying that they had committed something to you, and therefore are losing money in terms of real-estate taken up, advertising costs, etc, if you back out. This may be true to a certain extent, but the law was really created to ease things for the dealer who put custom rims and a custom paint job on a car, only to have the seller change his mind. On a high demand car like the Viper, it should not be a problem, especially since they can sell to another, Viper-needing dealer without too much trouble.

If they don't return your deposit IMMEDIATELY, tell them you will be getting your lawyer involved, and going after legal fees in addition to your deposit.