TheaterFire

Dealer Repossesses Car, Customer Responds by Legally Taking Its Name

Posted by sl0wjim@reddit | cars | View on Reddit | 40 comments

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40 Comments

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View on Reddit #63055355

NCSUGrad2012@reddit

Good. Fuck dealerships they deserve it
View on Reddit #63044164

max_power1000@reddit

If you can’t secure the financing you don’t get the car. This is more on the bank since they provided a preliminary approval. I agree what the buyer is doing here is hilarious, but if you can’t get financed at a Kia dealership, that’s likely a you problem.
View on Reddit #63045261

Harryhodl@reddit

She did get approved for financing, so it’s on them.
View on Reddit #63047315

max_power1000@reddit

It was a preliminary approval, try RTFA.
View on Reddit #63047733

EpicLegendX@reddit

The dealership was in their right to repo the car. I’d wager that she’s going to use the name as leverage to get the car back.
View on Reddit #63053866

max_power1000@reddit

I’m interested to hear how this turns out but I don’t see it going well for her
View on Reddit #63054474

xaviier49@reddit

She was approved and then the lender rescinded the approval stating insufficient income to substantiate the loan. That’s the lender’s fault though and it shouldn’t have resulted in a repo. Especially since there’s NO information stating she had issues paying. Why take the car back IF there’s no issues with the customer paying the loan that was approved by the lender themselves?
View on Reddit #63046146

max_power1000@reddit

It’s not a repo though, it’s called unwinding a deal due to inability to secure financing. A repo happens when you don’t pay your bills. The car was never hers to begin with, the whole contract is contingent on financing being approved, it’s void otherwise.
View on Reddit #63047876

cannibalcorpuscle@reddit

Funny how you can’t buy a car because of those things but registering a business name is open season.
View on Reddit #63049490

PCPrincipal2016@reddit

This had nothing to do with the dealer. They would’ve much rather just sold the car and have the deal go through. This is due to the customers poor income and/or credit which prevented them from securing a loan.
View on Reddit #63048123

EpicLegendX@reddit

The dealership is at fault for accepting the preliminary approval without waiting for full approval from the lender.
View on Reddit #63054019

DJMagicHandz@reddit

It was a boss move.
View on Reddit #63053359

bschmidt25@reddit

Likely what happened is that the customer supplied income information and was conditionally approved based on that information. The dealer did a spot delivery (most deliveries are since they're not funded for at least a few days). Bank asked for proof of income. Customer either ignored the request or didn't provide enough documentation to account for all of the income stated. Bank refused to fund the loan. At this point, there is no longer any deal. The dealer calls the customer to ask for their car back. Customer ignores or refuses to return the car. At this point, there's not much difference between them keeping the car and it being a stolen vehicle. Dealer locates the car and initiates a repo to get their car back. It's hard to see where the dealer is at fault here if that's what happened. This is how car deals are done every day across the country. Most of the time, customers will return the car, get different financing on their own, or the dealer will come back with another lender option. But sometimes customers simply choose to return the car and pretend like it never happened. Bottom line, the customer is probably lucky this didn't go to the authorities. It probably could have after over a month of the dealer trying to get their car back unsuccessfully.
View on Reddit #63050352

GriefTheBro@reddit

The fact that you recive the car before financing is approved is insane to me.
View on Reddit #63052820

bschmidt25@reddit

Probably 99 times out of 100 there are no problems. I think if people had to wait until the loan was funded to get their car, a lot of deals wouldn't happen at all. Being able to drive off the lot with a new car is a powerful drug.
View on Reddit #63054105

balthisar@reddit

Not sure how it is in Ohio, but the installment contract in Michigan is signed with the dealership. If the bank falls through, then the dealership would have to carry the terms of the loan itself. Since dealerships don't really like to do this, they'd either find financing for the new owner, or eat the costs and subsidize financing for the new owner. At this point, the dealership (in Michigan) would have stolen the vehicle and it wouldn't be a "repossession," as long as she were in compliance with the finance contract she signed with the dealership.
View on Reddit #63054064

