One week ago, me and Bob went down and bought a truck. A pretty shiny red 2008 Ford F150 Supercrew (4 doors).
Did I mention that it’s shiny?
I love this truck.
We’ve spent since last Christmas making due with Bob’s little 1998 Nissan that only seats 4 of us. So we were constantly shuffling car seats between our car and my moms and then rearranging depending on who was going where. It was a pain in the butt. But we didn’t have the money to go get a new one before now.
Fast-forward to this past week. We head down to a nearby dealership, Perry Ford of Poway. We told the salesman, John, right up front: Our credit stinks, but we have this money coming in over the next few months and we want to try and get a truck. We want to finance the truck so that we can use it to improve our credit scores. In the past we made some bad decisions and had a few mistakes, but can you help us?
What do they say? “OF COURSE!”
Isn’t that what they always say?
We went to this particular Ford Dealership because they had a truck I liked advertised online. Four doors, lower miles, newer model. Our goal is to actually pay the truck off in the next year, so we were really only concerned with the cash price of the truck. Not the astronomical interest rate that they quoted.
The finance manager (Kim I think) pulled our credit. He had our report and scores right in front of him to see. He made the deal and we gave them $5000 for deposit. We signed the contracts and drove home our pretty new truck, happy as clams.
ONE WEEK LATER they call us up and decide that they can’t finance us!!!
What The Hell?
They have asked us to bring the truck back down today so that they can help us get into a different truck. A cheaper one. One without 4 doors. They were really nice and already got that one pre-approved for us. Gee, thanks.
I think these finance people are the “experts,” right? Shouldn’t they have been able to see our credit and know if they could finance it or not? This is what they do and they do it all day long.
They could have pulled our credit and told us “no” at the beginning. That’s what we were expecting. We expected our credit to not be good enough and that we would have to look at either a corner dealership that “can finance anyone” or that we would just have to wait a few months and pay cash outright. But like I mentioned, we hoped we could finance it to improve our credit. So why would they just jerk us around, let us fall in love with a car, blow sunshine up our ass, only to then say “oops, never mind.”
Crap, I tell ya!
I’m not sure what’s going to happen today. I have half a mind to not take the truck down, to take Bob’s car. Tell them they have to make it work and that it’s not our problem but theirs. They are the ones that screwed up, not us.
What do you think? What would you do? Has this ever happened to anyone else?
Welcome to OhRheally?, My name is Rhea and I share stories of life raising 3 sons, my experiences as a (recently retired) 
Hi there,
That sounds like absolute crap. It sounds like you aren’t dealing with the floor manager and that might be the problem at hand. I had a great experience with Billy Lourie from Santa Monica Ford. He can be reached via (310) 451 1588 ext 241. I know it is a ways from you, but he managed to get me into a Ford Escape when I had bad credit with 3.9 percent interest with 5k down. Email me if you have any other questions. I know dealing with car people is hell.
Hey, thanks for the number. It is pretty far, but I appreciate you giving it to me and if this doesn’t work out, I just might use it! I’m just so frustrated.
I thought the guy who called me yesterday was a manager (finance manager maybe…Charles) but I’m not sure.
I”d just stay out of Poway period. When Scott bought his Tahoe, they NEVER paid off the Civic. Due to bankruptcy…THERES!!! So he was stuck with two vehicle payments. Oops…that was Poway Chevy…not Ford. But sounds like Poway “auto” stinks. Personally I’d bring them the truck back and tell them to stick it. Research some other’s online, tell them your story and see what they can do!
Ummm….why would they let you drive a truck off the lot and then determine they can’t finance you. If they knew there were issues from the beginning then WHY would they do that? Freaks!!!! Tell them they need to figure it out and you are keeping the truck. Period!
That is BS , You have a signed contract ! Nope I would drive Bob’s truck down with your signed contract and tell them you figure it out . I have my contract!
I’m so, so sorry Rhea, but yes I have heard of this happening before…recently and with mortgages also. It’s the underwriter, not the dealership’s finance department. Because of the cluster **** our economy is in, the underwriters are being VERY, VERY picky about who they’re giving loans to. The dealership may have believed that you could qualify, but once the underwriter got a hold of the paperwork, they may have decided it wasn’t possible.
I’m so very sorry Rhea. (((HUGS)))
That really sucks.
I say if you do take it back, walk out and go to another dealership place. Tell them they just lost your business and you don’t want to deal with them again.
Dealers are tricky people. My Dad was just telling me about a bait and switch thing they did with him and he walked out on them. They kept trying to convince him that what they were offering him was a good deal and “other” people would be thrilled to get this deal. He basically said, “Yeah, but other people are stupid, and I’m not. Either you give me the deal you promised or I leave.” He ended up leaving, and they were not happy with him, but oh well.
That is the strangest deal I’ve ever heard of. We’ve never bought a car without the financing being settled before taking the vehicle home. When we bought the minivan we sat in the office for 5 hours getting the financing settled. Weirdness.
Sounds about right coming from the dealers. Me personally I would want to keep it, BUT if i did return it I would be screaming to the top of my lungs how crooked they are.
We had gone through all this back in March are car went south and we needed something bad. Everyone new of our credit and they kept saying yea yea we will help. Wasted trips into the dealership for them to say naw sorry we cant help. Finally we found ONE place who would work with us and our bank to get us into a car. Bluebook we more then 12k the dealer went down to 7k because thats what the bank would finance us for. Over all we are still paying the 12k due to taxes, interest but it is worth having our ride back. Just remember if you to return it there will be someone else out there that will take your money. And thats what I told everyone of those dealers that turned us down. “I am not going to beg you all to take my money. I am sure someone out there will take it without being begs” And I walked away sure enough the bank and another dealership wanted it. It will all work out for the best. Good Luck
Wow, Rhea, I am sorry to hear this. Its does really stink. I agree with the above poster…You have a signed contract in hand. They made an agreement and need to work it out now. Grr!!! I am crossing my fingers that this all works out for you two!
I would only return it for a full refund of your deposit !!! Then go somewhere else. Don’t settle for something less just because they screwed up already have your money and wasted your time.
I think dealerships are pretty famous for doing this. They let you drive the vehicle home without even finding someone to finance you. I had this happen years ago when they called and wanted me to have a co-signer. I ended up bringing it back to them. My SUV I financed last year, I made sure there was someone to finance me before I drove it home.
Wow, I feel really bad for you guys. Unfortunately, I have heard of this happening A LOT! I live in Central California, near Fresno, and I’ve have known at least two people (who also had credit problems) who were told after hours of negotiating and signing all the financing papers etc, to go ahead and take the car home- it was theirs. So, they both took their cars and got all the windows tinted, one put more expensive rims on the car, etc. Well, a few days later, the dealership called and said to bring the cars back because they couldn’t get the financing to go thru either! They told the dealership to pound sand and to MAKE IT WORK and they did – they ended up lowering the price of the car so the amount financed was less. But I keep hearing from other people that the dealers are telling them to take the car home the same day before all financing is completed! I guess they figure the customer will do whatever it takes to keep the car they now have in their possession that they will beg, borrow or steal for it! I wish you luck with whatever you decide!
Ya know, I think I could have stood my ground and told this dealer to also “pound sand” but it worked out and I got a different truck (actually cost more…go figure) that I like even better.
I think it’s crazy that this seems to becoming a regular practice. I think dealerships are getting desperate for business.