Ruscidero@reddit

Yeah, in all honesty, and despite the inclination to enjoy the schadenfreude, this very likely isn’t the dealership’s fault. But it sure as hell is funny. I’d hate to be the guy who forgot to renew the business registration.
View on Reddit #63051747

IStillLikeBeers@reddit

This is a pretty funny/interesting story. But as a lawyer I am pretty surprised the trial court lumped in the business registration issue with the arbitration clause in the purchase & financing agreement. That's a huge miss and was rightfully reversed. No idea what that judge was thinking.
View on Reddit #63042862

llamacohort@reddit

Arbitration clauses are probably under more scrutiny after Disney the giant media storm around Disney trying to avoid a wrongful death lawsuit for one of their resort restaurants because the family had a Disney+ account. Baking those into everything doesn't give infinite legal protections.
View on Reddit #63045615

leommari@reddit

Correction, it was a restaurant in their outdoor mall. They don't operate the restaurant in any way, they just lease the spot to the restaurant owner and list it on the Disney website. They were being sued for wrongful death because the website hosted the menu of the restaurant, and they argued that the victim had agreed to arbitration regarding the website when they agreed to the terms in their Disney+ account.
View on Reddit #63046015

EpicLegendX@reddit

The Mouse a scarily effective legal team.
View on Reddit #63053140

BikingEngineer@reddit

I mean, Disney is basically a law firm with a very profitable media department. They successfully pushed around the state of Florida in the courts, might as well try some stuff (though this particular approach was a bit too much).
View on Reddit #63054041

strongmanass@reddit

Question for you so I don't have to speculate: since the dealership's name is legally hers, can she prevent them from using "Taylor Kia of Lima" on all documents? And if so, could she sell the name to them and make out better than the value of that K5?
View on Reddit #63045176

IStillLikeBeers@reddit

Realistically, they should probably settle and give her what she wants (which is probably cash) in exchange for her dropping the fraud lawsuit and agreeing to transfer the registration for the name back. I don't know every state's law, but sometimes you can invalidate a registration if there isn't a bona fide use for it. For them, the legal fees definitely aren't worth the squeeze and the dealer group should just settle.
View on Reddit #63051068

strongmanass@reddit

Thanks for answering. That all makes a lot of sense. I hope she has a good lawyer who'll go to bat for her. 
View on Reddit #63052036

Will-have-had@reddit

Kind of like when Disney tried to force arbitration on a suit for wrongful death at Disney World because of a clause in the Disney+ subscription ToS, although in that case I think Disney withdrew the argument instead of letting the court decide.
View on Reddit #63051357

6158675309@reddit

I’m not a lawyer and was shocked it happened. Seems too easy to screw that up
View on Reddit #63043207

BathingInSoup@reddit

I hope she ends up trading the name registration for her car back, free of charge, and a lifetime maintenance contract that includes consumables.
View on Reddit #63052728

POSVETT@reddit

Slightly bizzare, quite funny
View on Reddit #63052086

iamkeerock@reddit

“I’m going to need you to track down all of the cars you’ve sold, and remove the name I own from the back bumper/trunk, and remove the license plate frames too.”
View on Reddit #63051851

Mindfulmanners@reddit

This is the petty I strive for. Fuck dealerships.
View on Reddit #63049531

DonkeyFuel@reddit

Man, what a God damn hero! This woman is a genius. What a move.
View on Reddit #63049476

fairlyallthere@reddit

It takes a special kind of talent to lose a sale and lose your business name to the same person in the same week. That’s not just bad luck. That’s spectacular incompetence.
View on Reddit #63048207

fairlyallthere@reddit

It takes a special kind of talent to mess up the sale and lose your business name in the same week
View on Reddit #63048084

fairlyallthere@reddit

It takes a special kind of talent to mess up the sale and lose your business name in the same week
View on Reddit #63047926

Aprilias@reddit

"So that’s where it stands now—the dealer has McCreary’s car" He who holds the title owns the car.
View on Reddit #63047103

bgarza18@reddit

That’s hilarious 
View on Reddit #63044652

Thejeepwrangler@reddit

This is hilarious lol. She is soooo petty, but I love to root for the underdog.
View on Reddit #63044000

Trashy_pig@reddit

Lmao good for her.
View on Reddit #63043699